Welcome to the University of Oklahoma Libraries Open Access (OA) Research Publication Fund. Both the University and the University Libraries are dedicated to increasing the ability of researchers of all levels to publish their work with fully open-access publishers. OA increases the visibility, readership, and impact of an author's works, democratizing access across all institutions, regardless of size or budget. OA publications are free for all readers, but publishing is not free. A variety of OA payment models exist, and sometimes the costs are the responsibility of the author or their associated institution. 

Colleges, departments, and individuals are expected to fund publication costs via external grants and the Sponsored Research Incentive (SRI). However, the university recognizes that such funding may not be available or sufficient in all cases, particularly for disciplines that have limited access to external support. Consequently, the OU Open-Access Research Publication Fund helps ensure that all open-access peer-reviewed scholarly work produced at OU is formally published.   

The University of Oklahoma Libraries (OU Libraries) administers funding for open-access publications generally as well as administering the Dodge Family College of Arts and Sciences Open-Access Book Award, and applications should be received prior to publication. Requests for additional information can be directed to subventionfunding@ou.edu.

All funding is administered throughout the fiscal year on a first-come, first-served basis. Once the funding is exhausted, the application will close for the fiscal year. The funding period will reopen at the start of the following fiscal year.

• The library is embarking on a two-year transition to exclusively support gold open-access (OA) article publications. 
  • These article publications, which only publish OA and do not charge any subscription fee, are the best way for the library to support OA to the greatest extent possible. 
  • This means that the library will begin phasing out Hybrid-OA funding.
  • Applications should be received prior to publication (before proofs).
  • The funding limit for gold open access articles has been increased to $3000.
  • The funding limit for hybrid OA remains is $1500.
  • In order to support our goal we have implemented the following funding limits:
    • each author may only receive funding once in a fiscal year and 
    • each article may only receive funding for one author.
  • For both OA and hybrid journals OU Libraries still wishes to support page charges related to unique opportunities. If you are offered an opportunity by a journal, such as a request for cover art or similar, please feel free to submit an application. Such applications will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis.
• Book Page Charges for Non-OA print books are still funded under our subvention funding for books award.
• Graduate students will now also be eligible for book page charges with this funding being provided by OU Libraries.
• NOTE: Applicants are responsible for securing any remaining necessary funding from their college and department, and are encouraged to discuss funding availability and process with college and department representatives before submitting an application for subvention funding.