Freie Universität offers funding to co-finance the publication costs (Book Processing Charges, BPCs) for open-access monographs and edited volumes that have not been published previously.

The funding was drawn from Freie Universität Berlin budget resources; the fund is managed by the University Library. Publications from DFG projects will be financed in the period 2023-2025 via funding from the DFG program "Open Access Publication Costs". Applications will be processed in the order in which they are received. In individual cases, the decision as to whether the funding is granted rests with the University Library.

The publication includes an acknowledgement describing the funding of Freie Universität Berlin: "This publication was financed in part by the open access fund for monographs and edited volumes of the Freie Universität Berlin."

Funding Conditions

• Funding will be granted only if a Freie Universität member is responsible for the settlement of the fee. The author or editor must be a Freie Universität member at the time when payment is made (§ 43 Berliner Hochschulgesetz).
• The FU affiliation of the author must be clearly identifiable in the publication.
• Refundable are Open-access monographs and edited volumes that have not been published previously.
• Due to fiscal reasons, the reimbursement of the cost can be transferred only to a department's account.

Funding

• Publication costs will be reimbursed up to the maximum of 5.000 EUR (incl. VAT).
• The combination of funding with other sources is possible.
• The funding approval is valid for a period of 12 months. If the publication has not been published within that period, the applicant will have to submit a new application.
• Excellent theses of the Freie Universität Berlin are eligible for funding, they can be funded up to a maximum amount of EUR 2.500 (incl. VAT). Other Theses are not eligible for funding. 
• The funding is strictly available for Open Access publishing cost. Support for the cost of printing or typesetting is not available.

 Open Access

• In order to receive funding, all parts of the submitted publication must be openly accessible free of charge immediately and completely as soon as they are published.
• The publication must be published under a creative commons license (preferably the Creative Commons Attribution CC BY).
• All supported monographs and edited volumes will also be made available worldwide through Refubium, the Freie Universität institutional repository.

Publisher

• Prior to publication, the work has to undergo a quality-assurance process organized by the publisher (e.g., board of editors or reviewers) in accordance with the standards in the academic discipline in question.
• Funding will be granted only if the publisher provides transparent calculation for the invoiced open-access costs. Open Access Publication Costs must be shown separately on the invoice.
• The publisher is listed as an open-access publisher, e.g. in the Directory of Open Access Books (DOAB) or as member of Open Access Scholarly Publishers Association (OASPA).

Two options for the assumption of costs

Please complete the application form first.

• Direct payment to the publisher: Please send the application, a copy of your publishing contract and the invoice from the publisher (up to a maximum of 5000.00 EUR) to edocs@ub.fu-berlin.de. After the invoice has been paid by the University Library, you will receive a final message from the university library.

• The invoice has already been paid by your department because the costs for your publication exceed the funding limit of 5000.00 Euro incl. VAT. Then please fill out this application for reimbursement. Please send this together with the bank statement of the  payment made and the original publisher's invoice to edocs@ub.fu-berlin.de.

The book will also be made available worldwide via the institutional repository 'Refubium' after its publication. Consulting service: If you want, we check the publishing agreement in advance.

For specific questions, please contact edocs@ub.fu-berlin.de