The Library has signed a number of agreements for open access publishing. These agreements allow the Library to directly pay article-processing charges (APCs) for accepted open access articles by authors affiliated with Qatar-based non-profit institutions. The Library covers the costs through deposit accounts with the publishers or through offsetting the cost against subscriptions. The agreements cover open access journals (where all the content is published open access) and/or hybrid journals (a subscription-based journal that offers an open access option which authors can choose if they wish) of the publishers listed here.
Please note that this is a pilot program, and agreements are based on a projection of the number articles that will be published in the current year. If demand exceeds our projections, your article may not be covered by these agreements. In order to avoid this situation, we have introduced a cap on the number of articles an author may have processed through this program in a calendar year.
To be eligible for funding, you need to meet the following requirements:
Agreements in Funding Pool A
- Funding will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis. There are no limits on the number of articles per author, as these agreements are designed to cover all of Qatar’s research output.
- The Library is considering a requirement that the first authors of papers also be affiliated with a Qatari institution. However, due to contractual limitations with publishers, we are unable to implement these changes at this time.
- The Library will fund article types according to the details of the publishing agreements (e.g. original research article, review articles, etc); please refer to the ‘Instructions to Authors’ section of the table.
- Authors may pre-book a funding request. Pre-booking is available for up to 20% of available tokens. Please note that pre-booked articles must be accepted by 31 October of that year.
- The corresponding author must have an account with Manara - Qatar Research Repository.
Agreements in Funding Pool B
- Each corresponding author is limited to one funded article per calendar year.
- Both the first author and the corresponding author must be affiliated with a Qatari institution.
- The Library will only fund original research articles.
- Authors have the option to pre-book funding requests. Pre-booking is available for up to 80% of available tokens. Pre-booked articles must be accepted by 31 October, 2025.
- The corresponding author must have an account with Manara - Qatar Research Repository.
- The journal must be listed in the Directory of Open Access Journals.
- The Library will implement a cap on the expenditure for each publisher to ensure a fair distribution of funding opportunities.
- The Library only supports CC BY 4.0 licenses for open access publications.
Important tip:
To assist the Library and publishers in determining your eligibility for funding, please use your Qatar institutional email address.