Open Access Funding

In accordance with the Open Access Resolution of the University of Freiburg, the University Library promotes Open Access publications in a variety of ways and enables thereby a free and unimpeded access to academic research.

Publication Fund

Since 2011 the University of Freiburg has been running a funding programme with financial support by the German Research Foundation (from 2011 until 2019 and from 2022 in the funding line "Open Access Publication Funding") and the Ministry of Science, Research and Arts (from 2017 until 2021). The budget provided by the publication fund is used to cover the publication fees (APCs) incurred for articles in original quality-assessed open access journals (gold open access journals) by members of the University of Freiburg up to a limit of EUR 2,000 per article.

As part of the DEAL agreements with Wiley and Springer Nature, charges for publications in gold open access journals will be paid in full. Additionally, the Publication Fund will bear the annual costs for framework agreements, which offer free or discounted publication options. In 2021 Freiburg University Library has expanded its existing funding programme to include open access monographs and anthologies. 

Funding of journal articles

Funding conditions

In order for articles that aren’t part of DEAL agreements or framework agreements to be (partially) funded by the Publication Fund, the following conditions must be met in accordance with stipulations by the University Rectorate, the DFG and the MWK:

  • Only articles written by members of the university in original open access journals (gold open access journals) can be funded. Eligible journals have to apply strict quality assurance procedures recognised in the respective subject. The Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ), for example, provides an overview of such journals.
  • Articles in subscription journals based on the hybrid open access model as well as articles in so-called mirror journals (a fully open access version of an existing subscription journal) are not eligible for funding.
  • Only articles for which no other funding is availabe (for instance via the DFG) are eligible for funding. 
  • Publication fees, including VAT at 19 %, may not exceed EUR 2,000 per article in order to be fully eligible for funding. If the publication fees exceed EUR 2,000, pro rata funding of up to EUR 2,000 is possible. Please note that publishers located abroad must quote the publication fees without VAT. In the case of foreign invoices, please add 19 % to the amount converted into EUR to estimate whether the EUR 2,000 limit is complied with. 
  • Only open access publication costs are eligible for funding. Other publication costs such as page charges or colour charges are excluded.
  • Members of the University of Freiburg are responsible for paying publication fees as "Submitting Author" or "Corresponding Author".
  • Each funded publication must contain a reference to the funding, for example: "We acknowledge support by the Open Access Publication Fund of the University of Freiburg."
  • All funded publications are to be documented in the research information system of the University of Freiburg (FreiDok plus).
  • The publication must be provided with a free licence (preferably Creative Commons Attribution CC BY).
  • The authors or editors only transfer simple rights of use to the publisher, but not exclusive rights of use.
  • The rights to images and other material provided by third parties have been cleared beforehand.

Funding application

You can find the application form here

The aim of Projekt DEAL, initiated and financed by the Alliance of German Science Organisations and run under the leadership of the German Rectors' Conference, is to conclude Germany-wide licence agreements with the world's largest science publishers Elsevier, Springer Nature and Wiley for the entire portfolio of electronic journals (e-journals). Project DEAL negotiates on behalf of more than 700 academic institutions in Germany. The DEAL contracts are intended to improve access to research literature for the research community on a broad and sustainable basis and to accelerate the transformation to open access publishing. Thus far, DEAL agreements have been reached with publishers Wiley and Springer Nature.

Wiley

  • Members of the University of Freiburg or the University Hospital with "submitting corresponding author" status can publish eligible articles (see below) open access free of charge in Wiley journals for the duration of the agreement (2019-2023). The publication costs are borne centrally by the University Library (with the exception of page or colour charges incurred by some journals). Publication is usually under a Creative Commons License (CC-BY). Further information from the publisher on both options can be found here
  • eligible articles: Primary Research Articles, Reviews

Springer Nature

  • Members of the University of Freiburg or the University Hospital with "submitting corresponding author" status can publish eligible articles (see below) open access free of charge in Springer Nature journals (incl. Scientific Reports and Nature Communications) for the duration of the agreement (2020-2023). The publication costs are borne centrally by the University Library (with the exception of page or colour charges incurred by some journals). Publication is usually under a Creative Commons License (CC-BY). Further information on publishing can be found here
  • eligible articles in gold open access journals: Research Articles (Original Paper, Review Paper, Brief Communication)
  • eligible articles in hybrid open access journals: Research Articles (Original Paper, Review Paper, Brief Communication) & Non-Research Articles (Editorial Notes, Book Reviews, Letters, Reports)
  • With respect to the medical specialist journals “Facharztzeitschriften” of Springer Medizin Verlag as indicated in the DEAL Journal List the following applies: Only Research Articles which are not requested and actively editorially managed as part of the editorial program planning, shall be deemed Eligible Articles.

Registration

When submitting your article as a Corresponding or Submitting Author, please always register the University of Freiburg as the Primary Affiliation if the article was produced in the course of your work for this institution. Please submit your article via your office at the university and only use your official e-mail address (University or University Hospital of Freiburg) in the publication process, so that your affiliation can be verified.

Acknowledgements

As part of the publication process, the publishers will add the note "Open Access funding provided by Projekt DEAL" in the acknowledgements.

The University Library of Freiburg has obtained a number of framework agreements which enable members of the university to publish open access in the journals of corresponding publishers either at discounted rates or even free of charge. As Submitting/Corresponding Author, please ensure that you submit your articles from your official workplace so that your affiliation with the university can be verified.

American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS): Science advances
Members of the University of Freiburg can publish open access articles in the journal „Science advances“ with a discount of 15 % on the regular APC.
Please file an application via the application form.
In order to receive the 15 % APC-discount, authors will have to select their institution and activate the discount. Further information can be found here.

American Institute of Physics: AIP Journals
Members of the University of Freiburg can publish open access articles free of charge in open access in the following hybrid journals until a certain quota is used up:

  • AIP Conference Proceedings
  • American Journal of Physics
  • Applied Physics Letters
  • Applied Physics Reviews
  • AVS Quantum Science
  • Biointerphases
  • Biomicrofluidics
  • Chaos
  • Chinese Journal of Chemical Physics
  • Journal of Applied Physics
  • Journal of Laser Applications
  • Journal of Mathematical Physics
  • Journal of Physical and Chemical Reference Data
  • Journal of Renewable and Sustainable Energy
  • Journal of Rheology
  • Journal of the Acoustical Society of America
  • Journal of Vacuum Science and Technology A
  • Journal of Vacuum Science and Technology B
  • LIA Conference Proceedings
  • Low Temperature Physics
  • Physics of Fluids
  • Physics of Plasmas
  • Review of Scientific Instruments
  • Surface Science Spectra
  • The Journal of Chemical Physics
  • The Physics Teacher

A separate funding application isn’t necessary.

BMJ journals
Members of the University of Freiburg can publish open access articles free of charge in selected journals (the list is available on the BMJ-website under the institution „University of Freiburg“). A separate funding application isn’t necessary.
Members of the University of Freiburg can publish in all gold open access journals at a discount of 25 % on the regular APC. Please file an application via the application form.

Cambridge University Press
Articles by members of the University of Freiburg can be published free of charge in all hybrid and gold open access journals. A separate funding application isn't necessary. Further information can be found here:

The Company of Biologists [NEW from 2023]
Articles by members of the University of Freiburg can be published free of charge in all hybrid and gold open access journals. A separate funding application isn't necessary. Further information can be found here.

Copernicus.org
Articles by members of the University of Freiburg in Copernicus journals are financed by a prepayment from the University Library. A separate application is not required.

De Gruyter
Members of the University of Freiburg can publish articles in all gold open access journals with a discount of 20 % on the regular APC. Please file an application via the application form. 
Articles by members of the University of Freiburg can also be published free of charge in open access in selected hybrid journals of the publisher. This concerns the hybrid journals in the humanities and social sciences as well as those economics journals that fall under the Read&Publish model. A separate funding application isn't necessary.

ECS digital library (Electrochemical Society)
Members of the University of Freiburg can publish free of charge in the hybrid journals "Journal of the Electrochemical Society" (JES) and "Journal of Solid State Science and Technology" (JSS). A separate funding application isn’t necessary. 

MDPI
Members of the University of Freiburg can publish articles in all open access journals with a discount of 10 % on the regular APC. Please file an application via the application form.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS)
Members of the University of Freiburg can publish immediately or delayed open access articles. Publication in immediate open access is discounted by 500 USD compared to the regular APC. As this is a hybrid journal, it is not eligible for funding by the publication fund. Further information can be found here.

PsyJournals des Verlages Hogrefe
Articles by members of the University of Freiburg can be published free of charge in open access in all hybrid journals of the publisher. A seperate funding application isn't necessary. Additional information is available here.
Members of the University of Freiburg can publish articles in the following gold open access journals with a 25 % discount on the regular APC:

  • European Journal of Psychology Open
  • Psychological Test Adaptation and Development
  • Sports Psychiatry: Journal of Sports and Exercise Psychiatry.

Public Library of Science (PLOS) [NEW from 2023]
Members of the University of Freiburg can publish open access articles free of charge in all in all 12 PLOS journals. Here you can find informations from the publisher on the submission process. Important note: In order for publications by employees of the University Hospital to be covered by the framework agreement, the affiliation guideline of the Medical Faculty must be followed and the affiliation to the University of Freiburg must be clearly stated in the affiliation information in the publication! 

Royal Society of Chemistry Journals
Members of the University of Freiburg can publish open access articles free of charge in all hybrid journals of the publisher. A seperate application isn’t necessary.
Articles by members of the University of Freiburg can be published in all gold open access journals with a 15 % discount on the regular APC.

SCOAP3
The University of Freiburg is a member of the „Sponsoring Consortium for Open Access Publishing in Particle Physics“ (SCOAP3). Members of the university can publish open access in SCOAP3 journals free of charge as Corresponding Author.

SPIE Digital Library
Members of the University of Freiburg can publish free of charge in all hybrid and gold open access journals. A separate funding application isn’t necessary.

Springer Nature
see the slider "Projekt DEAL"

Wiley
see the slider "Projekt DEAL"

Funding of Open Access monographs and anthologies

Publications eligible for funding

  • Current primary publications, e.g. as yet unpublished monographs, dissertations (graded magna cum laude or summa cum laude) and anthologies are eligible for funding.
  • Only books for which there are no alternative funding options are eligible.
  • Anthologies are eligible for funding if a Book Processing Charge (BPC) is levied for the whole anthology. Single contributions to anthologies by members of the University of Freiburg are not eligible for funding.

Persons eligible to apply for funding

  • An author of a monograph or the publisher of an anthology who is a member of the University of Freiburg and is wholly responsible for payment of the publication charges.
  • In the case of anthologies, at least one of the publishers must be a member of the University of Freiburg. 

Amount of funding

  • Only the publication charges will be funded. Funding of printing and design costs or any additional costs for illustrations in colour or page counts is not possible.
  • Funding per publication is limited: Open access publication charges for monographs or anthologies will be reimbursed up to EUR 5,000 (incl. VAT). If the total publication costs exceed this limit, a partial funding by the Publication Fund is possible.

Requirements regarding the publication and the publisher

  • All parts of the funded work are permanently online available immediately after publishing – worldwide and free of charge. Publication of the open access version must happen before or simultaniously with any possible publication of a print version of the funded work.
  • The publication must be released under a permanent address (DOI or URN).
  • An ORCID iD must be provided.
  • The affiliation of the authors or publishers to the University of Freiburg must be made clear within the publication.
  • The guidelines for safeguarding good research practice need to be followed.
  • The publisher needs to be listed as an Open Access publisher, for example in the Directory of Open Access Books (DOAB) or as a member of the Open Access Scholarly Publishers Association (OASPA).
  • The publisher needs to present a transparent calculation of the open access publishing charges. Only those charges will be reimbursed by the Publication Fund.

Legal matters

  • The publication must be provided with a free licence (preferably Creative Commons Attribution CC BY).
  • The authors or editors only transfer simple rights of use to the publisher, but not exclusive rights of use.
  • The rights to images and other material provided by third parties have been cleared beforehand.

Support and funding application

If you’re interested in applying for open access funding, please contact us at:
openaccess@ub.uni-freiburg.de

University of Freiburg

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