APC Discounts & Waivers

The UofA Library does not provide funding in support of Article Processing Charges (APCs) to make research papers Open Access, nor do we purchase memberships to attain APC discounts.

Wherever possible, the Library negotiates license agreements with publishers that will provide UofA authors with discounts or waivers on APCs, as part of our ongoing subscriptions. The following list includes all of the publishers who currently provide these. In most cases, these discounts and waivers apply only if the corresponding author is affiliated with the University of Alberta.

• American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) – University of Alberta researchers qualify for a 15% discount on APCs in Science Advances, the OA journal published by AAAS. This is in addition to the 4% discount offered to AAAS members.
• American Chemical Society (ACS) – University of Alberta researchers qualify for a $250 USD discount on APCs in all ACS journals. This is in addition to any personal ACS membership discounts.
• Biochemical Society – APCs are waived for University of Alberta researchers for our five subscribed Biochemical Society journals.
• Canadian Science Publishing (formerly NRC Research Press) – As participants in the CRKN license for Canadian Science Publishing journals, University of Alberta researchers receive a 50% discount on the APC for OA publishing. The reduced fee is $1,500 CAD per article. PLEASE NOTE: This discount does not apply to the OA journal FACETS, which has a reduced regular APC. When submitting your paper, please identify yourself as a University of Alberta member in order to receive the discount.
• Cambridge University Press – APCs are waived for University of Alberta researchers publishing any of the following five article types in CUP hybrid OA and gold OA journals: Research Articles, Review Articles, Rapid Communications, Brief Reports, and Case Reports. NOTE: The CUP website has not been updated and still indicates the former 20% APC discount for UofA, but APCs are now waived completely, effective January 1, 2022.
• Elsevier – As of January 1, 2021, U of A researchers receive a 20% discount on APCs for both hybrid and gold open access journals. Cell Press, Lancet, and some other society-owned journals are excluded. In order to qualify for this discount, a U of A researcher must be the Corresponding Author. The discount is reflected on the APC invoice, after the Corresponding Author indicates their U of A affiliation and selects an open access publishing option. Elsevier's APC price list is available here.
• Institute of Physics (IOP) - University of Alberta researchers can publish under an open access license without incurring author processing fees in Gold Open Access or Hybrid journals. When submitting your paper, please identify yourself as a University of Alberta member in order to receive the discount. Note: Select journals are excluded, please consult the IOP website for title lists.
• PLOS Biology and PLOS Medicine – University of Alberta Researchers are able to publish in these titles without incurring Author Publishing Fees typical of many open access journals, thanks to our participation in the PLOS Community Action Publishing Program.
• Royal Society of Chemistry – University of Alberta researchers qualify for a 15% APC discount in RSC hybrid OA journals.
• SAGE – As of January 1, 2021, University of Alberta researchers can publish their articles as Open Access with no Article Processing Charge (APC) in most SAGE journals. (There are a small number of exclusions from their 900+ journals, listed here). When publishing with one of SAGE’s gold open access journals (click here for title list), University of Alberta researchers receive a 40% discount on APCs (see SAGE openaccess instructions). A Creative Commons license will be applied to open access publications, unless you request a different license. These options are available thanks to a new transformative agreement between SAGE and the Canadian Research Knowledge Network, of which the University of Alberta Library is a member.
• Taylor & Francis – University of Alberta researchers qualify for a 25% discount on APCs in Taylor & Francis Open Select journals. The discount should be automatically applied to any APC fees for these journals when authors submit their acceptance.

Questions about open access publishing in relation to the library's licensed resources can be directed to librarians in the Collection Strategies Unit: csu@ualberta.ca.