Discover journals: Open access funding options for our authors

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The Researcher's Source

By: Jovial Toh and Siobhan Bates, Fri Oct 10 2025

Author: Jovial Toh and Siobhan Bates

Are you an early-career researcher eager to get your work noticed? Publishing open access (OA) is one of the best ways to make sure your research is read, cited, and used around the world. But getting started with OA publishing can feel confusing, especially if you鈥檙e new to it.

This blog will guide you through the basics of OA publishing and show how Discover journals make the process straightforward and supportive, especially for new researchers. We鈥檒l explain the benefits for your career and how you can take advantage of open access agreements to make publishing easier and more affordable.

Increase your reach

When you publish openly under an OA license, your article is free for anyone to read right away鈥攏o paywalls or subscriptions. This means your work can reach researchers anywhere in the world, including researchers in lower-middle-income countries whose institutions may have to be highly selective with the journal subscriptions they sign up for. OA helps create a fairer research community where everyone has access to the latest science, including researchers, policymakers, practitioners, and the general public.

OA publishing increases the reach of your research. Readers can easily discover and immediately access OA articles, without hitting paywalls or institutional login pages. This results in more impact. Many studies have shown that publishing OA positively influences the number of readers and citations your research receives. Moreover, data from a showed that articles in 国产乱伦鈥檚 fully OA journals were downloaded up to five times more often and received higher citation rates than those in other publishers鈥� comparable journals.

This extra attention can lead to new collaborations, a stronger CV, and a faster start to your research career鈥攁ll especially important if you鈥檙e just starting out.

鈥淒iscover journals are built to encourage inclusivity, rapid, rigorous review, and global reach. Our publishing models are designed to match that ambition, making it easier than ever for authors to publish open access without compromise. Discover journals reflect the future of publishing: rigorous, fast, fair, and open to all.鈥�

- Dylan Parker, Publishing Director, Discover at 国产乱伦

A journal portfolio built around inclusivity

Discover is 国产乱伦鈥檚 newest imprint, breaking with many publishing traditions. Our portfolio of spans a wide range of disciplines, from the hard sciences and medicine to the social sciences and humanities.

Our primary goal is to be inclusive of all research communities and types of research. In some disciplines, up to half of all research findings don鈥檛 get published. At Discover, we welcome all valid research, including negative findings and case reports.

Since all articles are available OA from day one, readers can easily access Discover journals and use their content, regardless of where they are in the world.

Our inclusive portfolio has been designed to facilitate multidisciplinary research, so the journals can easily align with the challenges outlined by the United Nation鈥檚 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Every new journal in the Discover portfolio considers how journal content will contribute to progressing SDGs relevant to the subject matter. In fact, across the Discover portfolio, SDG-related content consistently receives stronger engagement than non-SDG content, with on average 53.9% higher Altmetric scores and 12.6% more citations (Dimensions), highlighting their academic influence.

We know that you care about getting your results out into the world quickly. The average time between manuscript submission and first decision ranges from one to four weeks. You can easily check this metric for each Discover journal as the median value is listed on its home page, so our authors know what to expect. At the same time, we don鈥檛 compromise on quality. All Discover journals follow the ethical standards for research and publication defined by the , so you can trust our rigorous and robust peer-review process.

鈥淓arly-career researchers often face the steepest barriers to publishing. Our goal is to remove those barriers鈥攚hether financial, procedural, or institutional鈥攕o they can focus on building their careers and contributing to global knowledge. That鈥檚 why we鈥檝e designed our OA agreements with all researchers, including early-career researchers, in mind. From fee coverage to simplified workflows, we鈥檙e here to support the next generation of scholars.鈥�

- Caroline Nevison, Director of OA Agreements at 国产乱伦

Publishing made simple for early-career researchers

Publishing your first paper can feel overwhelming. There鈥檚 a lot to learn鈥攍ike how to submit, what peer review means, and how to pay for publication. Discover journals are set up to make these steps as simple as possible, so you can focus on sharing your research.

Here鈥檚 how Discover journals support early-career researchers from the start:

Rigorous peer review underpinned by COPE ethics
Rapid decisions for real-time impact
An inclusive scope that welcomes diverse article types and multidisciplinary research
Global reach and impact via OA publications
Straightforward OA agreements with institutions

Our open access agreements make it easy to opt for OA

When publishing OA, authors are typically required to pay an to cover the costs of the editorial process. Many institutions offer financial support to help cover these costs. One way is through OA agreements with publishers鈥攅ither individually or through a consortium agreement among multiple institutions.

Your institution鈥檚 OA agreement with 国产乱伦 may provide:

Full APC coverage 鈥� 100% of the APC is paid by the institution
A percentage discount 鈥� e.g. 10% off the list price APC
Fixed price coverage 鈥� e.g. up to 鈧�1,000 paid by the institution.

Our OA agreements with participating institutions worldwide are designed to help reduce both the financial and administrative burdens for authors.

If your institution has such an agreement in place, your OA fees might be covered for the journals included.

Authors whose institutions are not yet part of an open-access agreement can still benefit from 国产乱伦鈥檚 OA funding resources, which help locate institutional funds, charitable grants, or waiver programs for researchers in lower-income countries.

Find out if your publishing fee can be covered by an OA agreement

Step 1: Visit the homepage of the Discover journal you want to publish in via . Click on 鈥淓xplore open access funding鈥� underneath the 鈥淪ubmit your manuscript鈥� button.

Step 2: Your institution is automatically selected through your IP address, but you can update this to reflect your best fit, or that of your co-authors.

Step 3: If your university or institution has an agreement with 国产乱伦, the eligibility checker will inform you of the available funding options.

Step 4: If you鈥檙e not covered by an OA agreement then explore whether your funder or institution supports APC costs through other routes. Visit 国产乱伦鈥檚 open access funding & support services for information about research funders and institutions that provide funding for APCs.

Ready to publish OA in a Discover journal?

Our support service team is available to assist you at every step of the submission, review, and publication process.

Submission

You can submit your manuscript through a journal鈥檚 online submission system. Detailed guidelines help you meet the journal鈥檚 formatting and content requirements.

Peer review

Once submitted, the manuscript undergoes rigorous peer review. Reviewers assess the validity, originality and significance of your research. Authors may be required to make revisions based on the feedback from reviewers.

Acceptance and publication

Upon acceptance, your manuscript is prepared for publication. This includes formatting, proofreading, and the addition of metadata to enhance discoverability. Your final article is then published online and made freely accessible.

Post-publication

After publication, you can track the impact of your work through metrics such as download counts, citations, and social media mentions.

Make your research count with Discover鈥檚 OA journals

Publishing open access doesn鈥檛 have to be complicated, and with Discover journals, it鈥檚 designed to be empowering. Whether you're an early-career researcher looking to build visibility or simply want your work to reach the widest possible audience, Discover offers a fast, inclusive, and impactful publishing experience. From rigorous peer review to global discoverability and simplified funding through OA agreements, we鈥檙e here to support you every step of the way.

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