Open Access Publishing Support Fund

East Carolina University Libraries are committed to supporting the research, publishing, and scholarly communication activities at ECU. To reduce barriers to open access publishing and to support faculty, staff, and graduate students who choose open access publishing as the best venue for their work, ECU has established the Open Access Publishing Support Fund (OAPSF).

In addition to the OAPSF, ECU Libraries have established agreements with some publishers to reduce the article processing charges (APCs) for open access articles or to pay the APCs. For more information on available discounts, please visit our Sustainable Scholarship site. Please note: articles published in journals eligible for a discount or full APC payment are not eligible for additional support from the OAPSF.

Guidelines

1. The OAPSF for 2025-2026 supports an estimated amount of $1,000 per publication for APC/open access charges. The total amount is based on the number of successful applicants and amount of available funds. If you believe you have extenuating circumstances that require more funding, please reach out to scholarlycomm@ecu.edu.
2. This fund operates from the start of the fiscal year and has two deadlines: November 14th, 2025, and April 10th, 2026. Please have your completed submission in by either of these two deadlines as the committee will meet to discuss the submissions after the fall and spring deadlines. All Article Processing Cost (APC) invoices must be from the current fiscal year to be eligible.
3. This fund acts as a reimbursement. We can only accept applications that include a receipt from the publisher confirming that the APC/open access fees have already been paid. Authors should request that their department pay the APC prior to applying to this fund. For an example email template for reaching out to your department please see the end of the guideline. Examples of other funding support may include grants, Facilities and Administrative Cost (F&A), and support from co-authors.
4. Reimbursements will only be transferred to ECU departments or accounts. This fund cannot pay publishers directly.
5. Articles published in journals where ECU already has a selective publishing agreement to reduce or cover APCs/open access charges are not eligible for the OAPSF. To review current agreements please visit our Sustainable Scholarship Open Access Publishing site.
6. The author/applicant must be a current faculty, staff, graduate student, postdoctoral scholar, or resident physician at the time of reimbursement. Graduate student applicants must be current students and include a current ECU faculty member in the author list. This fund is intended to support the publication efforts of ECU affiliated authors. The author affiliation must reflect ECU.
7. Reimbursement will only provide funding towards required article processing charges (APC)/open access charges. The additional costs journals may add to submissions (such as page costs) are outside of the scope of this fund.
8. Books and book chapters have the same requirements and eligibility as journal articles. Creative works and translations may be accepted on a case-by-case basis so long as it relates to your work and research at ECU. Textbooks are not supported by this fund, for information on publishing an open textbook please reach out to scholarlycomm@ecu.edu.
9. Each applicant may receive one award in the course of a year (July 1 – June 30). In exceptional cases a request for more than one award in a given year may be considered. First time applications are strongly encouraged.
10. Journals and publishers must have a commitment to scholarly integrity. This may be demonstrated by membership in relevant publication associations like Committee on Publications Ethics (COPE) or evidence that the publisher adheres to Code of Conducts guided by publisher associations.
11. Funded authors agree to provide an acceptable copy of the article to The ScholarShip, ECU’s Institutional Repository at the time of reimbursement.

Application & Funding Process

1. Authors must fill out an online application form and provide a copy of the paid journal invoice. Contact information for department business officer or FOAP (Fund Or Accounts Payable) contact must be included in the application.
2. The application will be reviewed by the ECU Libraries’ OAPSF committees which are comprised of representatives from ECU Libraries and the Faculty Senate Libraries Committee. The committees’ primary process for reviewing applications operates from the start of the fiscal year until November 14th and April 10th. Exceptions may be considered on a case-by-case basis or if funds are almost expended. Exceptions may be considered on a case-by-case basis or if funds are almost expended.
3. The committees will review and select applications based on the following:
   • Journal quality and commitment to scholarly integrity
   • Total amount of support requested
   • Total available OAPSF Funds
   • Total number of applications
   • Reason funding is requested
   • Availability of other funding (i.e. F&A, grants, ECU Libraries’ publisher agreements)
4. Approved applications will receive reimbursement from the OAPSF within four-eight weeks of confirmation that you will receive the fund. Reimbursement will be sent to the applicant’s home department via a departmental transfer. The department is responsible for paying the publisher.

For questions regarding the Open Access Publishing Support Fund, please contact us at scholarlycomm@ecu.edu.