The Library has recently introduced a new tool to better assist researchers in navigating scholarly publishing. The OA Publishing Journal Finder (also known as SciFree) is a journal-search platform that quickly identifies open access journals offering waived or discounted article processing charges (APCs) via one of the Library’s open access agreements. This tool includes over 10,000 journal titles, including many francophone and bilingual journals available on the Érudit platform!
Who is the tool for, and when would I use it?
Any uOttawa affiliated researcher, whether a student or professor, can use the tool!
One challenge for PhD students is limited funding when submitting their research to a scholarly journal. The new tool indicates to users if financial support is available via a Library agreement covering the cost of the open access fee, as well as options based on eligible discounts.
This new tool is also useful for professors. For example, some uOttawa professors receive grant funding from the Tri-Agencies as Principal Investigators. Through this funding, professors must publish their findings in a journal that is open access, in compliance with Tri-Agency policies. However, many grants have limited budgets, especially if much of the funding has gone toward project costs, like paying research assistants. The journal finder will help you find an affordable open access publishing venues to publish your findings!
“I appreciate how easy [Scifree] makes it for researchers to look up publishing agreements by journal name,” shared Sarah Visintini, Research Librarian at the Berkman Library (University of Ottawa Heart Institute). “Using this tool is straightforward and more streamlined. I believe researchers will find it helpful in their manuscript prep process.”
How do I use this tool?
Researchers might already have journal titles in mind for publication. In those cases, they can search by the title of a specific journal and immediately determine if there is a discount via a Library agreement. Users can also search by keyword, so if they want to add a few terms related to their field, they will find other journal options and see whether discounts apply.
Users can also search by journal title, ISSN, or even by publisher to determine eligible discount options. If the title is not retrieved in the results, it means no discount is available.
Please remember to review the eligibility requirements for the agreement’s discounts, which you can consult on the Library's Financial Support for Open Access Publishing webpage , under “Discounts with Publishers”.
As always, researchers can contact the Scholarly Communication team at [email protected] for more in-depth exploration with the new tool.