To apply for an APC follow the instructions below. However, the Library has agreements with publishers that allow you to publish Open Access for free without needing to apply for an APC.

Use our Read and Publish journal search to identify journals which are part of our agreements. Please take these agreements into consideration when deciding where to publish.

Additional publisher costs, such as submission charges or page or colour charges, are not covered by by the APC fund or any of our read and publish agreements.

Articles, review articles, conference proceedings and case reports are usually covered by these agreements and the APC fund. Book reviews, letters and obituaries are not. The terms used to define publication types differ from publisher to publisher, so check the terms of the agreement outlined by your intended publisher or journal on their sites.  

We receive a block grant from UKRI to cover the costs of APCs for articles arising from UKRI funded projects. This fund runs from April to March. 

We have a separate Library APC fund to cover the costs of APCs from non-UKRI projects for articles in open journals or in Elsevier hybrid and open journals. This fund runs from August to July. 

Please check if any of the publishers with free APCs are suitable for your article.

See the Open Access Publishing Sharepoint site for information about the current status of APC funds and the latest news and announcements.

Application process

To be eligible to use either of the funds you need to meet these criteria:

• be publishing in an open journal, an Elsevier journal or be UKRI funded
• you're a Kent staff member or research postgraduate
• you use a Kent email address from submission onwards
• you are the corresponding author
• you have an accurate cost for the APC
• the article has been accepted for publication (for fully Open Access journals, submitted articles that have not yet been accepted will be considered)
• the article is published under a CC BY licence
• the University of Kent is given as the institutional affiliation
• if UKRI funded, the funding council is acknowledged in the work

Your application will be subject to an assessment by your School Director of Research and Innovation.

How to apply

If it's a joint paper, only apply if you are the author who is entering into the contract with the publisher; if that's someone else, they need to apply for the APC at their home institution.

You need this information:

• project title
• article title
• author names, with lead author defined
• title of intended journal
• funder and grant reference number
• cost.

What happens next?

We'll email you with a reference number and lead you through the rest of the process.

When your article is accepted

Don't rely on your application for an APC being successful to meet the Open Access requirements for the REF. As soon as your article is accepted you should use our REF Assisted Deposit Service to send us your author accepted manuscript to add to KAR for you. 

When your article gets published

If you're successful with your application for an APC:

1. view the journal online and check that the publisher has applied the APC and that the article is OA 
2. Contact us on researchsupport@kent.ac.uk and we will update the KAR record 

Need research support or advice? Email researchsupport@kent.ac.uk

Find out all the ways you can get in touch.