According to its Open Access strategy, the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) aims at establishing Open Access as the standard for scientific publishing. Researchers are encouraged to publish research results from funded projects in a freely accessible form.

As part of its general project funding, the BMBF supports the financing of open access publications. Related publication costs can be covered by project funds during the term of research projects.

Open Access publications that are published after the end of a project term within the following three years can be financed by the BMBF's Post-Grant Fund. Full funding is provided up to an amount of 2,000 EUR (net) per publication. If the publication costs exceed 2,000 EUR (net), an additional 20% of the surplus amount is funded. The maximum funding amount per publication is 2,400 EUR (net). Applications for the Post-Grant Fund can be submitted at any time using the application form.