Funding Open Access
Once an author makes his or her work accessible on an institutional or scholarly document server, he or she is not charged any fees. A contribution will automatically be uploaded to the database by depositing a publication on the publication database and transmitting the simple user rights to the provider of a repository by written consent.
The situation is different for some Open Access journals where financing has been transferred from the user to the authors, but according to a study by the Kaufmann-Wills-Group, not even half of the Open Access journals are financed by authoring fees. Scientists who wish to publish in Open Access journals should check for the form and sum of publication fees beforehand. In most cases, it will be helpful to look at the respective journal's website. An index of Open Access journals is provided by the DOAJ (Directory of Open Access Journals) or the EZB (Elektronische Zeitschriftenbibliothek/database of electronic journals).
Refinancing authoring fees
Some Open Access publishers offer an institutional membership. Libraries pay an annual subscription fee for such membership and thus enable the members of their institution to publish contributions in the pertinent journals either free of charge or for a reduced fee. In such cases, the authors should contact their libraries.
Some funding organisations do not only provide for funding research projects, but also for publication costs. The Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (German Research Association) allows recipients of its grants to apply for a publication flat rate, which can be saved in due course of the duration of funding peirod. The Volkswagen Foundation, too, funds publications within the framework of the research projects it supports, and it explicitly includes Open Access publications.
It is worth while to check the funding guidelines of the respective funding organisations, or contact them directly.
