Q. What is an article processing charge (APC) and does the University Library pay for them?

An article processing charge (APC) is a fee paid by an author to a journal publisher to make an article immediately available via open access. These charges cover open access publishing and licensing costs, and allow readers to access the article immediately without encountering a paywall.

The Library does not pay for individual APCs, page charges or manuscript submission fees. From 2022, the University Library is participating in a university-wide Read and Publish agreement pilot as part of the annual subscription renewal process. The 2022 pilot covers University of Sydney APCs in journal titles from six major scholarly publishers. 

Before paying an APC, the Library recommends that you:

• Check to see whether your target journal is included in the 2022 Read and Publish pilot.
• Check to see if there is a green open access option available for the journal which may negate the need to pay the full APC for a hybrid journal.
• Contact the research support staff within your School or Faculty to see if there is any potential funding for APCs.
• Check the terms of your funding rules and research agreement, or contact the Research Operations team in the Research Portfolio for assistance with this. Some grant schemes allow funds to be used for payment of APCs.
• Discuss with the publisher whether you qualify for a discounted APC charge.
• If you have further questions about APCs or publishing options, see the Open Access guide, or contact your Academic Liaison Librarian.