Important News from the Open Access Department
Due to the intensive use of the Open Access publishing funds managed by the University Library, the funding limit of €3,000 gross will also be applicable to articles with a DFG background as of January 1, 2026. All invoices for article processing charges (publication fees in fully Open Access journals) exceeding €2,520 net or €3,000 gross will not be subsidized by the University Library.
Furthermore, the subsidy will be reduced from €1,500 to €1,400. Invoices submitted via the submission form of the university library from January 1, 2026, will be subsidized with €1,400. The reduction also applies to articles accepted in fully Open Access journals covered by the DEAL agreements with Elsevier, SpringerNature, and Wiley from the first quarter of 2026 onwards.
For invoices submitted by December 31, 2025, the existing funding conditions apply, even if these invoices may not be paid until financial transactions resume in 2026.
Guarding scientific integrity
The pressure to publish is increasingly leading to a rise in fake publications and fraudulent companies. These are so-called „paper mills“ that produce fake papers (often with the help of AI) as well as questionable companies that knowingly distribute this content. Even established publishers are not immune to fake content.
In addition, there has been a recent trend toward “journal hijacking,” whereby an established and indexed journal, or even an entire portfolio of a publisher, is bought up by dubious companies that do not maintain the quality of the journal or the portfolio respectively. These circumstances are initially concealed by the prior reputation of the journals and only become apparent through more intensive research. At the same time, journal hijacking often leads to the introduction or increase of publication fees.
In order to protect the integrity of research and publishing outlets, the staff of the Open Access Department at Erlangen University Library are monitoring these developments on an ongoing basis and provide advice regarding journal selection. To ensure that research results continue to be published through reputable outlets, hightened caution is advised when selecting journals, especially if they have not been used for some time, have been renamed or are unknown.
If any doubts arise about the integrity of a journal, please consult with your professional community or contact the Open Access Department at the University Library. The staff in the Open Access Department not only check journals for fundability, but also monitor qualitative changes and changes in ownership. To make it easier for you to submit inquiries, you can now also get in touch with us via a contact form on our website: https://ub.fau.de/en/research/open-access/funding-options/
As per usual, you can also contact the Open Access department via ub-open-access@fau.de.
A study on journal hijacking can be found here: https://zenodo.org/records/14766415
A ZB MED blog post calls for vigilance among authors and provides a list of helpful websites: https://blog.zbmed.de/journal-hijacking