The Research Information Network and Universities UK have produced a guide [PDF] to provide advice on paying open access publication charges.

Recommendations are made for each of the key players involved in the scholarly communication chain – higher education institutions, publishers, funder and authors. With regard to authors (researchers) the report makes the following recommendations:

• authors should make use of services such as the Directory of Open Access Journals, and consider the options for publishing their results in such journals.
• authors should familiarise themselves with their funders’ policies and requirements, with the options and the arrangements available to them in their institutions for meeting the costs of publication in open access and hybrid journals and with the administrative arrangements to apply for such funds.
• authors should ensure that they have access to the funds necessary to meet the publication fee, before they submit articles for open access publication.

The report has attracted a number of comments from the open access community, including Peter Suber and Stevan Harnad.