Publishing Discounts

Article Processing Charges (APCs) are fees charged to authors by some open access (OA) journals to defray the costs of editing and publishing.

While some libraries help researchers with an APC fund we have chosen to focus on supporting a sustainable scholarly communication system. Our approach ensures the widest possible readership for publicly funded research while being economically sustainable. Continuing to pay at the article level is neither sustainable for a university with our research output, nor sound financial governance. For more information about our open investment strategy, please refer to Our Commitment to Open Access.

As an alternative to paying APCs, in most cases authors who publish in a traditional paywalled journal may deposit an OA version in the form of an accepted manuscript or preprint in a repository (such as the Atrium). Please contact us if you would like assistance with this.

APC discounts for U of G authors

While the library does not have an APC fund, some of our negotiated publisher agreements provide discounts to University of Guelph (U of G) authors. The majority of agreements depend on the corresponding author having a U of G email address, see below for more details.

Publisher discounts on APCs

American Chemical Society Journals

• For 2024-2027, U of G authors are entitled to a $250 USD flat discount

Annual Reviews

• For 2024-2026, no APCs charged.

Association for Computing Machinery (ACM)

• For 2025-2028, U of G corresponding authors can publish OA at no charge across all ACM journals, magazines, and conference proceedings (Only ACM Books are excluded from this offer). 

Cambridge University Press

• For 2025-26, U of G authors will receive a 100 per cent discount in all hybrid and gold Cambridge University Press journals
• Cambridge uses an automated system, RightsLink, to associate authors with their affiliated institutions. Authors are encouraged to also use an email with an institutional domain to facilitate the identification of eligible articles.
• Please review their step-by-step guide to open access publishing for authors.

Canadian Science Publishing (CSP)

• CPS continues to develop its OA opportunities.
• For 2025-2027, U of G authors are eligible for a 100 per cent discount on a number of journals, and a 25 per cent for hybrid journals.
• In 2025, CSP launched a new Gold OA journal titled Contaminants, Environment, and Society. The APCs for all U of G affiliated corresponding authors will be waived during the two year agreement.
• The discount does not apply to CSP's Gold OA journals Arctic Science, Drone Systems and Applications, or FACETS.
• Consult our journal look-up tool for further details on discounted journal titles.

Cogitatio journals

•  For 2025-26, U of G corresponding authors are eligible for a 100 per cent discount.

Company of Biologists

• For 2022-2026, U of G corresponding authors are eligible for a 100 per cent discount.

Demography (Duke University Press)

• The library subscribes to Demography under a Subscribe to Open (S2O) model. Articles by corresponding authors affiliated with U of G are guaranteed OA publication at no charge, in perpetuity.

Elsevier

• For 2024-2026, U of G corresponding authors are eligible for a 100 per cent discount on Hybrid journals, 15 per cent discount on most Gold journals.
• The 100 per cent APC discount in more than 1,800 Elsevier Hybrid journals, and a 15 per cent discount on most Elsevier Gold OA journals (Cell Press, Lancet, and some other society-owned journals are excluded). Please use the journal publishing discounts button on this page to see the included journals. Authors must specify their institutional affiliation upon submitting their manuscript in order to benefit from the waiver/discount.
• Please review the author workflow for more information.

Érudit

• For 2025-2029, U of G authors are eligible for a 100 per cent discount on a growing number of diamond OA journals in the social sciences and humanities.
• Please consult our journal look-up tool for further details on discounted journal titles.

Institute of Physics

• For 2024-2027, U of G corresponding authors can publish OA at no charge in most IOPP gold and hybrid journals. Please use the journal publishing discounts button on this page to see the included journals.
• Most IOPP journals use ScholarOne for the submission process.
• Please consult the guide to submitting under a Transformative Agreement which outlines the author's workflow.
• A small number of partner journals do not use ScholarOne. While the submission process may be slightly different from the steps described in IOPP's guide, eligible articles will still be identified and authors will receive a notification to that effect.
  • Under Step 4, authors are required to select an OA choice. This choice will apply only if an article is not eligible under the CRKN-IOPP agreement. Articles which are eligible under the terms of this agreement will automatically be selected for OA publishing.
  • Under Step 6, authors are required to select an OA choice. This choice will apply only if an article is not eligible under the CRKN-IOPP agreement. Articles which are eligible under the terms of this agreement will automatically be selected for OA publishing.
  • Once an article is accepted, the author will receive a notification if their article is eligible under the terms of this agreement. The article will be published OA unless the author elects to opt-out in writing before completing the copyright form. Authors will not be charged an Article Processing Charge (APC) for eligible articles.

International Water Association

• For 2023-2026, no APCs charged.

JMIR Publications

• 10 per cent APC discount. Eligible authors accepted for publication can obtain their discount code through the JMIR website. This discount is made available to the University of Guelph through the Canadian Research Knowledge Network (CRKN). 

Journal of City Climate Policy and Economy (University of Toronto Press)

• The library subscribes to the Journal of City Climate Policy and Economy (JCCPE) under a Subscribe to Open (S2O) model. U of G corresponding authors receive an open access publish guarantee for for their articles. 

MDPI Journals

• 10 per cent discount

MDPI Open Access Books

• 10 per cent discount on Book Publishing Charges.

Microbiology Society Journals

• For 2024-2027, U of G authors are eligible for a 100 per cent discount in most Microbiology Society Journals (Microbiology Outlooks and Microbiology Horizons are excluded).
• To be eligible, authors must use their U of G email address during the submission process.

Open Library of Humanities

• For 2024-2026, no APC charged.

Oxford University Press (OUP)

• For 2024-2026, U of G corresponding authors are eligible for a 100 per cent APC discount in OUP Hybrid journals, and a 10 per cent discount on OUP's Gold OA journals.
• Authors should follow the OUP Guide for Authors when submitting

Royal Society

• U of G authors are eligible for a 100 per cent discount on journals in the Biological Sciences Collection.
• The discount is automatically applied when authors indicate their U of G affiliation during the submission process.
• Please consult our journal look-up tool for further details on discounted journal titles.

Royal Society of Chemistry

• For 2024-2027, U of G authors are eligible for a 100 per cent discount in hybrid and gold journals under an OA license with no associated APC.

Sage Journals

• For 2021-2026, U of G authors are eligible for a 100 per cent discount in select SAGE Choice journals; 40 per cent discount for most SAGE gold OA journals.
• Please use the journal publishing discounts button on this page to see the included journals.
• Please consult the user guide which outlines the author’s workflow and the article acceptance process.

SCOAP3

• For 2024-2027, no APC charged.

Taylor & Francis

• For 2024-2026, U of G authors are eligible for a 25 per cent discount for Open Select Journals.
• Please use the journal publishing discounts button on this page to see the included journals.

Wiley

• For 2025-26, U of G authors are eligible for a 100 per cent APC discount on all Hybrid journals, and a 10 per cent discount on all Gold OA journals.
• Please review their step-by-step guide to open access publishing for authors.