Skip to main content
It looks like you're using Internet Explorer 11 or older. This website works best with modern browsers such as the latest versions of Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Edge. If you continue with this browser, you may see unexpected results.

Open Access Publishing Guide

This guide provides information on identifying Open Access journals, making use of open repositories, and finding university-related discounts for Open Access publishing,

Northwestern University Open Access Fund

While open access implies that information doesn’t cost anything to access, it does sometimes involve costs to the author to publish the work. Hybrid journals (a subscription journal in which some of the articles are open access) and fully open access journals often require an article processing fee or charge.

The Northwestern University Open Access Fund supports Northwestern scholars who wish to make their journal articles openly available immediately upon publication. Authors must publish in a journal that publishes all of its articles as open access and allows for freely available access immediately upon publication, with no embargo of any content. See the fund’s website for more information. 

NIH funded researchers may consider including the cost of publishing in their NIH grant applications, according to the NIH Grants Policy Statement .

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Discount

Institutional site license (subscription) discount for Northwestern University authors

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS)

Corresponding authors receive a discounted open access fee of $1,100 since Galter Library maintains an institutional current-year site license for Northwestern University. This is a savings compared to the regular fee ($1,450) and makes the articles immediately free online. Authors of accepted papers should note the reduced fee ($1,100) on the PNAS billing forms included with the author proofs.

MDPI Discount

Authors affiliated with Northwestern University receive a 10% discount on the article processing charges (APCs) for any paper published in an MDPI journal. Note that only one discount through an IOAP scheme is permitted per paper, and the discount cannot be combined with other available discounts (e.g. discount vouchers or society membership discounts).

Authors can also benefit from a 10% discount on the Book Processing Charges for MDPI Books.  

Instructions for receiving the MDPI discount:
When a paper is submitted, it is automatically matched to a list of participating universities based on the email address. Authors are asked to confirm the choice, or select an institution if none was found. MDPI staff verify each selection as part of the initial screening of submitted papers. See more information here.