Publication Fund for Articles & Book Chapters
Need to pay publication fees for your Open Access article in a journal or your Open Access book chapter? Apply for funding from the University of Bonn’s publication fund!
The University of Bonn’s Publication Fund helps cover the costs associated with publishing an article in a journal or a book chapter as Open Access. The fund is managed by the Bonn University and State Library
Important Note
The money available is limited and funding is not guaranteed. You may inquire at any time to check if funds are still available. The funding covers publication costs for publishers without a separate agreement with the University of Bonn.
Eligibility for Funding
Who is eligible for funding?
The fund is open to members of the University of Bonn or the University Hospital Bonn (UKB) who are the corresponding author and indicate their primary affiliation. Students and early-career researchers are especially encouraged to apply.
What is not eligible?
Funding is not available for non-research articles, mirror journals, secondary fees (e.g., submission charges, page charges, color charges), opt-out articles, contributions in edited volumes or conference proceedings with other funding sources, and double funding (preprints).
Funding Criteria & Notes
Advance payment ULB
The USL will handle your submitted invoice and initially cover the costs. The payment is processed through the WBS element1 (German: PSP-Element) of the Publication Fund.
1 A WBS element is a code in the invoicing system that indicates which part of a project costs are being charged to.
Funding Amount
The funding amount from the publication fund varies depending on the amount of the publication fees (e.g. Article Processing Charges = APCs):
APCs up to 2,000 €: The fund will cover the entire amount of the invoice.
APCs over 2,000 €: You will need to cover the amount exceeding 2,000 € yourself.
Invoicing (for amounts over 2,000 €)
For the invoicing of the remaining amount over 2,000 €, we require a WBS element and contact details of a representative from University members. UKB members only need an invoice address and the contact details of a point of contact.
Reservation Period
We reserve the amount for 3 months. If you do not receive an invoice by then, please contact us, and we will extend the reservation for another 3 months. In case of delays or rejections, please notify us in time, as we may release the funds otherwise.
Funding Acknowledgment
Publications funded by the Publication Fund must include the following statement: "This work was supported by the Open Access Publication Fund of the University of Bonn." DFG-funded publications must include the DFG acknowledgment. Further information on affiliations and funding conditions can be found in the University of Bonn’s guidelines.
Creative Commons License
Journal articles must be published under one of the two Creative Commons licenses (CC BY or CC BY-ND). Licenses with an NC component are not funded!
Book chapters must also be published under a Creative Commons license.
Technical Requirements
Publications should have a Digital Object Identifier (DOI) and be linked to your Open Researcher and Contributor ID (ORCID).
Secondary Publication
Articles and book chapters funded by the Publication Fund must also be published in the university repository bonndoc after the initial publication.
Please provide these guidelines to the publisher to avoid subsequent changes to the invoice! Authors of funded articles are responsible for communicating with the respective publisher.
The invoice must absolutely include the following invoicing address:
Universität Bonn
Universitäts- und Landesbibliothek Bonn
Zeitschriftenmanagement / Open-Access-Team
Regina-Pacis-Weg 3
53113 Bonn
The invoicing address must not include any information about your institute, etc.
- Applies only to journal articles, not to book chapters:
- The CC license under which the publication is released must be indicated on the publisher's invoice (Please note: We only fund CC BY or CC BY-ND). If this requirement is not met, we reserve the right to withhold payment of the invoice!
- The payment term must be at least 30 days!
- Due to administrative necessities, it often takes at least 30 days for the university's treasury to process an invoice. Please inform the publisher about this and check the payment term on the invoice. Only forward the invoice to us once the payment term is correct.
- For invoices from within Germany: Gross invoice including the tax rate and the amount of tax.
- For invoices from abroad (EU countries and third countries): Net invoice including the VAT ID (German: UID) of the University of Bonn (DE 122119125) as well as the VAT ID of the publisher.
How to Apply for Funding?
Step-by-Step Process
- YES: Continues to step 2!
- NO: NOT ELIGIBLE FOR FUNDING!
- YES: Use the Open Access option of the agreement . No further funding from the Publication Fund is possible!
- NO: Proceed to step 3a or 3b!
- Proceed directly to step 4!
Is the Creative Commons license CC BY or CC BY-ND available?
- YES: Proceed to step 4!
- NO: NOT ELIGIBLE FOR FUNDING!
You submit your publication directly to the journal or publisher.
Please make sure to follow our invoicing guidelines!
- Is the invoicing address correct?
- Is the CC license correct?
- Is the payment term of 30 days correct?
- Is the VAT ID (UID) of the University of Bonn listed on the invoice?
Please send the publisher's invoice to openaccess@ulb.uni-bonn.de afterward.
- YES: The Publication Fund covers the entire publisher's invoice. Process completed!
- NO: The Publication Fund covers only part of the publisher's invoice. You or your institution must finance the remaining amount over 2,000 € (Other currencies: $2,150, £1,700, CHF 1,900). Proceed to step 8 or 9!
Have you resolved the financing of the remaining amount over 2,000 €?
Is the approval from the responsible cost center available? (e.g., from your institute)
Are sufficient funds available?
- YES: Please forward a WBS element1 and contact details of a representative to us! (when submitting the application, see step 4).
- NO: Obtain approval!
1 A WBS element (German: PSP-Element) is a code in the invoicing system that indicates which part of a project the costs are being charged to. Ask your institute if you are unsure whether you have a WBS element.
Is the approval from the responsible cost center available? (e.g., from your institute)
Are sufficient funds available?
- YES: Please forward an invoicing address and contact details of a representative to us! (when submitting the application, see step 4).
- NO: Obtain approval!
- Once you have successfully completed all the steps, the process is finished and you will receive funding!
- If you have any questions, please contact openaccess@ulb.uni-bonn.de