SOAR Fund

The UMass Amherst SOAR (Supporting Open Access Research) Fund was established by the Libraries in 2014 to support open access publication by faculty, staff and students when funds are not otherwise available. The fund is supported by the University Libraries, which initially contributed $25,000 for FY 2014-2015 and have subsequently contributed $10,000 each fiscal year. The maximum individual award amount is $1,200 or the total amount of the fee to publish, whichever is less.

The goals of the UMA SOAR Fund are to:

• build innovative models of scholarly publishing, in particular publications that are not supported by subscription revenue models or user-access fees;
• increase access to research and scholarship from UMA; and
• support UMA faculty, students, and staff who choose to publish in open-access platforms but lack other sources of funding for author processing charges (APC).

The SOAR Fund is compatible with the Compact for Open-Access Publishing Equity (COPE). 

Applications will be considered:

• from a UMass Amherst faculty, staff or student who is the corresponding or primary author. Emeriti are eligible if the research was completed while they were still affiliated with the university;
• for scholarly peer-reviewed journal articles, chapters or contributions to peer-reviewed scholarly monographs (not textbooks) or scholarly peer-reviewed monographs; and
• for completed manuscripts, reviewed and accepted for open access publication within the fiscal year, but not yet published.

Eligible publications and publishing platforms must be fully and immediately open access. Publications in “hybrid open-access” (which also charge subscription fees) or “delayed open-access” journals and monographs are NOT eligible. 

Based on the UMass Amherst Open Access Policy, all publications awarded SOAR funds will be deposited in the institutional repository, ScholarWorks.

A corresponding/primary author is limited to one award per fiscal year. A manuscript may only receive one award.

Applications will be reviewed on an ongoing basis between July - May until funds are expended. Funding is on a first come, first serve basis. Applicants will be notified of an award decision within a month of their request for funding. 

There will be two reimbursement deadlines per fiscal year - December and May. If authors do not submit their paid invoices by the applicable deadline provided in their approval notification, their award will be re-allocated back into the fund.

UMA SOAR cannot guarantee funding in advance, and authors should only count on funding after their application is approved and they have received notice of the award amount from the UMA Libraries. Award funds will be transferred to the author's department account upon receipt of a paid invoice to reimburse the author for publication charges.

The UMA SOAR Fund is administered by the Scholarly Communication Department at the UMA Libraries.  Applications are reviewed and awards granted by the Scholarly Communication Librarian based on the criteria set forth below.  Awards and lists of publications will be accumulated annually and posted.  Funding for future years will be dependent on number of applications, available funds, and evaluation of the program.  We encourage your feedback about the program; please send it to cturner@umass.edu.

All applications must meet the following criteria in order to be eligible for 50% of the maximum award of $1200.

• The applicant must be a current member of UMass Amherst and must be the primary or corresponding author.
• The manuscript must have been accepted and proof of acceptance must be provided with the application.
• The manuscript must be a contribution to a book or a scholarly article.
• The journal or book must be fully open access and listed in the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ)/Directory of Open Access Books (DOAB).  If the journal or book is too new to be listed in either directory, the publication must be completely DOAJ/DOAB compliant.
• The publication allows authors to retain copyright.
• The publication allows authors to use Creative Commons (or equivalent) licenses at no additional cost.

Applicants will earn additional percentages towards the maximum award by meeting any of the criteria below:

• The applicant is a student or early career faculty (10%).
• The applicant is without external or grant funding (10%).
• The applicant has not received SOAR funding previously (10%).
• The publisher is a scholarly society or non-profit organization (including university presses). This covers the editorial process through the distribution chain (10%).
• The applicant has an ORCID (10%).

The FY'22 SOAR Fund has been closed. When funds become available again, the application form will be available here.