How To Submit Your Work as Open Access
This piece provides a guide to IGI Global's Open Access (OA) submission process and contains insights from our Expert Editorial Team, including Ms. Lindsay Wertman, Managing Director, Melissa Wagner, Editorial Director, and Marissa Massare,
Editorial Assistant.
As Open Access (OA) publishing continues to increase in popularity, many authors and editors may be wondering how the article, chapter, or full project proposal submission process for OA differs from submitting under traditional subscription-based models. Some may even find that they are deterred from publishing under OA simply for fear of the unknown. Is the submission process more time-consuming? Difficult? Frustrating? Below, IGI Global’s Development Editors help shed some transparency on the differences between submitting OA vs. traditional.
 | | Benefits of Publishing With IGI Global: | - Traditional and Open Access Publishing Models
- Honorariums & Royalties
- Free Use of the eEditorial Discovery® Submission System
- Flexible Timelines (Less Than 1 Year, if desired)
- Rigorous Double-Blind Peer Review Process
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IGI Global offers four different OA models to submit manuscripts or proposals to, and each of these options has its own submission process.
IGI Global OA Submission Opportunities include:IGI Global offers over 30 gold and one platinum OA journals, with the rest of its journals published under the hybrid OA
publishing model.
To begin the submission process to an IGI Global journal, authors can visit the Call for Papers webpage to find a relevant journal of their choice or immediately begin the submission process through the eEditorial Discovery® system, where they will be asked to choose the journal to which they wish to submit an article manuscript.
Authors are walked through a detailed form in IGI Global’s eEditorial Discovery system through the submission link. (If the author submits a paper directly through the eEditorial Discovery system, they will need to select the journal from the dropdown menu in the system).
From there, details including manuscript title, subtitle, keywords, abstract information, and author(s) information will need completed. The type of the submission can vary based on its content and length. As some submissions are true research articles, while others may be briefer (i.e. research note), or even possibly a book review. Research notes and book reviews are not held to the same article processing charge (APC) standards as full research articles.
The main difference that can be observed between submitting to a gold OA journal vs. a hybrid OA journal is the “Access Type” section, which occurs at the bottom of the first page of the submission form.
If the journal is hybrid OA, authors will be given the option to choose between either standard access (non-OA) or OA:
- Standard (Subscription-Based) Access: By choosing this, the author agrees to transfer the copyright to the publisher. Should the article manuscript be accepted into the journal after the double-blind peer review process, it will be published behind a paywall, meaning that readers must pay to access the full content. No fee is required of the author to publish under standard (subscription-based) access.
- OA: By choosing this, the author agrees to publish the work under the CC BY 4.0 license, whereby they retain the rights to the work, and it is made freely accessible to all upon publication, should the article manuscript be accepted into the journal after the double-blind peer review process is conducted. Authors also acknowledge that should their work be accepted; an Article Processing Charge (APC) will have to be paid before it is officially published. Please note: The APC differs per journal and is transparently presented for the author through the system and directly on the journal webpage.
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If the journal is gold OA, authors will only be given the option to select OA from the “Access Type” section. Once again, authors must choose this access type to show that they acknowledge and agree to the fact that they will be required to pay the APC before publication of the article manuscript, should the article manuscript be formally accepted to the journal after the double-blind peer review.
When an author has chosen OA under “Access Type”, a new “Funding” section will appear. Here the author can decide how they will be paying the APC, should the article manuscript be accepted:
- I will pay the Article Processing Charge (APC) with the help of a funding body – If the author chooses to use a funding body, a form that captures the funding bodies name, contact person, mailing address, contact email and phone number, and optional award/contract ID will appear. Authors can fill in all fields to provide information on the funder that will be responsible for paying the APC fee should the article manuscript be accepted for publication. This helps to streamline the payment process once the article is accepted, as IGI Global uses the provided details to reach out directly to the funding body to
secure payment. - I will pay the Article Processing Charge (APC) myself, without the support of a funding body (if you are being reimbursed for this payment by a funding body at a later date, IGI Global can provide you with any needed documentation) – This option allows authors to take care of the APC themselves, whether they wish to pay solely out of pocket or be reimbursed by a funding body at a later date. With this option, authors will be reached out to directly to receive payment for the APC after the article manuscript is formally accepted into the journal following the double-blind peer review process.
Note: If the article manuscript is rejected, there will be no APC requested.
The rest of the submission process for OA article manuscripts follows the exact same procedure as a traditional subscription-based manuscript. For further information regarding journal article submission guidelines, please view the Contributor
Resources page.
OA book chapters follow the same exact submission procedure as chapters being published under the traditional subscription-based model. Authors who wish to publish their chapter OA, meaning that the chapter will be freely accessible under the CC BY 4.0 license upon publication, will be requested to pay (or have a funding body pay) a Chapter Processing Charge (CPC) after the chapter is officially accepted to the book following a double-blind peer review process. The CPC is US$2,000. If an author wants their chapter to be published as OA, they should inform the IGI Global Book Development Team at development@igi-global.com upon initial submission of the full chapter manuscript.
To begin the chapter submission process, authors may search the list of book’s seeking submissions on the Call for Chapters webpage. For further information regarding book chapter submission guidelines, please see the Contributor Resources page.
Full books are capable of being published as OA. Those looking to publish an OA book should have a funding body lined up prior to submitting a proposal as Book Processing Charges (BPC) start at US $10,000 and go up from there based on the estimated word count for the final manuscript. For the complete BPC chart, please see the OA Publishing page.
Editors and authors wishing to publish OA books can either first contact the Acquisitions Department at acquisition@igi-global.com or utilize thesubmit a book proposal form. The book proposal is standard for all books and so editors/authors will want to ensure that they note that they would like the book to be published as OA within the form. An Acquisitions Team Member will reach out after reviewing the proposal to follow up regarding information about the BPC and funding that has been established for the book.
Editors and authors who have books under contract with IGI Global that are currently in the development stage and would like to convert them to OA may reach out to the Acquisitions Team to discuss the next steps as well as funding body and payment options.
Editors interested in converting their current IGI Global journal from hybrid OA to gold OA are welcome to reach out to the Acquisitions Department at acquisition@igi-global.com. Those wishing to propose an entirely new OA journal for consideration, may submit a journal proposal form or if interested in transferring a journal to IGI Global from another publisher please utilize the following journal transfer proposal form. Please note that at this time IGI Global is currently only accepting new OA journals that have full OA funding secured (diamond/platinum open access). Funding information can be supplied within the proposal form. IGI Global also welcomes any associations and/or societies interested in sponsoring a journal and funding its OA to contact IGI Global’s OA Division at openaccessadmin@igi-global.com.
For those who wish to guest edit a special issue in an IGI Global journal, a special issue proposal form will need to be filled out and submitted. The form closely mirrors a book or journal proposal form including asking the guest editors for their information, tentative titles, description of the special issue, estimated article numbers received, solicitation venues (how the editor will recruit submissions), and schedule of deadlines.
Special issue forms are the same for both gold OA journals and hybrid OA journals. A funding body section will be present, however, is entirely optional. Special issue guest editors who have secured full funding for the OA special issue are requested to provide this information upfront as this will mean the issue will be published as diamond/platinum OA. Though it is not required for publishing a special issue as OA, having a funding body that is able to fund the special issue will offset APC costs for the article manuscript authors either partially or in full (diamond/platinum OA) depending on the amount of funding available. If there is no funding body, it is fine to leave that part of the form blank.
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Retroactive OA Publishing
Should an author or editor wish to retroactively convert their published work to OA, they are encouraged to reach out to openaccessadmin@igi-global.com. From there, our OA Division will work with our customer service, development, and production teams to ensure that the work is appropriately converted to OA and highly accessible. There are APCs, CPCs, and BPCs associated with the opening of the content and pricing is determined based on the age of the published work and the type of publication.
In sum, IGI Global strives to ensure that submission processes remain as simplified as possible for authors and editors looking to publish their work. We encourage all authors and editors to take advantage of the OA opportunities afforded by IGI Global as we seek to make quality research as affordable and accessible as possible. Authors and editors of OA published work can take advantage of numerous benefits including up to an 89% higher download rate, increase in citation impact, greater potential for career advancement, as well as opportunities for peer collaboration, and more.
Additionally, for authors in need of assistance in finding funding for their OA book, journal, or APC/CPC, IGI Global offers their OA Fee Waiver (Read & Publish) Initiative, which provides an additional sources of OA funding when researcher’s libraries invest in IGI Global e-Collections, including e-Book and e-Journal Collections. When they invest in these e-Collections, IGI Global will match their investment with a fund of equal value that can go towards:
- Providing 100% OA APCs/BPCs when any faculty or staff at the institution is accepted into an IGI Global journal or book.
- Dedicating the matching OA APC fund to a faculty-led journal to assist in making the journal Platinum/Diamond OA.
- Utilizing the matching OA BPC fund to support a faculty-led Gold OA book publication.
Recommend the e-Book and/or e-Journal Collections to your library to take advantage of this additional source of OA funding.
About IGI Global
Founded in 1988, IGI Global, an international academic publisher, is committed to producing the highest quality research (as an active full member of the Committee on Publication Ethics “COPE”) and ensuring the timely dissemination of innovative research findings through an expeditious and technologically advanced publishing process. Through their commitment to supporting the research community ahead of profitability, and taking a chance on virtually untapped topic coverage, IGI Global has been able to collaborate with over 150,000+ researchers from some of the most prominent research institutions around the world to publish the most emerging, peer-reviewed research across 350+ topics in 11 subject areas including business, computer science, education, engineering, social sciences, and more.
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