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.
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).
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 or UKRI (updated in September/October 2023). If you have submitted or been accepted in one, please contact the Library’s Open Access team.
Frequently asked questions:
- Why is DOAJ indexing required if a journal is already in PubMed?
- If your journal isn’t listed in DOAJ:
PubMed and PubMed Central (PMC) include many reputable journals, but their indexing criteria are broader and may include lower-quality or non-open access journals. They also only cover journals in the biomedical and life sciences.
In contrast, the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) applies strict standards for open access publishing across all disciplines, including peer review, editorial transparency, and ethical practices.
To ensure quality and compliance, Imperial requires DOAJ indexing for eligibility under the Open Access Fund.
If you're considering publishing in a fully open access journal that is either newly launched, not yet listed in DOAJ, or has been withdrawn from it, you must contact the Open Access team before submitting your manuscript.
Exceptions to the DOAJ requirement may be considered on a case-by-case basis, but approval is not guaranteed.
If an exception is not granted, you should either:
- Withdraw your submission, or
- Choose an alternative journal that is indexed in DOAJ and meets the fund’s eligibility criteria.