Before you apply for funding

Remember to budget with the expenses for publication

In the section below, you can read more about what you should consider when publishing Open Access before you write your eventual funding application.
 

Your research grant application should always include a budget for a publication fee. Open Access publishing can induce expenditures if the journal is not covered by DTU Library´s agreements that provide a discount or full coverage of an APC.  

Note: The publishing agreements which have a national limit to the yearly amount of published Open Access articles available, can create challenges at the end of the year if the quota is exhausted and there no longer is a possibility of publishing more articles for free under this agreement. This is another good reason as to why you should include expenses for publication in your budget. 

If your grant comes from Horizon Europe or another Plan S compatible financing source, then you need to be aware of that Open Access is a requirement and that APC´s in hybrid Open Access journals er not covered by the grant. This means that if the limit quoter in the library’s subscription is reached then you cannot get APC fee covered via the grant. 

Uncertain about coverage
Even if the limit on an agreement is not reached when you are submitting your manuscript, it is only when your manuscript has finally been accepted that you can clarify if the APC is covered by the agreement. The course for this is that APC´s are first covered by an agreement when the manuscript is finally accepted for publication. Therefore, there is always a level of uncertainty when publishing in this manner. 

If the APC is not covered by an agreement, then it is the corresponding author that is responsible for the payment of the APC fee.  

Read more about grantors and fund requirements

Both national and international grantors, including EU, make requirements that research results from a funded project should be published Open Access. In many instances a fee for Open Access publishing is fully covered by the grantors provided that the fee is included in the budget at the application deadline.

Budgeting is necessary 
Most grantors require that expenses for Open Access publishing are specified in the application for the purposes of refunding. 

Hybrid Open Access journals are often excluded
Grantors, such as EU’s Horizon Europe, do not to cover APC´s in hybrid Open Access journals. These journals require both a subscription to access and a payment for the individual article to be made freely available which opposes the principles of Open Access in Plan S. 

Golden Open Access journals are preferred 
In golden Open Access journals, the author pays for the APC to publish Open Access, and all the content is made freely available for the reader. These journals meet the requirements from Plan S and Horizon Europe.

To ensure that you fulfil the requirements for Open Access made by your grantors and to avoid unforeseen expenditures, then it is important to always include publication fees in your research applications budget. 

Read more about grantors and fund requirements

  • EU’s Open Research Europe – free Open Access possibilities for EU financed projects
    Open Research Europe is European Commission’s own platform for researchers with EU-financing. The platform covers all subject areas. There is no author fee (APC fee) associated with Open Access publishing on the platform. Moreover, your research will be made public faster, there is open peer review, and the content will be indexed in databases such as Scopus and PubMed. 
    Open Research Europe
     

  • Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) – free publishing in diamond Open Access journals
    In DOAJ, there exist several research specific diamond Open Access journals where it is free to publish and it is free to read the contents. The journals and platforms er typically financed by research institutions, funds or university libraries and do not require a subscription or APC payment.   
    Find diamond Open Access journals with DOAJ – delimit to “Journals without fees”
      

  • Green Open Access – an alternative path to Open Access
    Green Open Access means that you upload your version of the article (post-print/author accepted manuscript) to a repository like DTU Orbit.

    This version of the article will be made freely available – often after an embargo period determined by the publisher. This model is free, but the final publisher version will not necessarily be Open Access. If immediate Open Access is required, by for example a grantor, the payment to the publisher (APC) can be a necessity.

DTU publications should be easy and freely accessible for the broadest possible audience and should therefore include Open Access as a central part of the publishing strategy, including the choice of the journal. 

Be aware of predatory journals – scam journals
Predatory journals are fake journals that often do not include peer review, have misleading titles which seem like acknowledged journals such as Elsevier or Springer, or do not have an impact factor or transparency in the editorial process. 

These identifying features should make it possible to identify and reject them from the publication process. 

Use Cabells Journalytics for validating
DTU Library provides access to Cabells Journalytics. Use Cabells to check if a journal is acknowledged and serious before you send in your manuscript. 

Search directly in Cabells

Learn more about Predatory journals