McGill University
AC-11: Open Access to Research

eScholarship@McGill is a digital repository, which collects, preserves, and showcases the publications, scholarly works, and theses of McGill University faculty members, researchers, and students. All scholarly works authored by faculty and students can be deposited in the digital repository, such as open access research articles, research reports, doctoral dissertations and theses, honors theses, book chapters, departmental or research center reports, images, audio, and video files, technical reports. It is mandatory for student dissertations and theses to be deposited into the repository.

The Canadian federal Tri-Agency Open Access Policy on Publications mandates that "peer-reviewed journal publications arising from Agency-supported research are freely accessible within 12 months of publication." Similarly the Fonds de recherche du Québec mandates that FRQ-supported peer-reviewed publications "must be made openly accessible as soon as it is published by a scholarly journal."

https://www.mcgill.ca/library/services/open-access/tri-agency
https://www.mcgill.ca/library/services/open-access/frq

McGill Library maintains a website that informs researchers about open access publishing and encourages them to pursue this option. The Library organizes an annual Open Access Week, coinciding with International Open Access Week: https://libraryguides.mcgill.ca/c.php?g=518294&p=3544275

More info: https://www.mcgill.ca/library/services/open-access

Tenure-track and non-tenure-track faculty members have access to McGill's Professional Development Fund, which can be used to reimburse expenses incurred by eligible academic staff for professional development, including article processing charges. Each eligible staff member is allowed up to $750 annually. Eligible staff who do not use the full $750 in a given fiscal year may carry forward all, or any unused amount derived over two consecutive years, for a cumulative maximum of $1500.

Eligible expenses include reimbursement related to publication fees, notably related to open access (e.g., article processing charges APCs, etc.).

https://www.mcgill.ca/apo/staff-guides/professional-development-fund
https://www.mcgill.ca/library/services/open-access/how

McGill Library will
- install and provide access to Open Journal Systems (OJS) software, waiving all fees
- evaluate and install upgrades
- offer initial training workshop on OJS management
- acquire an ISSN for your journal
- acquire a URL for your journal within the “mcgill.ca” domain
McGill Library will also provide consultative services related to issues of
- Copyright and licensing
- Getting your journal indexed
McGill requires these hosted journals to use an open access business model; include a reviewing process (e.g., blind, double-blind, or open peer-reviewed; and include publicly available documentation about their review process on their website, among other criteria).

https://www.mcgill.ca/library/services/scholarly-publishing/starting-journal

Percentage of peer-reviewed open-access publications is derived from the SciVal publication database as of July 31, 2023. The date range is 2018-2022, as shown on the Summary page of McGill's "Overall research performance".
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Copy of Eligibility Criteria for McGill-published journals:
https://www.mcgill.ca/library/files/library/eligibility_criteria_for_journals_published_by_mcgill_library.pdf
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McGill also has agreements with many publishers for discounted APC rates, such as the following:
- American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) - Science Advances
- American Chemical Society (ACS)
- BMJ Case Reports
- Canadian Science Publishing
- Cambridge University Press
- Company of Biologists -Development, Journal of Cell Science, Journal of Experimental - Biology
- Elsevier
- Karger
- IOP (Institute of Physics)
- MDPI
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS)
- Sage (Sage Choice journals)
- Sage (Open Access journals)
- Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC)
- Taylor & Francis
- Wiley

https://www.mcgill.ca/library/services/open-access/how#apc