Open Access funding options

The FAU’s existing publications fund will be adapted according to the DFG-Project fund subsidy model from 27. January 2023 with slightly modified funding criteria concerning the funding cap. Open Access fees (APCs) in fully Open Access journals might be eligible for a subsidy of up to 1.500 €, provided that the total fee does not exceed 3.000 € (incl. 19% German VAT). If your paper is eligible, the library will pay the publisher’s invoice in full and invoice you any remaining amount above 1.500 €, if the total fee ranges between 1.500 € and 3.000 €. Fees below 1.500 € are funded in full. Please check in advance whether your department or clinic is prepared to cover any remaining amounts.

A funding cap of 3.000 € (including 19% VAT) applies to APCs. This means that the net APC (which is usually the amount on your invoice) must not exceed 2.520 €. For publishers not based in Germany, the VAT reverse charge mechanism applies. Invoices by these publishers should show 0% VAT. However, FAU has to pay 19% German VAT on these invoices separately. Therefore, 19% VAT have to be factored into the 3.000 € funding cap. If your APC exceeds this amount, the article cannot be subsidised. An APC must not be split with another party or between the author and the library.

In order to ensure funding eligibility for a relatively wide range of open access journals, it was necessary to raise the funding cap. However, the existence of a funding cap is considered helpful to control expenditure via the FAU publications fund and to avoid support of excessive or opaque pricing by publishers. If raising the funding cap results in an overproportional depletion of the FAU publications fund, the funding cap might have to be re-adjusted in subsequent years.

Eligibility criteria:

1. The corresponding author must be affiliated with FAU at submission and/or acceptance.
2. The selected journal has to be listed in the Directory of Open Access Journals  or fulfil its quality standards in case of journals from reputable publishers that have not yet been indexed.
3. “Mirror” journals (Open Access journals with the same editorial board, scope, aims, peer review etc. as the “parent” subscription journal – also known as “sister” or “companion” journals, other descriptors are possible) are not eligible.
4. If your third-party research grant includes an Open Access mandate and associated publishing funds, please exhaust these first. The FAU publications fund is meant to be used by authors with no alternative funding options.
5. APCs must not exceed a gross total of 3.000 € (net worth 2.520 €). APCs above this threshold are not eligible for funding.
6. Invoices must not be split among several parties, incl. among the author and the library.
7. NEW (from 17.11.2023) An acknowledgement of the publication funding is no longer required.
8. The article must be published under the terms of an open licence (CC-licence). The default choice should be CC-by, unless specific legal requirements call for a more restrictive CC-licence.
9. The publisher must not retain exclusive copyright (be cautious of “publisher’s own licences” as listed in the DOAJ – link).
10. Fees linked to the Open Access option in hybrid journals are not eligible for funding.
11. Publication costs other than immediate Open Access fees are not eligible for funding (such as colour charges, fast track fees, etc). If, in rare cases, administrative fees (e.g. in case of credit card payments) cannot be avoided, this will not detract from funding eligibility but the admin fee will be added to the 25% author contribution.
12. All funded articles may be uploaded to FAU’s institutional repository by the library where they will be archived in perpetuity.

Submission process and invoices:

• Please submit your invoice via the respective submission form. The form allows us to gather all necessary information and documents efficiently. We will check your invoice against eligibility criteria. If the criteria are met, we will pay the invoice in full and issue you a separate invoice for 25% of the total.
• The invoice address has to be a FAU-address. Please avoid naming the university clinic or individual clinics in the address lines but name your department instead (e.g. FAU Erlangen-Nuremberg, Department of Cardiology).
• If a VAT rate other than the German 19% VAT is displayed on your invoice, please contact the publisher and quote FAU’s VAT ID: DE 132507686.

If you have any questions, please contact us via ub-open-access@fau.de.

From 1 January 2022, alternative funding will be available for articles arising from DFG-funded research projects based at FAU. Only articles in fully Open Access journals are eligible.

A funding cap does not apply to the DFG-project fund at the moment, which means that higher APCs can also be subsidised as long as all eligibility criteria are met (see below).

If eligibility criteria are met, 1500 € can be made available per article, regardless of the gross total of the APC. If your article exceeds 1500 € (incl. 19% VAT), the library will pay the invoice in full and send you a separate invoice for the excess amount.

Depending on cost development, these conditions are subject to change in 2023.

Eligibility criteria:

1. Only DFG-project based articles are eligible for funding.
2. The corresponding author must be affiliated with FAU at submission and/or acceptance.
3. The selected journal has to be listed in the Directory of Open Access Journals or fulfil its quality standards in case of journals from reputable publishers that have not yet been indexed.
4. “Mirror” journals (Open Access journals with the same editorial board, scope, aims, peer review etc. as the “parent” subscription journal – also known as “sister” or “companion” journals, other descriptors are possible) are not eligible.
5. NEW (from 17.11.2023) An acknowledgement of the publication funding is no longer required.
6. The article must be published under the terms of an open licence (CC-licence). The default choice should be CC-by, unless specific legal requirements call for a more restrictive CC-licence.
7. The publisher must not retain exclusive copyright (be cautious of “publisher’s own licences” as listed in the DOAJ – link).
8. Fees linked to the Open Access option in hybrid journals are not eligible for funding.
9. Publication costs other than immediate Open Access fees are not eligible for funding (such as colour charges, fast track fees, etc). If, in rare cases, administrative fees cannot be avoided (e.g. caused by credit card payments), the library will invoice the author for these fees.
10. All funded articles may be uploaded to FAU’s institutional repository by the library where they will be archived in perpetuity.

Submission Process and Invoices:

Please submit your invoice via the respective submission form. The form allows us to gather all necessary information and documents efficiently. We will check your invoice against eligibility criteria. If the criteria are met, we will pay the invoice in full. If the invoice exceeds 1500 € (incl. 19% VAT), we will issue you a separate invoice for the remaining amount.

If a VAT rate other than the German 19% VAT is displayed on your invoice, please contact the publisher and quote FAU’s VAT Id. Number: DE 132507686.

If you have any questions, please contact us via ub-open-access@fau.de.

From 1. January 2022 funding will be available for Open Access books arising from DFG-funded research projects based at FAU. Book Processing Charges (BPCs) can be funded up to 5000 € (incl. 19% VAT). Only full volumes are eligible (monographs or multi-author volumes – no individual book chapters). Books of special relevance such as textbooks or books containing outstanding research might be funded fully even if BPCs exceed 5000 €. Please contact us in any case regardless of the amount of your BPC.

Eligibility criteria:

1. Only DFG-project based books are eligible
2. The author/editor has to be affiliated with FAU at submission/acceptance.
3. Your chosen publisher needs to comply with quality standards for Open Access monographs as defined by the university press project group. Optional: the publisher’s books are listed in the Directory of Open Access Books.
4. Authors/editors need to produce details on two alternative publishing options on request in order to allow for comparison.
5. NEW (from 17.11.2023) An acknowledgement of the publication funding is no longer required.
6. The entire volume has to be published under the terms of an open licence (CC-licence). The default choice should be CC-by or CC-by-SA, unless specific legal requirements call for a more restrictive CC-licence.
7. The publisher must not retain exclusive copyright (be cautious of “All Rights Reserved” as listed in the DOAB).
8. Publication costs other than book processing charges are not eligible for funding (e.g. print fees).
9. All funded books may be uploaded to FAU’s institutional repository by the library where they will be archived in perpetuity.

Submission Process and invoices:

Please submit your invoice via the respective submission form. The form allows us to gather all necessary information and documents efficiently. We will check your invoice against eligibility criteria. If the criteria are met, we will pay the invoice in full. If the invoice exceeds 5000 € (incl. 19% VAT), we will issue you a separate invoice for the remaining amount.

If you have any questions, please contact us via ub-open-access@fau.de.

The following funding options and conditions apply to articles published in fully Open Access journals under a DEAL agreement:

Articles in fully Open Access Journals, which are covered by a DEAL agreement and which meet the eligibility criteria, can be funded either via the FAU-publications fund or the DFG-project fund. Please complete the appropriate submission form when prompted by an email from the Open Access team. If you do not complete the form we cannot assess your funding eligibility and you will be invoiced the full amount.

Due to the nature of the agreement, you will not receive an invoice from the publisher so please tick the box “Wiley/SpringerNature DEAL – no invoice”:

More information on DEAL can be found here.