Publication Fund
The University of Göttingen and the University Medical Center Göttingen support Open Access publishing with a publication fund for journal articles. There are also funding options for Open Access books.
Publication fund for articles
The Publication Fund supports articles in pure Open Access journals and is financed by central university and third-party funds.
Eligibility requirements
Affiliation
The corresponding author's primary affiliation must be with the University of Göttingen or Göttingen University Medical Centre in order to be eligible for funding from the publication fund. Please note the relevant requirements of the affiliation policy.
Open Access Journals
You publish in a ‘pure’ open access journal. The Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) lists such journals. For journals that are not listed, please contact us in advance. We reserve the right to reject applications after review.
Peer Review
Among other things, the journal must have a transparent and subject-specific peer review process for quality assurance. All journals listed in the Directory of Open Access Journal (DOAJ) meet this requirement.
Third-party Funding
Funding for publication must be applied for within the framework of third-party funded projects, and these funds must also be used as a priority, both to cover the entire publication costs and for subsidies from the central publication fund.
Article Fees
Only pure open access fees, known as article processing charges (APC), can be covered. Additional costs such as submission fees, colour or page charges (etc.) must be paid from project or institute funds.
No splitting of bills
The invoice amount may not be split between two research institutions or invoice recipients. An invoice to be processed via the University or University Medical Centre Göttingen must correspond to the total publication fees for the article.
Exclusion criteria
If the following exclusion criteria are met, funding via the publication fund for journals is not possible:
- Hybrid open access journals
Hybrid open access journals are subscription-based journals that offer an additional open access option. The same article is financed by subscription and open access publication fees. In order to avoid double funding, these journals are not eligible for funding from the Publication Fund. However, there are exceptions within the framework of transformation agreements that combine the costs for read access and open access publishing in one license fee. Please find out more about the current agreements. - Mirror journals
Mirror journals are excluded from funding despite being listed in the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ). A mirror journal is a completely freely accessible version (open access journal with a DOAJ record) of an existing subscription journal, usually with a similar name. The aim, peer review process and guidelines are similar or identical. At least 50% of the editorial board consists of the same members. The DFG has excluded these journals from funding in its "Open Access Publication Costs" funding program. - MDPI
Publications by the publisher MDPI are not eligible for funding from the Publication Fund. Despite being listed in the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ), journals published by MDPI were excluded from funding by the Publication Fund.
Scope of funding
- For article costs up to €2,000 (gross), the costs can be covered in full.
- For article costs over €2,000 (gross), the following applies:
The costs for articles are split 50/50 between the SUB Göttingen Publication Fund and the institution.
In such a case, the Publication Fund can provide a maximum of 2,000 € (gross).
Existing publication funds from projects must be used, if necessary with a higher amount than the 50% share of publication costs.
Please note that most publishers pass on the tax burden to the invoice recipient. As a rule, a tax of 19% must therefore be added to the invoice amounts.
Publication fund for books
Two funding lines are currently available for book publications, which can be used by members of the University of Göttingen and the University Medical Center Göttingen.
Funding is available for the following types of publications
- Monographs and anthologies
- Scientific qualification theses from dissertations (only outstanding theses as determined by the discipline)
- Individual contributions in OA-published anthologies
- Scientific editions
NiedersachsenOPEN
Funding requirements
The responsible person must be affiliated with the University of Göttingen or the University Medical Center, or the work must be thematically related to the state of Lower Saxony.
- A contract for open access publication may only be signed after approval has been granted.
- The publication complies with the requirements of good scientific practice and has undergone a transparent review process appropriate to the respective discipline for quality assurance purposes.
- The open access edition is published before or at the same time as an optional print version.
- The publisher is granted only simple rights of use.
- The publication is published under an OA-compliant license, preferably a Creative Commons license (CC BY, CC BY-SA).
- The publication is assigned a persistent identifier, preferably a DOI, and is linked to the ORCID ID of the responsible persons.
- The publication is provided with a funding reference.
Scope of funding
The scope of funding must be considered individually for each publication. Only OA-specific services are eligible for funding (e. g., costs for editing/copy editing, layout/cover design, image processing and image rights, typesetting, creation of the digital OA version, ISBN and DOI assignment, provision on the publisher's platform, notification to other platforms). Administrative fees, printing costs, or surcharges for color, volume, etc. (submission charges, page charges, color charges, etc.) are excluded from funding.
DFG Funding
Funding requirements
- The responsible person is affiliated with the University of Göttingen or the University Medical Center, and the work is the result of a DFG project.
- The publication complies with the requirements of good scientific practice and has undergone a transparent review process in accordance with the respective discipline for quality assurance purposes.
- The open access edition is published before or at the same time as an optional print version.
- The publisher is granted only simple rights of use.
- The publication appears under an OA-compliant license, preferably a Creative Commons license (CC BY, CC BY-SA).
- The publication receives a persistent identifier, preferably a DOI, and is linked to the ORCID ID of the responsible person.
Scope of funding
The maximum amount of funding provided by the DFG is €5,000. Only OA-specific services are eligible for funding (e. g., costs for proofreading/copy editing, layout/cover design, image processing and image rights, typesetting, creation of the digital OA version, assigning ISBN and DOI numbers, making the publication available on the publisher's platform, and registering it on other platforms). Administrative fees, printing costs, and additional charges for color, length, etc. (submission charges, page charges, color charges, etc.) are excluded from funding.
Application for books
To apply, please contact oa@sub.uni-goettingen.de. Please note that the funding approval is limited in time. In the event of a delay, it may be necessary to submit a new application.
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FAQ - Publication fund
“This publication was supported by funds from the NiedersachsenOPEN publication fund, sponsored by zukunft.niedersachsen.”
Publishers are encouraged to acknowledge the support provided by the publication fund. They may use the following phrase for this purpose: “We acknowledge support by the Open Access Publication Funds of the University of Göttingen.”
For article costs exceeding €2,000 (gross), the costs will be split with the corresponding authors' institutions. If it is not possible to cover a proportionate share of the costs, funding from the publication fund must also be declined.
The Directory of Open Access Books (DOAB) provides an overview of quality-assured and proven publishers for open access publishing. Membership of the Open Access Scholarly Publishers Association (OASPA) also fulfills the aspect of quality assurance.
Information on selecting suitable journals and publishers can be found here.