Brexit impact and UK author APC relief at PeerJ

Like many of you, we were stunned by the “leave” result in the June 23rd United Kingdom EU referendum. Half of PeerJ’s staff is based in the UK, and so this will personally affect our staff.

Already, there are reports of current and future collaborations between UK and EU colleagues being dropped. And as EU grants to the UK look to dry up to the tune of billions of pounds each year, it could bring undesired turbulence to UK research funding. In addition, foreign exchange rates and anticipated inflation in the UK will make funding Open Access more difficult for many, for years to come (PeerJ is priced in USD, and so the UK has already been affected by the devaluation of the GBP).

UK author and collaborator APC relief
To help counter anticipated funding cuts, all new submissions from June 30th, 2016 to PeerJ or PeerJ Computer Science with a UK author qualify for partial APC relief (%15, i.e. $100 relief).

To mitigate the loss of EU and international collaborations, this relief also applies to any non-UK collaborators with at least one UK author. We believe that everyone benefits with more international science collaboration, not less.

While it may seem odd to single out the UK in this instance, we also recognize the impact that the EU referendum has had across the EU and globally. It isn’t just the UK that is affected in this crisis, and it isn’t just an economic problem. The rise in xenophobia post-Brexit is a major concern, and so anything that can be done to encourage international collaboration in these times should be tried.

To claim the relief, just mention so in the comments to editorial staff on the last declarations question when submitting a new manuscript. Staff will then apply the relief for you (at this time only on APCs, not on memberships). This program will continue until further notice.

Jason Hoyt
Co-founder and CEO, PeerJ