Open-Access Publishing Funding

Open-access (OA) publishing for research articles is growing in popularity; OA publications have more than doubled in the past 5 years as more faculty wish to maximize the accessibility of their work. Many OA journals are highly regarded by researchers and have high impact factors. OA publishing, thus, represents a small but growing proportion of our university’s publications. As more and more faculty choose OA publishing, it will become an important means of promotion for CSULB. OA publishing fees range up to $5,000 and can be prohibitively expensive for some faculty. Given the promotional benefits, it seems prudent for the University in general and ORED in particular to develop a process to assist faculty whose work is accepted for publication in OA journals. The following is a pilot program for ORED support of OA publishing by CSULB faculty. 

  1. ORED allocates $20,000 annually to support research publications by CSULB faculty. All tenured and probationary faculty and full-time lecturers may apply for ORED money to fund publication of their work.  These individuals may request funding for half the amount of open-access publishing fees, up to a $2,000-limit (the limit applies to the manuscript; manuscripts co-authored by multiple CSULB researchers cannot be the subject of multiple requests for funding). Requests will be accepted on a rolling basis and evaluated 3 times a year: November evaluation of all requests received July-October; March evaluation of all requests received November-February; and July evaluation of all requests received March-June. About $7,000 will be awarded for each period.  Apply on Info-Ready. 
  2. Requests for funding can be made after an article is accepted for publication and up to 2 months after the article is published. Requests are made by completing the InfoReady form. 
  3. Requests for funding for OA publishing will be evaluated by the University Research Advisory Committee (URAC) who will make funding recommendations to the AVP Research & Economic Development. Priorities include (not in ranked order): 

    1. The journal has a high impact factor or is otherwise highly respected. 

    2. The article is co-authored by CSULB students. 

    3. The requestor is a probationary faculty member. 

    4. The requestor has not received ORED funds for publishing in the past year.