Publishing Open Access

There are many ways for authors to publish open access without paying article processing charges (APC)

Open access journals without publication fees (diamond model)

Contrary to popular belief, the majority of open access journals do not charge an article processing charge (APC). These journals are listed in the DOAJ : Directory of Open Access Journals. There are also journals published by commercial publishers (Elsevier, SpringerNature, RSC, etc.).

In DOAJ, select "No charges" under "Publication charges" in the "Advanced search" mode to display only journals without APC.

 
OpenEdition: Since 2012, the University of Rennes has subscribed to Cléo's OpenEditon, a platform of HSS open access journals (Revues.org) and books. This is an innovative model of scientific publication: the full text of articles is open access, with no publication fees for authors. This diamond model is financed, among other things, by a subscription paid by the institutions, which allows them to benefit from additional options (PDF or ePub export, printing, etc.)
Other platforms include SciPost (journal portal), OpenResearch Europe (for European projects) and PCI (peer-reviewed preprint recommendation service)

 

Peer-Community in (PCI) is a non-profit scientific organisation that aims to create thematic communities of researchers who evaluate and recommend, free of charge, articles deposited on pre-print servers (such as biorXiv and arXiv) or open archives according to a rigorous peer-review process. These thematic communities are called Peer Communities in X, such as Peer Community in Evolutionary Biology and PCI Ecology. See the video presentation of the Peer-Community Journal and the review article (in French) « Peer Community In », un système alternatif de publication scientifique.

Open access journals with publication fees

These are fully OA journals with APCs, as opposed to subscription journals that offer OA with a paywall (so-called hybrid journals). This type of publication is known as the 'author pays' publishing model. These journals are listed in the DOAJ : Directory of Open Access Journals. Examples: PloS, Scientific Reports.

Open Access Journal Finding Tools

Want to submit your manuscript to a suitable open access journal, but are unsure which journal to choose? Here are some resources to help you find the right journal:

Open access agreements with publication fee waivers

Some of the University's paid subscriptions, often negotiated by Couperin, include immediate Open Access publishing rights, in addition to reading rights.
The exemption from publication fees concerns fully OA journals and/or hybrid journals (subscription with optional OA).

 
Publishers Hybrid Journals Fully OA Journals
CUP 2023-2025 Corresponding authors from the University can publish open access in all CUP journals at no extra cost and without embargo. Further information: Couperin et Cambridge University Press Corresponding authors from the University can publish open access in all CUP journals at no extra cost and without embargo. Further information: Couperin et Cambridge University Press
EDP Sciences 2022-2026 Corresponding authors from the University can publish open access in all EDP Sciences journals at no extra cost and without embargo. Further information: Couperin et EDP Sciences Corresponding authors from the University can publish open access in all EDP Sciences journals at no extra cost and without embargo. Couperin et EDP Sciences
PloS   As part of a trial agreement in 2023, corresponding authors from the University can publish open access in all PloS journals at no extra cost and without embargo. Further information: PloS tutorial
RSC 2022-2024

Corresponding authors from the University can publish open access at no extra cost and without embargo (Couperin agreement) in an inter-institutional consortial repository calibrated to cover 60% of the output. If the stock of rights is exhausted, open access publication becomes payable again, but on an optional basis; in this case the tariff benefits from a 15% discount. (See the

Guide RSC Read and Publish 2022-2024 - (1.14 MB) 		 

 

Wiley 2022-2024

Corresponding authors from the University can publish open access in all Wiley & Wiley-Hindawi journals at no extra cost and without embargo, within the limits of an  inter-institutional consortial repository calibrated to cover 100% of the output. Further information: Couperin and Wiley

 Corresponding authors from the University can publish open access in all Wiley & Wiley-Hindawi journals at no extra cost and without embargo, within the limits of an  inter-institutional consortial repository calibrated to cover 100% of the output. Further information: Couperin and Wiley

Open access agreements with publication fee discounts

Some of the University's paid subscriptions, often negotiated by Couperin, include discounts on Open Access publishing fees, in addition to reading rights.
The exemption from publication fees concerns fully OA journals and/or hybrid journals (subscription with optional OA).

Contrary to publishers' communications to authors (e.g. Elsevier, May 2023), these discount schemes have no incentive value and are only intended to limit the cost of Open Access for authors who choose to pay the APC.

 
Publishers Hybrid Journals Fully OA Journals
Elsevier Corresponding authors can receive a 35.4% discount on APCs for articles submitted in 2022, and a 40.88% discount on APCs for articles submitted in 2023, for most Elsevier journals (with exceptions). Read more: Couperin Corresponding authors can receive a 35.4% discount on APCs for articles submitted in 2022, and a 40.88% discount on APCs for articles submitted in 2023, for most Elsevier journals (with exceptions). Read more: Couperin
MDPI   Since 2018, the University has had a free institutional account with this publisher, which allows University corresponding authors to receive a 10% discount on APCs.
RSC 2022-2024

 

 15% discount on APCs.

What is the cost of APCs?

Search the DOAJ : Directory of Open Access Journals for open access journal APCs.

In recent years, publication charges for OA journals have risen sharply, well above the rate of inflation. However, it is important to distinguish between the price of APCs paid by authors (or their institutions/funders) and the real cost of these articles to publishers, which is generally much lower. See Grossmann, A., & Brembs, B. (2021). Current market rates for scholarly publishing services. F1000Research, 10(20), 20. https://doi.org/10.12688/f1000research.27468.1

Publishing costs at the University

The Couperin consortium has released a

Guide pratique pour le suivi des dépenses de frais de publication - (498.08 KB)

to facilitate the identification of costs related to Open Publication or Open Access, in particular Article Processing Charges (APC). This guide, based on the new version of the NACRES classification (in force from January 2021), is intended for research unit managers, financial and accounting departments of institutions, as well as for researchers.

An estimate of Open Access APC expenditure on university budgets from 2015 to 2020 is available on OpenAPC, a German initiative to identify APC expenditure internationally.

View the APC expenditures of the university's research units

In France, this data has been collected from institutions since 2018 as part of an annual survey conducted by the Couperin University Consortium. At the end of 2022, the Ministry of Higher Education and Research published a study quantifying the costs generated by publication fees (+30 M€ for the year 2020) and forecasting their evolution until 2030.

High publishing costs = better impact?

An interactive tool designed by researchers, Cost Effectiveness for Open Access Journals (see how to use and interpret the results), allows you to measure the impact rate in relation to the amount of APC for a given journal or publisher. Article behind this tool: Cost Effectiveness for Open Access Journals (2014).

Furthermore, high OA fees are not correlated with the quality and impact of journals, but rather with the market power of scientific publishers. Article: Budzinski, Oliver, et al. "Drivers of article processing charges in open access." Scientometrics 124.3 (2020): 2185-2206. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-020-03578-3

See also Zoë Corbin's article on this topic (Nature, 22/01/2013) : Price doesn't always buy prestige in open access.