A campus open access fund is a fund set aside by an institution specifically to cover costs for researchers who publish in journals with article processing charges (APC). The fundamental goal of an open-access fund is to support publication models that enable free, immediate, online distribution of, and access to, scholarly research.
SPARC supports experimentation with open-access funds across institutions of all shapes and sizes. By making it easier for their authors to publish in open-access journals, institutions with open-access funds foster experimentation with new and innovative publishing models across the research community.
The resources on this page are intended to provide vital information to (a) institutions contemplating the creation of an open-access fund, (b) institutions that are currently operating funds, (c) authors who are seeking to learn more about the opportunities such funds provide, and (d) anyone else in the scholarly communication community wanting to keep abreast of important developments in this area.
Campus Open Access Fund Five Year Review
This is a progress report on the quantitative and anecdotal successes of campus open access funds across North America.
Read the full report here. A summary infographic can be seen here.
Campus Open Access Funds: A Practical Guide to Design and Implementation
This SPARC guide provides information to institutions that want to understand why campus open access funds are being launched, what decisions go into their creation, and how they are being managed. It also provides a window in the lessons earned by institutions that have already created open access Funds.
Read the Campus Open Access Funds Guide
Funds In Action
This valuable resource provides a regularly updated analysis of campuses that have established campus open access funds. It includes information on the source of the funds, amount available for authors, eligibility, restrictions and information how the funds are being used. If you’re contemplating establishing a Fund, this is a must-read to get the latest information on what’s happening in this space.
Implementation Tools
Read the Campus Open Access Fund FAQ for administrators, authors, and publishers, plus basics on Open Access and open access funds.
Template resources for institutions working to implement an open access fund:
