RGU library is part of several consortia that negotiate with publishers. These consortia have been able to obtain a selection of publisher deals that help to reduce the costs of Gold Open Access. A full list of the deals available to RGU authors appears later in this guide.

If your journal of preference is not covered by any of the available offset deals, or if the relevant offset deal provides only a partial reduction of costs rather than a complete waiver, move on to the next step.

The European Commission have a publishing platform called Open Research Europe, which is specifically intended for research outputs that acknowledge funding from Horizon 2020 or Horizon Europe. The platform aims to provide beneficiaries of this funding with an easy-to-use, high-quality and peer-reviewed venue for the publication of their results, in a way that is compliant with the European Commission's requirements for Open Access. Publishing open access on Open Research Europe is free to authors. Full details of how to use the platform are available on the Open Research Europe website.

If your article does not acknowledge funding from Horizon 2020 or Horizon Europe, or if you would prefer not to publish on Open Research Europe, move on to the next step.

If your article acknowledges funding from UKRI or one of the research councils, then you may be able to use money from RGU's UKRI block grant to pay for Gold Open Access. Details about applying to use the block grant are provided later in this guide.

If your article does not acknowledge UKRI or research council funding, or if you are unable to make use of the block grant for some other reason, move on to the next step.

Some funders may include money to help pay for Gold Open Access when they award a research grant. Other funders - like several medical research charities (formerly part of the Charity Open Access Fund (COAF)) - may be willing to provide additional money for Gold Open Access on an individual basis. In either case, it is worth double-checking the terms and conditions of your grant to see whether your funder may be able to help you. Further information on the support offered by certain funding bodies is available in our guide on funder requirements for Open Access.

If your funder is unable to help, or if they are unable to cover the entire fee, move on to the next step. (Please note that we do not currently have a UKRI block grant to offer for UKRI-funded researchers)

Some Schools at RGU may be willing to contribute a small amount of money to help cover the costs of Gold Open Access, depending on departmental budgets and the amount involved. You should speak directly with your line manager or Head of School to discuss this.

If your department is unable to help, or if they are unable to cover the entire fee, move on to the next step.

In most cases, Gold Open Access is not essential. It is usually possible to make your work openly available via Green Open Access instead, which costs you nothing and can often still ensure that your output complies with funder requirements. More information on how the Green route works and on funder requirements for Green Open Access can be found in separate guides.

If you still want to publish through the Gold route, or if using the Green route for the specific journal/publisher you have in mind would not be compliant with your funder's requirements, then you will either need to choose a different journal/publisher, or you will need to find a way of paying for Gold Open Access yourself.

• Offset Amount. Complete waiver on all APCs. No limit on the number of articles that can be covered by this deal.
• Journals Covered. All ACS journals, both hybrid and fully Gold OA. Refer to the ACS website for a list of titles.
• Article Types Covered. All article types (except: Additions; Corrections; Editorials).
• Deal Duration. 1st January 2022 - 31st December 2024.
• Workflow. The corresponding author must be affiliated with RGU, selecting RGU as their primary affiliation and using their RGU email address when communicating with the publisher. After acceptance, you will be asked to complete a publishing agreement. Choose to publish open access. The publisher will then contact the Publications Team to confirm that this deal can be used to cover the APC for your article. If you are asked to choose a licence, we recommend selecting CC BY.
• Other Details. Further information about this deal is available on the ACS website. When reading the guidance on how to make use of the deal, please note that we have a "touch-free" workflow.

• Offset Amount. Complete waiver on all APCs. No limit on the number of articles that can be covered by this deal.
• Journals Covered. All ACM journals and conference proceedings, both hybrid and fully Gold OA. Refer to the ACM website for a list of titles.
• Article Types Covered. All fully peer-reviewed research articles.
• Deal Duration. 1st January 2023 - 31st December 2025.
• Workflow. The corresponding author must be affiliated with RGU, selecting RGU as their primary affiliation and using their RGU email address when communicating with the publisher. After acceptance, you will be asked to complete an assignment of rights and permissions on ACM's eRights form. Choose to publish open access (i.e. granting ACM the non-exclusive right to publish your work) and select your preferred licence - we recommend CC BY.
• Other Details. Further information about the ACM OPEN model that supports this deal is available on the ACM website.

• Offset Amount. Complete waiver on all APCs for funded articles (see "Other Details" below). For other articles, complete waiver on APCs in certain journals only (see "Journals Covered" below). No limit on the number of articles that can be covered by this deal.
• Journals Covered. BMJ hybrid journals (both funded articles and other articles), and fully Gold OA journals (funded articles only) - see "Other Details" below for more information about "funded" articles. Refer to the BMJ website for a list of titles: under the section "Find out if you are entitled to institutional funding", select Robert Gordon University. Further information then displays, including a dropdown list of journal titles covered by this deal.
• Article Types Covered. Original articles reporting on primary research; Review articles for certain funded articles only (see "Other Details" below - applies to any of the funders listed under "UKRI").
• Deal Duration. 1st January 2023 - 31st December 2024.
• Workflow. The corresponding author must be affiliated with RGU, selecting RGU as their primary affiliation and using their RGU email address when communicating with the publisher. After acceptance, the publisher should contact the Publications Team to confirm that this deal can be used to cover the APC for your article. For funded articles (see "Other Details" below), the publisher should automatically apply a CC BY licence in all journals. For other articles, the publisher should still automatically apply a CC BY licence for most journals, but some society journals will instead apply a CC BY-NC licence.
• Other Details. In the sections above, the term "funded articles" refers to articles that acknowledge funding from one of the following specific funding bodies:
  • Medical Charities:
    • Blood Cancer UK
    • British Heart Foundation
    • Cancer Research UK
    • Parkinson's UK
    • Versus Arthritis
  • UKRI:
    • Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC)
    • Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC)
    • Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC)
    • Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC)
    • Innovate UK
    • Medical Research Council (MRC)
    • Natural Environment Research Council (NERC)
    • Research England
    • Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC)
    • UK Research and Innovation (UKRI)
  • Wellcome Trust

• Offset Amount. Complete waiver on all APCs. No limit on the number of articles that can be covered by this deal.
• Journals Covered. All Brill journals. Refer to the Brill website to browse their available titles.
• Article Types Covered. Research articles; Review articles; Conference papers.
• Deal Duration. 1st January 2023 - 31st December 2024.
• Workflow. The corresponding author must be affiliated with RGU, selecting RGU as their primary affiliation and using their RGU email address when communicating with the publisher. The publisher should automatically detect that your article is eligible to be published through this deal. Your article should then eventually be published under a CC BY licence.
• Other Details. Further information on this deal is available on the Brill website. (Note that this webpage currently reflects the previous 2021-2022 version of the deal.)

• Offset Amount. Complete waiver on all APCs. No limit on the number of articles that can be covered by this deal.
• Journals Covered. Most CUP journals, both hybrid and fully Gold OA. Refer to the CUP website for a list of titles: under the section "Use our tool to find out if you are eligible for an Open Access waiver or discount", set the country as "United Kingdom", select Robert Gordon University as your institution and then select "View Your Publishing Agreement". Further information then displays, including a list of journal titles covered by this deal.
• Article Types Covered. Research articles; Review articles; Rapid communications; Brief reports; Case reports.
• Deal Duration. 1st January 2021 - 31st December 2024.
• Workflow. The corresponding author must be affiliated with RGU, selecting RGU as their primary affiliation and using their RGU email address when communicating with the publisher. After acceptance, choose Open Access. When choosing a licence, we recommend selecting CC BY. The publisher should then contact the Publications Team to confirm that this deal can be used for your article.
• Other Details. Further information about this deal is available on the CUP website.

• Offset Amount. Complete waiver on all APCs. No limit on the number of articles that can be covered by this deal.
• Journals Covered. Hybrid journals in Elsevier's "Core", "Cell Press" and "The Lancet" collections. Refer to the Elsevier website for a list of titles.
• Article Types Covered. Research articles; Review articles; Case reports; Data in brief; Microarticles; Original software publications; Protocols; Replication studies; Short communications; Short surveys; Video articles; Practice guidelines.
• Deal Duration. 1st January 2022 - 31st December 2024.
• Workflow. The corresponding author must be affiliated with RGU, selecting RGU as their primary affiliation and using their RGU email address when communicating with the publisher. When submitting your article, select the Open Access publishing option (this is an indication only). After acceptance, you will be asked to complete a "Rights and Access" form, which will include your final selection of publishing option - again, select Open Access. You should see that a 100% discount has been applied to the APC. When choosing a licence, we recommend selecting CC BY. Complete the rest of the "Rights and Access" form. The article should appear on the publisher's website within 48 hours. The publisher will then contact the Publications Team to confirm that this deal can be used to cover the APC for your article.
• Other Details. Further information on this deal is available on the Elsevier website.

• Offset Amount. 15% discount on all APCs. No limit on the number of articles that can be covered by this deal.
• Journals Covered. Elsevier fully Gold OA journals. Refer to the Elsevier website for a list of titles.
• Article Types Covered. Research articles; Review articles; Case reports; Data in brief; Microarticles; Original software publications; Protocols; Replication studies; Short communications; Short surveys; Video articles; Practice guidelines.
• Deal Duration. 1st January 2022 - 31st December 2024.
• Workflow. The corresponding author must be affiliated with RGU, selecting RGU as their primary affiliation and using their RGU email address when communicating with the publisher. After acceptance, you will be asked to complete a "Rights and Access" form. On the "Publishing Options" page of that form, you should see that a 15% discount has been applied to the APC. When choosing a licence, we recommend selecting CC BY. Complete the "Rights" and "Publishing Agreement" pages of the form. On the "Payment Details" page, provide the details of the person to be invoiced for the remaining APC (see separate guidance if you intend to use the UKRI block grant for this). Complete the rest of the "Rights and Access" form. The article should appear on the publisher's website within 48 hours. The publisher will then contact the Publications Team to confirm that this deal can be used to reduce the APC for your article.
• Other Details. Further information on this deal is available on the Elsevier website.

• Offset Amount. Complete waiver on all APCs. No limit on the number of articles that can be covered by this deal.
• Journals Covered. All Karger journals. Refer to the Karger website for a list of titles.
• Article Types Covered. All articles.
• Deal Duration. 1st January 2023 - 31st December 2025.
• Workflow. The corresponding author must be affiliated with RGU, selecting RGU as their primary affiliation and using their RGU email address when communicating with the publisher. During submission and after acceptance, ensure that you choose Open Access if publishing in a hybrid journal. We recommend that you request a CC BY licence, which may not be offered by default but which is permitted by the publisher on request. The publisher should automatically determine whether this deal can be used to cover the APC for your article.
• Other Details. Remember that you will need to actively request a CC BY licence from the publisher, especially if this is something required by your funder. See our separate guide for a summary of some common funder requirements.

• Offset Amount. Complete waiver on all APCs.
• Journals Covered. Most OUP journals, both hybrid and fully Gold OA. Refer to the OUP website for a list of titles.
• Article Types Covered. Research articles; Review articles; Brief reports; Case reports.
• Deal Duration. 1st January 2024 - 31st December 2025.
• Workflow. The corresponding author must be affiliated with RGU, selecting RGU as their primary affiliation and using their RGU email address when communicating with the publisher. The publisher should then automatically detect that your work is eligible for using this deal and you will be routed through a process that shows you OA licensing options with no charges (we recommend choosing CC BY). You will then be guided to refer your article to this agreement - you should not need to select it or in any way opt in, in order to use this deal. A step-by-step guide for authors is available on the OUP website. The publisher will then contact the Publications Team to confirm that this deal can be used for your article.
• Other Details. Further information on this deal is available on the OUP website.

• Offset Amount. Complete waiver on three APCs each year. (One remaining for 2024)
• Journals Covered. RSC hybrid journals (i.e. all RSC journals except: the Chemistry Education Research and Practice journal, and those journals marked as "Gold Open Access"). Refer to the RSC website for a list of titles.
• Article Types Covered. All peer-reviewed article types.
• Deal Duration. 1st January 2022 - 31st December 2024.
• Workflow. The corresponding author must be affiliated with RGU, selecting RGU as their primary affiliation and using their RGU email address when communicating with the publisher. This deal should be automatically applied on a first-come, first-served basis. After acceptance, you should be offered a choice of open licences, rather than the standard licence to publish. When choosing a licence, we recommend selecting CC BY.

• Offset Amount. Complete waiver on all APCs. No limit on the number of articles that can be covered by this deal.
• Journals Covered. SAGE hybrid journals ("SAGE Choice"). Refer to the SAGE website for a list of titles.
• Article Types Covered. Original research papers; Review papers; Brief communications; Short reports; Case reports.
• Deal Duration. 1st January 2023 - 31st December 2024.
• Workflow. The corresponding author must be affiliated with RGU, selecting RGU as their primary affiliation and using their RGU email address when communicating with the publisher. After acceptance, you will be told that you are eligible to publish open access without additional payment. Confirm that you wish to do so on the publisher's OA portal, within 14 days of receiving the email. When choosing a licence, we recommend selecting CC BY (SAGE may offer CC BY-NC by default, but you can contact them to request CC BY instead).

• Offset Amount. 20% discount on most APCs and a higher discount on APCs for a small selection of journals. No limit on the number of articles that can be covered by this deal.
• Journals Covered. Most SAGE fully OA journals ("SAGE Pure Gold"). Refer to SAGE's webpage for this agreement for a list of titles. The list also notes where the available discount is higher than 20%.
• Article Types Covered. Original research papers; Review papers; Brief communications; Short reports; Case reports.
• Deal Duration. 1st January 2023 - 31st December 2024.
• Workflow. Make sure you have the funds to pay the discounted APC before submitting your article to the journal - see separate guidance if you intend to use RGU's UKRI block grant to cover this cost. To be eligible for the discount, the corresponding author must be affiliated with RGU, selecting RGU as their primary affiliation and using their RGU email address when communicating with the publisher. After acceptance, you will be told that you are eligible for a discount on the normal APC. Confirm the OA publishing agreement on the publisher's OA portal. When choosing a licence, we recommend selecting CC BY (SAGE may offer CC BY-NC by default, but you can contact them to request CC BY instead).

• Offset Amount. Complete waiver on all APCs. No limit on the number of articles that can be covered by this deal.
• Journals Covered. SCOAP3 is a consortium of libraries and other institutions, which has set up a discipline-based agreement with the publishers of a small number of journals. The journals in question publish research in high energy physics. Refer to the SCOAP3 website for a list of titles.
• Article Types Covered. All article types.
• Deal Duration. 1st January 2017 - 31st December 2024.
• Workflow. Submit your work to the journal as normal. It should automatically be published open access after acceptance, regardless of your institutional affiliation.
• Other Details. The SCOAP3 deal covers all articles in some journals, but only high energy physics articles in other journals. This normally depends on each journal's scope. Further details on this are available as an FAQ on the SCOAP3 website (refer to the question titled, "Are all articles in a SCOAP3 journal automatically made Open Access?").

• Offset Amount. Complete waiver on all APCs. A national limit applies to the number of articles that can be covered by this deal each year. This entry will be updated if that limit is reached within a given year.
• Journals Covered. Nature hybrid research journals. Refer to the Springer website, under the "Publishing open access in a Nature Portfolio journal" section, for a list of titles.
• Article Types Covered. Research articles, Original papers (also referred to as Analyses, Articles, Letters, Brief communications, Registered reports, Resources, or Technical reports).
• Deal Duration. 1st January 2023 - 31st December 2025.
• Workflow. The corresponding author must be affiliated with RGU, selecting RGU as their primary affiliation and using their RGU email address when communicating with the publisher. After acceptance, you will be told that you are eligible to publish open access without additional payment. After you have signed the licence, the publisher will then contact the Publications Team to confirm that this deal can be used to cover the APC for your article.

• Offset Amount. Complete waiver on all APCs. No limit on the number of articles that can be covered by this deal.
• Journals Covered. Springer hybrid journals ("Springer Open Choice"), including certain journals on Nature.com. Refer to the Springer website, under the "Publishing open access in a Springer Portfolio journal" section, for a list of titles.
• Article Types Covered. Original papers (also referred to as Original research, Original articles, or Research papers); Review papers; Brief communications; Continuing education.
• Deal Duration. 1st January 2023 - 31st December 2025.
• Workflow. The corresponding author must be affiliated with RGU, selecting RGU as their primary affiliation and using their RGU email address when communicating with the publisher. After acceptance, you will be told that you are eligible to publish open access without additional payment. After you have signed the licence, the publisher will then contact the Publications Team to confirm that this deal can be used to cover the APC for your article.

• Offset Amount. 15% discount on all APCs. No limit on the number of articles that can be covered by this deal.
• Journals Covered. Springer Nature fully OA journals. Refer to the Springer website, under the "Publishing in a fully open access journal" section, for a list of titles.
• Article Types Covered. For Nature journals: Research articles, Original papers (also referred to as Analyses, Articles, Letters, Brief communications, Registered reports, Resources, or Technical reports). For Springer journals: Original papers (also referred to as Original research, Original articles, or Research papers); Review papers; Brief communications; Continuing education.
• Deal Duration. 1st January 2023 - 31st December 2025.
• Workflow. Make sure you have the funds to pay the discounted APC before submitting your article to the journal - see separate guidance if you intend to use RGU's UKRI block grant to cover this cost. To be eligible for the discount, the corresponding author must be affiliated with RGU, selecting RGU as their primary affiliation and using their RGU email address when communicating with the publisher. After acceptance, you will be told that you are eligible for a discount on the normal APC. Confirm the OA publishing agreement on the publisher's OA portal. The publisher will then contact the Publications Team to confirm that this deal can be used to reduce the APC for your article.

• Offset Amount. Complete waiver on all APCs. There is a national limit on the number of articles that can be covered by this deal in any given year. This entry will be updated if the limit is reached within a given year.
• Journals Covered.
  • Taylor and Francis hybrid ("Open Select") journals: see the Taylor and Francis website for a list of hybrid journals.
  • Taylor and Francis fully OA journals: see the Taylor and Francis website for a list of fully OA journals.
  • The Routledge Open Research platform.
  • The F1000Research open research platform.
• Article Types Covered. For Taylor and Francis journals: Research articles only. For Routledge Open Research and F1000Research: Research articles; Method articles; Antibody Validation articles; Reviews; Systematic reviews; Clinical practice articles; Case reports; Opinion articles.
• Deal Duration. 1st January 2024 - 31st December 2025.
• Workflow. For all journals and platforms, the corresponding author must be affiliated with RGU, selecting RGU as their primary affiliation and using their RGU email address when communicating with the publisher. Additionally:
  • For Taylor and Francis hybrid ("Open Select") journals: After acceptance, the publisher will ask you to select and sign a publishing licence (we recommend choosing CC BY). Once you have done this, the publisher will then contact the Publications Team to confirm that this deal can be used for your article.
  • For Taylor and Francis fully OA journals: On submission, you will be given the option to choose to use this agreement. Once you have done so, the publisher will then contact the Publications Team to confirm that this deal can be used for your article. If the article is accepted after peer review, the publisher will then ask you to select and sign a publishing licence (we recommend choosing CC BY). The publisher may contact the Publications Team again at this point to provide final confirmation that this deal can be used for your article.
  • For the Routledge Open Research and the F1000Research platforms: After acceptance, the publisher will then contact the Publications Team to confirm that this deal can be used for your article.
• Other Details. Further details about the agreement are available on the Taylor and Francis website.

• Offset Amount. Complete waiver on all APCs in Wiley's hybrid journals. Complete waiver on APCs in Wiley's fully OA journals and Hindawi journals (all of which are fully OA) up to a national limit each year; after the limit has been reached, articles in fully OA journals will instead receive only a 15% discount on the usual APC. This entry will be updated if the limit is reached in any given year.
• Journals Covered. All Wiley hybrid ("OnlineOpen") and fully Gold OA ("Wiley Open Access") journals, and all Hindawi journals. Refer to the Wiley website for links to lists of the titles that are covered.
• Article Types Covered. Primary research articles; Review articles.
• Deal Duration. 1st January 2024 - 31st December 2025.
• Workflow - Wiley hybrid journals. The corresponding author must be affiliated with RGU, selecting RGU as their primary affiliation and using their RGU email address when communicating with the publisher. After your article is accepted, you will be asked to log into Wiley's Author Services and select "Yes, make my article open access". (If you are asked to choose a licence, we recommend CC BY). The publisher will then contact the Publications Team to confirm that this deal can be used. See Wiley's hybrid workflow guide for more information.
• Workflow - Wiley fully OA journals. The corresponding author must be affiliated with RGU, selecting RGU as their primary affiliation and using their RGU email address when communicating with the publisher. On submitting your article, select the payment option "The Corresponding Author's institution/funder has an agreement with Wiley" and then follow the on-screen instructions to obtain the account code. (If you are asked to choose a licence, we recommend CC BY). The publisher will then contact the Publications Team to confirm that this deal can be used. See Wiley's fully OA workflow guide for more information.
• Workflow - Hindawi journals. The corresponding author must be affiliated with RGU, selecting RGU as their primary affiliation and using their RGU email address when communicating with the publisher. On submitting your article, please agree to the APC. (If you are asked to choose a licence, we recommend CC BY). The publisher will then contact the Publications Team to confirm that this deal can be used. See Hindawi's workflow guide for more information.
• Other Details. Some journals still have page and colour charges, which are not covered by this agreement. Further details about the agreement are available on the Wiley website.

It is the responsibility of the grant-holding author to ensure that the article is compliant with UKRI requirements. RGU authors should contact the Publications Team prior to submission with information about their preferred journals. The Publications Team will be able to advise on whether the preferred journals offer a compliant policy for Green Open Access and also whether they are affected by any of RGU's offset agreements, which can help to mitigate the cost of Gold Open Access.

RGU prefers to rely on Green Open Access for compliance where possible. Where compliant Green Open Access is not an option or where the cost of Gold Open Access is sufficiently small, RGU will consider paying for Gold Open Access from the UKRI block grant. The RGU author should request use of the block grant via the Publications Team (see "How to Apply" above). Please note that payment for Gold Open Access is not guaranteed. When RGU is unable to pay for Gold Open Access, the author may be expected to consider alternative journals in order to achieve compliance.

It is the responsibility of the grant-holding author to ensure that the article is compliant with UKRI requirements. RGU authors should ensure that the non-RGU corresponding author is aware of the need for compliance as early as possible in the publication process. RGU authors are welcome to contact the Publications Team prior to submission with information about their preferred journals. The Publications Team will be able to advise on whether the preferred journals offer a compliant policy for Green Open Access.

RGU prefers to rely on Green Open Access for compliance where possible. Where compliant Green Open Access is not an option or where the cost of Gold Open Access is sufficiently small, RGU will consider offering to pay for Gold Open Access from the UKRI block grant. The RGU author should request use of the block grant via the Publications Team (see "How to Apply" above). Please note that payment for Gold Open Access is not guaranteed and it may be necessary for the corresponding author to request funds to cover payment for Gold Open Access from their own institution instead. Where neither RGU nor the corresponding institution are able to pay for Gold Open Access, the authors may be expected to consider alternative journals in order to achieve compliance.

It is the responsibility of the grant-holding author to ensure that the article is compliant with UKRI requirements. RGU authors should expect to help their co-authors achieve compliance with their funders' requirements for Open Access. RGU authors are welcome to contact the Publications Team prior to submission with information about their preferred journals. The Publications Team will be able to advise on whether the preferred journals offer a compliant policy for Green Open Access and also whether they are affected by any of RGU's offset agreements to mitigate the cost of Gold Open Access.

RGU prefers to rely on Green Open Access for compliance where possible. Where compliant Green Open Access is not an option or where the cost of Gold Open Access is sufficiently small, RGU will consider paying for Gold Open Access from the UKRI block grant. The RGU author should request use of the block grant via the Publications Team (see "How to Apply" above). Please note that payment for Gold Open Access is not guaranteed and it may be necessary for the grant-holding co-author to request funds to cover payment for Gold Open Access from their own institution instead. Where neither RGU nor the grant-holding institution are able to pay for Gold Open Access, the authors may need to consider alternative journals in order to achieve compliance.

It is the responsibility of the grant-holding author to ensure that the article is compliant with UKRI requirements. RGU would not expect to be asked to pay for Gold Open Access in these circumstances. In addition, the article would not be covered by any of RGU's offset agreements for Gold Open Access. However, RGU authors are still welcome to contact the Publications Team with any general queries about their preferred journals.