Open access is supposed to simplify sharing — yet many teams end up with more versions, more invoices, and more “which PDF is the one we submitted?” confusion than before. The problem is rarely OA policy itself; it is that submission metadata lives in email while the manuscript lives elsewhere.
ScAuthor’s journal submission log is built for that split reality. Record each outlet you try — traditional, hybrid, or fully OA — with dates and outcomes. When a funder asks for your deposit timeline six months later, you are not reconstructing it from APC receipts in a shared drive.
On Discover, be explicit about access intent in your listing. If you are targeting an OA journal with APC support from a grant, say so in your submission timeline and additional terms. Contributors judge whether they can commit partly from how clear your publication plan is.
Use your project tracker stage honestly: Writing and Journal submission are different milestones. Moving to submission only when you click submit keeps your team board aligned with funders and co-authors who care about when the work becomes public.
ScAuthor does not host your manuscript or pay APCs for you. What it does is keep the coordination layer — roster, stages, submission history, and collaboration messages — in one place so open access does not mean open-ended admin.