University Library

Open Access Publication Fund

The University of Tübingen has established an open access publication fund for publication in recognized open access journals. The University Library is responsible for administering the monies and processing. This central processing provides a better overview of costs and gives you the security of actually using centrally agreed discounts.

If the criteria listed below are met, a €1,500 grant will be awarded for all articles published after Jan. 1, 2023 thanks to DFG funding - or OA publication costs under €1,500 gross will be covered in full.

We evaluate this grant regularly and adjust it if necessary after advance notice.

Requirements for assumption of publication fees:

  • As “first author” or “corresponding author”, a member of the University of Tübingen is responsible for payment of publication fees.
     
  • The articles are published in open access journals. Those are journals in which all articles are available free of charge immediately on release via the Internet.
     
  • These open access journals apply peer reviews that are recognized in the respective subject. As such, the journals are listed in the Directory of Open Access Journals.
     
  • The CC-BY license for articles should be granted without restrictive additions such as NC or ND*.
     

Every funded publication should include a reference to the funding (e.g. “We acknowledge support from the Open Access Publishing Fund of the University of Tübingen”).

*Notes on the choice of license and the publishing contract:
As a rule, authors - as long as the article has not yet been published - can influence the license with which they publish their article. Please contact the UB if you need assistance here. 
Articles that are not published with a CC-BY license are excluded from support from the Open Access Publication Fund. As a transitional measure, the Open Access Publication Fund will support all articles already submitted in 2022 in which the choice of a CC-BY license is not possible with a maximum grant of up to 800 euros. 
The conditions for articles submitted up to and including 31.12.2021 can be found in this pdf.
The NC license module in particular does not meet the requirements for an Open Access publication in the true sense. You can read more here.

Not eligible for funding:

  • is the individual open access publishing of single articles in hybrid journals, following the “Open Choice” model (also known as “Open Option”). Please also note the information on possible framework agreements with publishers.
     
  • is publishing in so-called mirror journals, even if they are listed in DOAJ. Mirror journals are name-similar open access offshoots of already existing closed access journals and therefore represent a form of hybrid journal.
     
  • are all other costs associated with the publication, such as fees for peer review, colour illustrations, overlength, etc.

Applying to have costs covered

Contact us – in advance if you wish – if you want to know whether you could be eligible for a subsidy for a planned publication, or if other discounts are possible.

If the publication meets the funding criteria we will undertake to settle the publisher’s invoice in full in advance. After publication you will receive an invoice from the University Library for your share/contribution.

Please give the publisher the following address for invoices (mandatory for members of the Faculty of Medicine and University Hospital):

Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen
Universitätsbibliothek - Open-Access-Publikationsfonds
Postfach 2620, 72016 Tübingen, Germany

The following tax reference (or VAT ID) must be included: DE 812 383 453

Before we assume the costs of the publisher's invoice, we will ask you for the billing address within the University or the University Hospital of Tübingen relevant for onward billing and require a corresponding confirmation of assumption of costs from you.

You can send us all relevant information and upload the invoice using this form .

If you wish to apply for a subsidy for a publisher’s invoice that you have already paid, we will discuss the process with you individually.