Every year, an increasing proportion of scientific articles are published open access, which means they are fully available to all, rather than being hidden behind a subscription paywall. There are various reasons for this trend, but all are underpinned by the fact that publicly available research enables greater impact and visibility, while also increasing the accessibility of scientific knowledge.

Over the last five years, the proportion of content published open access in Bird Conservation International (BCI) has increased steadily, from 5% in 2019 to 49% in 2023.

Although open access offers readers uninhibited access to scientific content, there are concerns that the publishing model is less equitable for some authors, due to the article processing charge (APC) payable. Cambridge University Press (CUP) and BirdLife International are committed to treating BCI authors fairly by ensuring that there is no financial barrier to publishing in the journal. This blog post outlines the open access publishing routes and funding options offered by Cambridge to support BCI authors.

Publishing open access in a hybrid journal

BCI is currently a hybrid journal, which means that authors can choose whether to make their articles open access or not (Figure 1).

When deciding whether to publish open access, authors are referred to Cambridge’s open access publishing agreements and the Cambridge Open Equity Initiative to ascertain if the cost of the APC is covered. In most cases, these agreements will cover the full costs of publishing open access, with eligibility determined by the affiliation of the accepted article’s corresponding author.

Open access publishing agreements are made between Cambridge and over 2,000 institutions globally that allow their affiliated researchers to read and publish in journals at no cost to them. The Cambridge Open Equity Initiative is a scheme designed by Cambridge and supported by its institutional customers to support authors in low- and middle-income countries by fully funding open access publishing. Corresponding authors can check their eligibility for both funding routes using the linked eligibility tool. Importantly, no application is required for these funding routes, as eligible papers are automatically recognised upon acceptance.

In cases where the corresponding author is not eligible under open access publishing agreements or the Open Equity Initiative, authors can either pay the APC to publish open access or publish non-open access free of charge. Staff of BirdLife International (including national BirdLife Partners) who are the corresponding author on a paper are entitled to a 25% discount on their APC.

Publishing open access in a fully open access journal

Journals are increasingly moving towards the fully open access model, and this is being considered for BCI. There are concerns it may exclude some researchers on the basis of publishing costs, however, for journals that are fully open access, Cambridge provides additional options to ensure that no authors are unable to publish their research for financial reasons.

Initially, corresponding authors are again referred to Cambridge’s open access publishing agreements and the Cambridge Open Equity Initiative to determine their eligibility. In addition, fully open access journals offer waivers via the Research4Life initiative for corresponding authors based in a list of low-and-middle income countries not covered by transformative agreements or the Open Equity Initiative.

In cases where the corresponding author is not eligible under transformative agreements, the Open Equity Initiative or the Research4Life scheme, and lacks the funding required to pay the APC, authors are able to request a discretionary waiver after acceptance. These requests are handled by Cambridge’s Fees Support Team and authors are asked to provide a brief letter from their research institution confirming that they cannot pay an APC. This process is short and no reasonable application is declined, thus guaranteeing there are no financial barriers to publication. 

For more information, please visit BCI’s author instructions and Cambridge open access funding page.