Open Monograph Support Fund

Update: At this time, the OMSF cannot be used to reimburse sponsored projects. Please contact OAprograms@utk.edu if you have any questions. The tentative deadline for the current cycle's OMSF submissions is December 19th, 2025.

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The Open Monograph Support Fund (OMSF) aids University of Tennessee researchers in providing public access to their works. The OMSF provides financial support toward book processing charges for UTK researchers publishing fully open access, single author monographs. Open Access publications support UTK’s land-grant mission and commitment to providing all Tennesseans with quality research and educational materials!

The OMSF is a limited fund and will be distributed via a competition. Applicants will provide a 500-word maximum impact statement detailing how their monograph will serve their field and/or community. The impact statements will be evaluated along with the other publication requirements during the consideration process. 

For questions or support, please contact OAprograms@utk.edu

Publication Requirements

• Monograph must already be accepted by a not-for-profit publisher.
• A rights retention clause must be in place to allow the author(s) to retain rights for self-archiving their monograph. The author will submit a copy of the book proposal and the signed author agreement with their publisher. 
• If the applicant is accepted, the publisher invoice must be provided before the end of the next fiscal year.
• The applicant will apply to the fund via InfoReady and provide a 500-word maximum impact statement.

Limitations

• Applicants must be UT tenure-track faculty, with the exception of disciplines where tenure is not the standard.  
• One author is limited to one fund disbursement per fiscal year. 
• Baseline funding of up to $15,000 may be provided.
• When the annual allocation is exhausted, no additional funds will be available until the following fiscal year. Justification must be provided for any requests to carry over funds through fiscal years, and carry-over funding is not guaranteed. 

The Open Monograph Support Fund is co-sponsored by the Office of Research, Innovation, and Economic Development and the University Libraries.

Please note that application responses may take up to 14 business days.