Open Access week is Oct. 21 to 27, and to celebrate, the Henry Madden Library announces the launch of a pilot Open Access Publishing Fund benefiting Fresno State faculty and graduate students who wish to publish their scholarly research in Open Access journals during the 2019–20 academic year.

Open Access is a publishing model that makes scholarly information available online for free, without paywalls or subscription fees. Researchers can access scholarly literature without depending on their institutions to subscribe to journals. The public also has free access to research results that in many cases they have funded as taxpayers.

Removing barriers for readers, however, sometimes creates barriers for authors. In place of subscriptions, many Open Access journals charge publication fees to authors, making Open Access unavailable to researchers with limited funding. The library has created the Open Access Publishing Fund to subsidize these fees for those publishing in the Fresno State community.

Fresno State faculty and graduate students may apply for up to $2,000 to support publication of Open Access articles that have recently been accepted or have been published within the last 30 days in peer-reviewed, Open Access journals. Funds will be distributed on a first-come, first-served basis until exhausted. For complete details and to apply, visit http://oafund.library.fresnostate.edu.

This fund is one part of the library’s support for new and innovative research in the academic community. The hope is that the fund will encourage Fresno State scholars to publish through Open Access.

For any questions on the fund or about Open Access, contact David Drexler, scholarly communications librarian, at ddrexler@csufresno.edu or 559.278.3144.

The Center for Faculty Excellence is hosting several programs on Open Access and Open Educational Resources in celebration of Open Access Week. Find full information and register to attend here.