Show notes
Social Media and Important Links
UVic Libraries Support for Open Access Publishing (SOAP) (formerly known as Author Funding) (external link)
Scholarly Communications @ UVic Blog (external link)
Twitter (X) (external link)
Timestamps
0:00 Introduction
00:45 What is Library support for Open Access Publishing (SOAP)
1:11 What is Open Access
1:47 What is an Article Processing Charge (APC)
1:58 How to not pay full APC fees with SOAP
3:03 How can UVic authors access these discounts
3:46 What happens if you choose not to use SOAP
4:19 Outro
Transcript
00:00 Madison
Welcome to Scholarly Soundbyte Samplers, a mini-sode series brought to you by the copyright and Scholarly Communication Office. My name is Madison, and I am joined in the studio today by my colleague Kristen in today’s minisode, we are going to provide a brief introduction into licensing agreements and Library Support for Open Access Publishing, or SOAP.
00:20 Kristen
That’s right, Madison. In this episode, we are going to give a shortened version of SOAP, so authors and researchers have a better understanding of what soap is and who benefits from it.
00:32 Madison
So, without further ado, let’s get started.
00:45 Kristen
Library support for Open Access publication or SOAP is a term that we use to refer to the licensing agreements that UVic libraries holds with different academic publishers. This includes Open Access publishing agreements and discounts. These agreements have been negotiated by the UVic libraries with publishers, with the aim of reducing or eliminating APCs associated with the publication of scholarly articles,
01:11 Madison
So Open Access or OA is a model of publishing that makes research available to readers at no cost. Publishers often offer OA in several different formats, but they do sometimes refer to them in slightly different terms. However, one of the most common terms for being full Open Access is called gold Open Access, and when a publisher uses the term gold Open Access, it usually means that the article is immediately free and accessible on the publisher’s platform.
01:36 Kristen
If the author chooses to publish under gold Open Access no matter what type of journal they are publishing in it usually means that they will have to pay a fee or an article processing charge.
01:47 Madison
So, an article processing charge or an APC or the fees paid instead of what a subscription would have been if that make sense? So, paying the fee is what helps make the article open access at publication.
01:58 Kristen
Is there any way that researchers would not have to pay that fee?
2:02 Madison
Paying the fee might not be necessary to publish under Open Access thanks to SOAP and the fantastic licensing agreements that we have through UVic libraries. These licensing agreements are contracts between the UVic libraries and publishers that heavily discount article processing charges. Essentially providing free money like I know we currently as of June 2024 have anything from like 15% APC discount to completely free. These agreements are revolutionizing scholarly publishing by transitioning from the older model, where institutions often paid a fixed fee for access to all articles to this newer arrangement. And on top of that, institutions are also allocating funds specifically for Open Access publishing. That’s just how important it is now. This allows researchers to publish their work openly without any extra charges, and also comply with funding mandates. If you’re considering publishing under Open Access, it would be wise explore the offers available through SOAP.
3:03 Kristen
How can UVic authors specifically access these discounts that you speak of?
03:07 Madison
So, the libraries have done something very cool and we’ve created almost like a little poster where you’re able to see the licensing agreements with all of the scholarly publishers that we have them with. You can access these through the UVic website, and what requirements there are for UVic authors to be able to access them. Authors that are outside of UVic should check with their own university librarian to see if they offer similar discounts because this is pretty common with most academic libraries.
03:36 Madison
So, Kristen, if let’s say I’m an author and I just am like, “no, I’m not sold on this”. What’s happening if I go without it?
03:46 Kristen
Well, Madison, if you were to go without it, you would be leaving money on the table. These agreements are here to help authors publish under Open Access. And so, skipping this step would just mean money out of your pocket.
03:58 Madison
And aren’t APCs like super expensive too?
04:01 Kristen
Oh, they are very expensive.
04:19 Madison
Thank you for listening to the latest episode of Scholarly Sound Bite Samplers. For more information, you can visit the author funding page on the UVic libraries websites.
04:27 Kristen
If you loved, the sampler, and are dying for a full portion. Check out our full episode “SOAP in under 7 minutes”, which will be available through the same streaming platforms.
04:37 Kristen
All of the information from this episode will be available through the show notes, which will be linked in the description.
04:43 Madison
If you want to stay up to date or learn more about the work that we do at the copyright and Scholarly Communication Office, we encourage you to check out our blog, Scholarly Communication @ UVic Blog and our X account, which will also be listed in the show notes.
04:58 Kristen
And a one, a two, a one, two, three four
05:01 Both
Scholarly insights, byte by byte!
Sources:
Dutch National website. (n.d.). What is open access? openaccess.nl. https://www.openaccess.nl/en/what-is-open-access
ESAC initiative. ESAC Initiative. (n.d.). https://esac-initiative.org/about/transformative-agreements/
IOP Science. (n.d.). What is a hybrid open access journal? – iopscience – publishing support. IOPscience. https://publishingsupport.iopscience.iop.org/questions/what-is-a-hybrid-open-access-journal/
Libguides: Open access: Article processing charges. Article Processing Charges – Open Access – LibGuides at University of Nevada, Las Vegas. (2024, July). https://guides.library.unlv.edu/c.php?g=901395&p=6486147
Springer Nature. (n.d.). Green or gold routes to open access. Green or Gold routes to OA | Open research | Springer Nature. https://www.springernature.com/gp/open-research/about/green-or-gold-routes-to-oa#:~:text=There%20are%20two%20main%20routes,described%20as%20green%20open%20access
Taylor and Francis. (2023, October 30). Benefits of open access publishing. Author Services. https://authorservices.taylorandfrancis.com/choose-open/publishing-open-access/oa-benefits/
Music from: Music_for_videos on pixabay – “Big Band TV show logo”
Sound effect: comical bite and chew by watsnick — https://freesound.org/s/423479/ — License: Attribution 4.0
