For many projects funded by third-party grants, it is possible to apply for funding to cover open access publication costs, either in advance or retrospectively. One example is the Post-Grant Fund of the Federal Ministry of Research, Technology, and Space.
In long-term programmes such as Collaborative Research Centres and Research Training Groups, funds can also be allocated as required, including for open access. These funds must be prioritised and fully utilised before central funds can be accessed. Information about the open access policies of third-party funders can be found on our website and on Open Policy Finder.
Publication Fund for Articles
Open access fees for pure open access journals may be subsidized up to €1,400, provided that the total fee does not exceed €3,000 (including 19% VAT). Fees under €1,400 will be covered in full. If the following funding conditions are met, the University Library will pay 100% of your invoice to the publisher. If the fee falls between €1,400 and €3,000, the Library will issue you an invoice for the remaining balance. Please clarify in advance whether your institute/hospital has funds available to cover the remaining balance.
There is a cost limit of €3,000, including 19% VAT. This corresponds to a net fee of approximately €2,520. For foreign publishers, the reverse charge procedure applies. These publishers list VAT as $0.00 (or the equivalent in other currencies) on their invoices. However, internally at FAU, 19% VAT is still remitted. This 19% must be taken into account when calculating the €3,000 limit. Articles can only be subsidized if the full open access fee does not exceed this limit. Cost splitting is not permitted.
In order to ensure that grants from the publication fund remain available for as long as possible, it is necessary to implement a cost cap. The DFG continues to recommend cost caps to help prevent excessive or non-transparent APCs.
- The corresponding author must be affiliated with FAU at the time of submission and/or acceptance.
- The journal in which the article is published must be listed in the Directory of Open Access Journals, unless it is a pure open-access journal from a reputable publisher that has not yet been indexed, in which case it must meet the Directory’s quality standards. This determination is made through an internal quality review, which may take a little longer.
- For externally funded projects with a specific mandate and requested funds for open access, these funds must be used in full. The publication fund is intended for authors who have no other funding options.
- The cost limit is €3,000, including 19% VAT. This corresponds to a net fee of approximately €2,520. Amounts exceeding this limit are not eligible for funding. Cost-sharing is not possible, and publishers cannot cover additional costs.
- Cost-sharing between two DFG-funded institutions is not permitted.
- An acknowledgment of the publication grant is no longer required.
- The article must be published under an open license, typically a CC-BY license. When selecting a CC license, deviations from the CC-BY license should only be made for legally compelling reasons. No exclusive rights of use may be transferred to the publisher. Note the warning “Publisher’s Own License” in the Directory of Open Access Journals.
- Funding is not available for open access publication of articles in hybrid journals. Funding is also not available for open access mirror journals, also known as sister or companion journals.
- Funding is not available for publication costs other than open access fees (such as color charges or fast-track fees). However, unavoidable processing fees (such as those for credit card payments) do not affect funding eligibility and will be billed to the author.
- The University Library is authorized to deposit and permanently archive the funded open access articles in the institutional repository.
- Please submit your invoice via the designated submission form only.
This process allows you to efficiently send us all the necessary information and documents. The University Library will review your invoice. If all conditions are met, we will pay the publisher directly and subsequently invoice you for your share of the cost. - The invoice must be made out to an FAU address. Modify clinic addresses accordingly. Do not include the name of the clinic (such as Universitätsklinikum Erlangen, University Clinic, Radiation Oncology Clinic), but rather include the FAU and the department (such as the Department of Surgery).
- For foreign publishers, the invoice should list the VAT rate as 0%. Please provide the publisher with FAU’s VAT identification number. DE 132507686.
Funding opportunities for articles in purely open-access journals under the DEAL agreement
Articles published in pure open-access journals covered by a DEAL agreement with Springer Nature, Wiley, or Elsevier may be funded through the FAU Publication Fund, provided that the relevant eligibility criteria are met. When prompted to do so via email from the Open Access Team, please fill out the corresponding submission form. If you do not complete the form, we cannot assess your article’s eligibility, and you will receive an invoice for the full amount from the University Library. Since you will not receive an invoice from the publisher, please check the box next to “Wiley, Springer Nature, or Elsevier DEAL — no invoice.” More information is available on the DEAL project pages.
Publication Fund for DFG Books
Starting January 1, 2022, the DFG’s “Open Access Publishing” grant program will provide funding to subsidize open access costs for books up to €5,000 (including 19% VAT). This applies only to complete books (monographs or collected volumes, not individual contributions) produced at FAU as part of a DFG project. Depending on availability, higher subsidies or funding partnerships with FAU’s foundations and sponsors may be possible for particularly relevant books, such as textbooks and research volumes. Regardless of the amount of the publication costs, please contact us.
- Only books associated with DFG projects are eligible for funding.
- The author (of a monograph), or the editor (of an anthology), must be affiliated with FAU at the time of submission and/or acceptance.
- The publisher of the book adheres to the Association of University Presses’ quality standards for open-access monographs. Ideally, the publisher’s books would be listed in the Directory of Open Access Books (DOAB).
- Upon request, publishers or editors must research and submit two alternative publishing options to the University Library so that the library can evaluate the services offered.
- An acknowledgment of the publication grant is no longer required.
- The entire volume must be published under an open license, typically a CC-BY or CC-BY-SA license. When selecting a CC license, only deviate from the CC-BY or CC-BY-SA licenses for legally compelling reasons.
- No exclusive rights of use may be transferred to the publisher (note the disclaimer “All Rights Reserved” in the Directory of Open Access Books), for example).
- All publication costs, except open access book processing charges, are excluded (such as printing costs).
- The University Library is authorized to deposit funded open-access books in the institutional repository and archive them long term.
- Please submit your invoice via the designated submission form only.
This process allows you to efficiently send us all the necessary information and documents. The University Library will review your invoice. If all conditions are met, we will pay the publisher directly. Any remaining balance in excess of the €5,000 grant will be billed to you. - Please use the form to upload two comparative quotes along with the invoice. They do not need to be detailed. A screenshot of the relevant information from a publisher’s website or an email from a publisher is sufficient.
- The invoice must be made out to an FAU address. Modify clinic addresses accordingly. Do not include the name of the clinic (such as Universitätsklinikum Erlangen, University Clinic, or Radiation Clinic), but rather include the FAU and the department (such as the Department of Surgery).
- For foreign publishers, the invoice should list the VAT rate as 0%. Provide the publisher with FAU’s VAT identification number (VAT No.). DE 132507686.
Contact
Referat Open Access
Alte Universitätsbibliothek
- Telefon: +49913185-24797
- E-Mail: ub-open-access@fau.de