Open Access funding options

Many research grant applications include allowances for open access publication costs. In some cases, it is possible to apply for these retrospectively (e.g. BMFTR post-grant fund). Funding available through long-term programmes such as GRKs and SFBs can also be utilised to cover open access publishing fees. Please make sure to exhaust these funds first and in full before applying to the library for funding. Further information on third-party open access policies and funding can be found here and via Sherpa Juliet.

Open Access publication fees might also be supported via FAU’s sponsors and foundations or via the DFG-programme Publikationsbeihilfe.

The library provides financial support with Open Access publishing in fully Open Access journals in many cases. Please check the funding options below.

If an article you have already paid for qualifies for funding, the library might be able to reimburse you. Please complete this form: Rückerstattungsformular and upload it with the original invoice and payment confirmation (e.g. credit card statement) via the respective submission form.

Check here to see if your specific magazine is eligible for funding:

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Open Access fees in fully Open Access journals might be eligiblefor a subsidy of up to 1,400 EUR, provided that the total fee does not exceed 3,000 EUR (incl. 19% German VAT). Fees below 1,400 EUR gross are covered in full. If the following funding conditions are met, the University Library will pay the publisher’s invoice in full and invoice you any remaining amount if the publication fee is between 1,400 EUR and 3,000 EUR. Please check in advance whether your whether your department/clinic has funds available to cover the remaining amount.

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 the availability of grants from the publication fund for as long as possible, a cost limit is necessary. Cost limits continue to be recommended by the DFG as these counteract excessive or non-transparent APCs.

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 fully Open Access journals from trustworthy publishers that have not yet been indexed. This is determined though an internal quality check and require more time.
  3. 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.
  4. There is a cost limit of 3,000 EUR gross (including 19% VAT). This corresponds to a net fee of approximately 2,520 EUR. APCs above this funding limit are not eligible for funding. Invoices may not be split between multiple parties, including the author and the library, in order to remain below the limit.
  5. Cost splitting between two DFG-funded institutions is not permitted.
  6. An acknowledgement of the publication funding is no longer required.
  7. The article must be published under the terms of an open license (CC license), by default CC-BY, unless specific legal requirements call for a more restrictive CC-licence. The publisher must not retain exclusive copyright (be cautious of “publisher’s own licences” as listed in the DOAJ.
  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 (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.
  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 only using the respective submission form. This procedure enables you to forward all necessary information and documents efficiently to us. The University Library will check your invoice against eligibility criteria and if those are met, pay the invoice in full directly to the publisher. Then we will issue you a separate invoice for your share of the costs.
  • 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 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. 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.

Articles in fully Open Access journals, which are covered by a DEAL agreement and which meet the eligibility criteria, can be funded via the FAU-publications 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.