© Robert Kneschke-Fotolia.com

Funding possibilities

Open access publication fund of the University of Münster

© Universität Münster

Since 2011, there has been a publication fund for the University of Münster. Scientists at the University can apply for support from this fund for open access publications.
Information of the publication fund

Further information on cost subsidies for scientific publications can be found at SAFIR (Servicestelle Antragsberatung zu Forschungsförderungsprogrammen aus nationalen und internationalen Ressourcen) and on the University's intranet.

Publications in journals of selected publishers

© pixabay.com, ULB

The University of Münster has signed a number of agreements with selected publisher These contracts cover or discount the costs of articles by members of the university in journals for which there is an article processing charge, or at least the invoices are settled collectively.
Information on publishing agreements

DFG and open access

© DFG

The Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) promotes open access and has also enshrined this in its guidelines for use, which are part of every DFG-funded project approval. These state:

  • The DFG expects that the research results financed with its funds are published and, if possible, also published digitally and made available for free access on the Internet (open access). For this purpose, the corresponding contributions should either be placed in discipline-specific or institutional electronic archives (repositories) in addition to the publisher's publication, or published directly in peer-reviewed or renowned open access journals.
  • Scientists involved in DFG-funded projects should, as far as possible, firmly and permanently reserve a non-exclusive exploitation right in publishing agreements for the electronic publication of their research results for the purpose of royalty-free use.
  • Publications must include a reference to DFG funding.

BMBF and open access

© BMBF

The Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung (BMBF, Federal Ministry of Education and Research) has included open access as a standard in its project funding and communicated this in its open access strategy. It states:

  • The clause requires scientists to publish research results from projects funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research – if they have decided to publish the results – either directly through open access (golden way) or to post them in a suitable repository after an embargo period has expired (green way).
  • The decision of the scientists on the "whether" of the publication remains unaffected by the clause.
  • Open access is particularly welcomed in the publication of monographs produced in BMBF-funded projects.

In addition, the BMBF supports publication fees for publications from completed projects funded by the BMBF with the newly created Post-Grant Fund.
Information on the Post-Grant-Fund

European Union and open access

The European Union is a pioneer in the field of open access and has stipulated in its funding program guidelines that (Open Science Policy):

  • 7. EU Research Framework Program (2007–2013) (FP7)
    The European Commission (EC) and the European Research Council (ERC) commit FP7 researchers to open access in all projects whose grant agreement includes special clause 39.
    From 2015–2018, the "FP7 Post-Grant Open Access Pilot" was launched as part of the EU project OpenAIRE2020 to enable already completed FP7 projects to be reimbursed for the costs of open access publications after the end of the project period. For this purpose, the EU provided funding in the amount of four million euros.
  • Horizon 2020 - European Framework Program for Research and Innovation
    Open access publication is mandatory for all scientific publications funded under Horizon 2020 (Guidelines on open access to Scientific Publications and Research Data).
    The European Commission also calls for all data (called primary data) underlying scientific publications to be made publicly available in addition.
    When submitting your application, please already take into account possible costs for publications in open access publications.

The University of Münster supports the publication of your publications via the green or the golden way with various offers such as the document server miami or the e-journals platform. The document server miami fulfills the OpenAIRE compliance requirement.