The UCR Library is excited to announce our participation in a new UC-wide pilot program, UC Libraries Arts & Humanities Open Access Fund, designed to help early career researchers publish their work open access at no cost.
What Is This Fund?
The UC Libraries Arts & Humanities Open Access Fund is a one-year pilot initiative that covers the full cost of open access publishing fees for eligible early career authors. This program specifically addresses a gap in support for arts and humanities researchers, who often lack access to grant funding for open access publication costs.
What are the Eligibility Requirements?
- This fund is designed for UCR's early career researchers, including:
- Pre-tenure faculty
- Postdoctoral researchers
- Graduate students
- Undergraduate students
- Non-academic staff
- Other non-tenured early career researchers
- You're affiliated with UC Riverside
- You're the corresponding author on your article
- Your article is being published in an eligible arts & humanities journal
- The journal is published by a non-profit or society publisher
- The journal is NOT already covered by one of UC's existing open access agreements
Important note: Due to limited funds, coverage is restricted to one article per author for the duration of this one-year pilot.
How Does It Work?
- Apply online: You can even apply before your article is accepted for publication.
- You'll receive a decision within five business days.
- After your application is approved and you have provided proof of your article’s acceptance, you will receive instructions to complete a UC Libraries Arts & Humanities Open Access Financial Services Form detailing the final steps required.
Why Arts & Humanities?
While UC's existing publisher agreements cover over 55% of UC research, they disproportionately favor STEM disciplines. Arts and humanities scholars typically have fewer grant funding opportunities to cover open access costs. This pilot program aims to level the playing field and ensure that early career researchers in arts and humanities can make their work freely accessible to the public.
Which Journals Are Covered?
The fund covers approximately 3,670 eligible arts and humanities journals published by non-profit or society publishers. To check if your journal qualifies, you'll need to verify that it's not already covered by a UC open access agreement (you can use the Journal Open Access Lookup Tool to check).
Ready to Apply or Need More Information?
Visit the UC Office of Scholarly Communication's UC Libraries Arts & Humanities Open Access Fund website for complete details and to submit your application.
Still have questions? You can contact the fund administrators at UCLIB-ARTS-HUMANITIES-OAFUND-L@listserv.ucop.edu or UCR Collection Strategist for Arts & Humanities Carla Arbagey.