Monitoring an APC policy - lessons learned and perspective after 7 years

Overview & Synopsis

As part of its open science policy, articulated around a deposit mandate on the French publication repository HAL, Inria decided several years ago to provide internal supervision and support for article processing charges (APC). These charges, which for publishers provide a way of covering publication costs are now part of an ethical debate surrounding open access. We introduced a policy for covering APCs based upon a central budget and forbidding the payment of APCs for hybrid venues. Each request for funding for a publication through APCs is analysed, focusing on raising awareness, providing support and making recommendations, targeting so-called 'ethical' journals. We will present the results of this policy over a period of several years and elicit some of the further directions we want to follow in the future.