How to Get Reimbursed

What is eligible for funding if you, as a member of JGU, publish an article in an Open Access journal or an Open Access monograph? And how do you receive this funding? Below we have summarized the criteria and steps for you. Members of the University Medical Center can find further information in the University Medical Center’s overview.

Step 1

First, please check whether the eligibility criteria are met.

The Eligibility Criteria for Journal Articles

Our funding is subject to certain conditions. Before applying, please check whether these requirements are met.

Incoming applications for funding will be processed in the order in which they are received, until funds are exhausted.

1. Eligible publication formats

Journal articles are eligible for funding. Contributions to anthologies are not eligible.

2. Eligible groups of people

Applications can be submitted by employees or enrolled students of Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) or the University Medical Center Mainz (UM).
The applicant must prove that they, as “submitting” or “corresponding author”, are fully responsible for the payment of the article processing fee.

3. Funding amount and pricing

A maximum of €2,000 per article will be reimbursed, including the sales tax of 19% that must always be taken into account. Should the costs be higher, a pro rata reimbursement will be made up to a maximum of € 2,000 per item. Additional costs (APCs, other costs) must be paid by the applicant themselves. In the case of invoices in foreign currencies, the invoice amount actually paid in euros plus the 19% sales tax to be paid in Germany applies (if not already included in the invoice amount).

Many publishers know that Open Access article funding has a cutoff. Talk to your publisher about a discount. It may be worth it!
Separately reported additional costs that are not plausible when it comes to the production of digital publications, such as for additional pages (page charges) or color illustrations (color charges), will not be refunded.
If a publication is created within a project funded by third-party funds, the applicant has to confirm that no (sufficient) third-party funds are available for the publication.

4. Accessibility and reusability

The article to be published appears in a real Open Access journal, i.e. all articles of this journal are accessible on the internet free of charge immediately after publication. The journal must be subject to simultaneous subscription (such as journals at “Springer Open Choice” or “Oxford Open”).
The publication is published under a permanent address (DOI).

The applicant must have an ORCID iD and provide it when applying for funding. For more information on the ORCID iD, visit: Author identification with the ORCID iD: Why and for whom? - ORCID DE (orcid-de.org)
Funding is only granted for articles whose comprehensive reusability for research is legally secured. The publisher provides this proof by assigning anOpen Content license. We accept “CC BY” licenses. If your paper is published under another open license, please contact us.
The author records and maintains his publication list in the FIS Gutenberg Research Elements of JGU: Gutenberg Research Elements
The publication is also made available on Gutenberg Open Science, the JGU repository. When submitting the funding application, the applicant must upload their publication.

5. Quality assurance

The journal is subject to strict quality assurance, as recognized in the respective subject. Adequate quality assurance of the journal can be demonstrated either by listing the journal in the Directory of Open Access Journals or by another reliable description.

Eligibility criteria for Open Access books

The publication fund for Open Access books for 2024 has been exhausted. Non-binding funding reservations for publications appearing in 2025 can be made.

Funding for books and anthologies is subject to certain requirements. Before applying, please check whether these requirements are met.

Incoming applications for funding will be processed in the order in which they are received, until funds are exhausted.

The decision on funding lies with the University Library.

1. Eligible publication formats

Monographs and anthologies are eligible for funding. Doctoral dissertations are not eligible. Anthologies are eligible if a “Book Processing Charge” is charged for the entire anthology.

2. Eligible groups of people

Applications can be submitted by authors or editors who are enrolled students or employees of JGU. Employees in this sense are persons who work at least 16% of the regular weekly working hours. You are fully responsible for paying the publisher’s invoice.
The authors’ affiliation with JGU must be clearly recognizable in the publication.

3. Funding amount and pricing

Our maximum funding is €5,000. The cutoff includes the German sales tax of 19%, which must always be taken into account. In the case of invoices in foreign currencies, the invoice amount actually paid in euros plus the 19% sales tax to be paid in Germany applies (if not already included in the invoice amount).
Costs for split invoices with external institutions can be covered.
If the publication is part of a project funded by third-party funds, the applicant has to confirm that no (sufficient) third-party funds are available for the publication.
The publisher must have a comprehensible total cost calculation that is based on the specific requirements of the title in question.
If research sponsors have made the Open Access publication possible, they have to be named in the document and, if applicable, in the metadata.

4. Accessibility and visibility

Access to the digital version of the publication is made free and public immediately upon publication, without financial, legal or technical barriers. Paid editions such as a print edition appear at the same time or follow the Open Access version.
The publication is clearly marked as an Open Access publication in all formats and editions.
The Open Access version of the publication is made available on the publisher’s/publication service’s website, together with any additional paid versions.
The obligation to submit all published editions to the respective national libraries and to the respective state libraries must be fulfilled.
Each publication receives a persistent identifier from the publisher, preferably a DOI or URN.
Long-term archiving is carried out by a correspondingly certified service. (These can be services of the respective national libraries (DNB–long-term archiving system–Our digital long-term archiving system) or a central service provider such as CLOCKKS or Portico (Home–Portico).
Text and Data Mining (TDM) is technically enabled and legally permitted. This includes the automatic downloading, extraction, and indexing of full texts and associated metadata.
The publications are published and archived in at least one digital file format suitable for long-term archiving.
The author records and maintains his publication list in the FIS Gutenberg Research Elements of JGU: Gutenberg Research Elements
The funded publication will also be made available in the JGU repository (Gutenberg Open Science) as part of the application process. When submitting the funding application, the applicant must upload their publication.

5. Rights

Authors and editors grant the publisher/publication service simple usage rights and thus retain the right to grant usage rights to other parties and to publish the publication or parts of it elsewhere.
The authors and editors grant the general public extensive usage options by granting an Open Access-compliant Creative Commons license, if possible CC BY.
The rights to images and other third-party materials that are subject to third-party rights have been cleared and clearly identified.
Rights and license information is stored in machine-readable form on the editorial page and in the metadata of the files. They are available as a license name and as a link to the license.

6. Quality assurance

The publisher's / publication service's quality assurance methods are described transparently on the website.
A peer review or appraisal process that corresponds to subject-specific standards is used for the scientific examination.
There are established procedures to ensure good scientific practice that take effect before, during, and after publication. Relevant contact persons are named.

The DFG offers further funding opportunities. Please inform yourself here:
DFG - Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft - Überarbeitung des Förderprogramms Publikationsbeihilfe

Step 2

Then, check whether your publication is to be published with

Cambridge University Press
Copernicus
Elsevier
Springer Nature
Taylor Francis or
Wiley

We have finalized agreements with these publishers on central invoicing for publication costs.

All you have to do in the submission process is state that you are a JGU author. The invoice for accepted publications will be sent directly to us and paid by us. Step 3 is omitted.

Further information on the requirements for assumption of costs and other special conditions from publishers can be found in our overview of special conditions for publication fees.

Step 3

If your publication is not published by one of the publishers listed above, fill out an application form and send it to us.

Journal articles:

Journal article application form

Please enclose the accounted invoice as well as the FIN receipt for the tax payment with your application, the conversion receipt for the amount paid in euros (if necessary), and a MACH statement for the expensed amounts.

Books: