I recently posted to ask for advice about how to publish in respectable
peer-reviewed journals with little to no funding for publication costs.
I am very appreciative of everyone’s responses and would like to pass on
this summary.
Note: Journal lists below are not comprehensive, and I can’t speak to
journal quality.
1)Open access vs. traditional publishing – Many journals do not charge
for traditional publications (for which readers have to subscribe or pay
a fee to view the whole article). However, there are typically costs
for color figures, translation, and making an article open access. (The
last is where the real expense to the author comes in.)
Some traditional journals allow authors to post the accepted (pre-print)
version of their manuscript on a personal website, including
ResearchGate, or in a repository like PubMed Central. However, you
should check the publisher’s self-archive policy as there may be an
embargo on such postings. (The Wiley family of journals, for example,
requires 12 months for science journals and a posted disclaimer.)
Journals with free traditional publishing (but charges for open access):
• British Ecological Society family of journals
• Some Springer journals
• Animal Conservation
• Archives of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry
• Biological Conservation
• Canadian Journal of Zoology
• Ecography
• Journal of Zoology
• Oikos
2) Free open access journals:
• Current Zoology (free for non-commercial until 2020)
• Herpetological Conservation and Biology
• Journal of Fish and Wildlife Management
• Journal of Political Ecology
• Neotropical Biodiversity
• Riparian Ecology and Management
3) Journals that offer fee waivers/grants:
• Ecological Society of America family of journals
• PLoS family of journals
• Some Springer journals
4) Request to the editor for waived/lowered fees – It may be
worthwhile to contact the editor of a journal ahead of time or in your
cover letter to ask if they offer waivers or reduced fees. They may
offer this but not publicly state it until after you submit. Authors
from developing countries, sole authors, and low-income authors often
qualify.
5) Professional societies – If you are a member of a professional
society that publishes journals, you may be able to publish in theirs at
a reduced cost, particularly if you are a current student or recent
grad.
6) Possible funding from former institution – Your major advisor
may be able to apply for departmental funds that you otherwise would not
have access to. (At my university, faculty can apply for one open
access grant per year, for a maximum of $2,000. If there are multiple
students publishing from the same lab, the advisor has to choose.) You
may also ask your department head or graduate dean.
7) Possible funding from co-authors – It may be helpful to ask co-
authors if they can contribute to publishing costs. Sometimes costs can
differ for each co-author on a paper, depending on their institution.
(Someone at an R1 institution may have a higher cost than someone from a
smaller school.) Some funders, including government agencies, may have
requirements to publish open access but also opportunities to apply for
internal funding.
