Simplifying the Open Access Publishing Process

However, before you even entertain paying an APC, your article needs to be accepted into an OA journal and due to the increased benefits of publishing under OA, authors can face numerous challenges, including:

Increased Competition and Higher Rejection Rates: 

OA journals statistically have a higher competition rate, as many authors seek to increase the visibility of their research. This coupled with the fact that many OA journals are featured in prestigious indices, including Web of Science and Scopus, means that OA journals can have up to an 80% rejection rate, making it difficult for authors to get their research published under OA.

Due to this increased competition, authors need to ensure that their article not only meets the publisher’s guidelines before submission but stands out from the competition in terms of quality and content. As such, it is critical that authors utilize professional services, like IGI Global Author Services, to have their work professionally copyedited and even reviewed by a qualified expert in their field to ensure that their manuscript has significance in the field.  

Expedited Publishing Process and Review Times: 

When a journal is published under OA, it is no longer published in a specific issue, which accelerates the publishing process of manuscripts. Through IGI Global’s OA process, each of the articles undergo the same process as all of our book and journal projects, including a double-blind peer review process. Although this is great for the author to ensure that their research is published in a timely fashion, it can also make it difficult for them to meet the deadlines and complete the revisions during the peer review process.

Additionally, although the publishing process is accelerated many authors can still face the “endless peer review queue” where they receive continual revisions from reviewers, just to be faced with a rejection from the editor.

Article Process Charges and Funding: 

Once work is submitted and accepted into an OA publication, authors will need to pay an OA APC. As stated above, this OA APC covers the cost of all the resources utilized by the publisher to publish your article. This includes:

• Digital tools used to support the manuscript management and review process.
• Typesetting, formatting, and layout
• Online hosting
• Submission of the journal’s content to numerous abstracts, directories, and indexes
• Third-party software (e.g. plagiarism checks)
• Editorial support such as manuscript tracking, communications, submission guideline checks, and communications with authors and reviewers.
• All promotional support and activities include metadata distribution, press releases, promotional communications, web content, ads, flyers, brochures, postcards, etc. for the journal and its published contents.
• And more.

OA APCs can vary based on publisher and be between US$ 700-US$ 10,000 based on the journal’s prestige. If the author does not have funding to publish under OA, this can cause issues on enabling researchers the ability to publish under OA.

Moreover, while many institutions are setting aside OA funds for their faculty, just as many have not yet progressed toward this movement and/or awareness of those funds among faculty is minimal. Finding funding and ensuring that the journal aligns with the funder’s mandates can be just as difficult.

Although there are many benefits from publishing under OA, the challenges listed above can hinder many researchers. One of the best ways to overcome the challenges is to have your work professionally copyedited and proofread, as well as scientifically reviewed before it is submitted. By having your work copyedited and reviewed, you can streamline the publishing process by avoiding the endless peer review process and increasing your chances of conditional acceptance into an OA journal.

To assist authors in these challenges, IGI Global offers these services, including Copyediting and Proofreading through our Author Services. Through utilizing this high-quality service, authors can receive the following benefits:

• Competitively priced (as low as US$ 0.06/word)
• Adhering to hundreds of publishers’ guidelines.
• All Editors native English-speakers
• All Editors have a combined 70 years of experience.
• Thousands of Papers Edited since 2015.  
• All edits are presented via Microsoft Track Changes.
• Certificate of completion presented with a satisfaction guarantee.
• Expedited Turnaround Time on Each Service as low as One-Day Returns
• APA 7th edition, MLA, APA, Chicago style, and more.
• Cohesive writing style for multi-authored manuscripts.

We can also package the above service with our Scientific and Scholarly Editing to receive a preliminary peer review from a Ph.D.-level expert in their field, increasing the chance for conditional acceptances and mitigating the endless peer review process. To ensure that these services are affordable, when authors utilize these services and their work gets accepted into an IGI Global journal (following the peer review process), the cost associated with that service will be deducted from the APC, providing the author additional savings, and ensuring that the work published is of the utmost quality.

In addition to these services that will assist authors potentially receiving conditional acceptances and streamline their publishing process, we offer various funding programs, including:

• IGI Global’s OA Fee Waiver Initiative:  For any library that invests in IGI Global's InfoSci® Databases, IGI Global will match the library's investment with a fund of equal value to go toward subsidizing the Open Access APCs for their patrons. This provides authors with 100% OA subsidies to be utilized toward any IGI Global journal. Learn More


• Discounted Open Access APCs for Low- and Middle-Income Countries:  For authors from low- and middle-income countries, IGI Global automatically waives 100% or 50% of journal APCs depending on the author's affiliated country. View Eligible Countries and Learn More.


• Assistance on Finding Journal Funding Sources: Additionally, our Open Access Team can collaborate with outside funding sources, including institutions, governmental organizations, etc. in transforming current Gold OA journals into Platinum or Diamond journals. Contact IGI Global at openaccessadmin@igi-global.com for more information.


• OA Facilitation Services: New journal finding services are starting to take into account OA publishing and can make it easier for authors to find relevant journals based not only on their topic, but also on whether their institution has a special discount or waiver programs with that journal and whether the journal complies with the specific funding source that they are using. One such service is ChronosHub, which is currently working to make parts of its hub public and free to use. Other OA funding resources that provide information on country funding and OA standards include:
  • Sherpa Juliet  is a searchable database of research funders' OA policies.
  • The Open Access Directory maintains a list of institutional funds for OA publishing.
  • SPARC  maintains a list of North American universities and university libraries with OA funds.

For more information on IGI Global OA publishing opportunities, or questions regarding IGI Global’s Author Services, please contact IGI Global’s Open Access Team at openaccessadmin@igi-global.com.