The "Open Access Publication Funding" programme is designed to grant a fixed allowance for the publication of research results via open access. Only research institutions, not individuals, may apply for this allowance.

This programme highlights that open access plays a pivotal role in improving scientific communication and that its costs should be seen in relation to this aim.. The aim of this funding programme is to create structural adjustment in financial flows, thus enabling the transformation of open access and improving transparency regarding the costs for open access publication of research results.

The funding of open access publication costs thus is firstly directed towards those research institutions that require it due to the transformation towards publication-based accounting. The provision of funds should secondly result in the formation and development of adequate structures at the institutions receiving funding, to enable them as far as possible to identify the costs of publications in an automated and standardised manner. Therefore, the programme aims to support institutions with the introduction and development of such structures by subsidising researchers' fees for open access publications. These allowances must be managed in a central department at the institution, generally the library.

Information on the curtailment mechanism

Due to programme overbooking, uniform reductions have to be made in the approval years 2024-2027. The Committee on Scientific Library Services and Information Systems (AWBI) has established a general curtailment mechanism that will be applied to all grant proposals. Prospective allowances for items in the approval year 2024 will be calculated solely based on the eligible items shown in the proposal to have been incurred in 2021-2023. The number of these items will be reduced by 30%. The remaining number of items will be multiplied by the allowance of €1,400 as established in the programme. For the approval years 2025-2027, an analogous reduction will be made based on eligible items for the years 2022-2024 and 2023-2025 and 2024-2026.

Further information

• Overview of "Forms and guidelines"
• Frequently asked questions (FAQ)
• Report on the receipt of proposals and decisions in the year 2023 (in German only)
• Report on the receipt of proposals and decisions in the year 2022 (in German only)
• Report on the receipt of proposals and decisions in the year 2021 (in German only)
• Additional funding opportunities