Funding for GOLD open access

Fund held centrally in the Library. Imperial authors should apply for funding via Symplectic, see Applying for funding.

The Imperial Fund will only pay for original research articles in journals listed on the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) (see Mirror journals below for an important exception).

The Open Access team can consider other publication types. Please check with us at openaccess@imperial.ac.uk before submitting your paper to a journal.

This fund is for Imperial College London staff or students with no other funding available for open access. NHS Trust staff are not eligible unless they also have a contract (including honorary) with Imperial College London. There should be an Imperial College London affiliation on the manuscript and, where possible, an acknowledgement that the Imperial College London Open Access Fund paid the open access fee.

We cannot pay page, colour or submission charges.

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Required licence

CC BY license preferred, but other CC licenses are acceptable.

See Creative Commons licenses or The anatomy of a Creative Commons License (SWAY).

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Mirror journals

Mirror journals are open access versions of subscription journals.

These journals have similar aims, scope, peer review processes, and policies, with at least 50% of the board members being the same. They may be listed in DOAJ and have their own ISSN. Examples include journal titles with an X in the suffix (refer to the 2022 Jülich list for specific titles, although it may be incomplete). However, for open access funding purposes, these journals are considered 'hybrid', and open access charges cannot be paid for from the Imperial Fund, the Wellcome Trust, see Wellcome Open Access Policy 2021 FAQ (pdf) or UKRI (updated in September/October 2023). If you have submitted or been accepted in one, please contact the Library’s Open Access team.