Publishing agreements
The SUB Göttingen concludes publishing agreements for the University of Göttingen and the University Medical Center Göttingen that promote Open Access publishing. On this page we explain important terms and list the current agreements.
Basic Information for Funding
Affiliation
The primary affiliation of the corresponding author must be the University of Göttingen or Göttingen University Medical Center for publications covered by our publishing agreements in order to be eligible for these agreements. Please check the relevant requirements in the affiliation policy.
Gold Open Access
Pure open access journals whose articles are all published in direct (gold) open access. This includes all journals listed in the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ). Articles in gold journals are generally eligible for funding (in full or in part) from the open access publication fund. Exceptions to this are so-called “mirror journals” and journals published by MDPI. The following publishing agreements sometimes offer discounts on publication fees in certain journals.
Hybrid Open-Access
Subscription journals whose articles can be purchased individually. This form of publishing is not supported by the publication fund. However, some of the following publishing agreements, known as Publish & Read contracts, offer support for open access publishing in hybrid journals.
Central financing
In some publishing agreements, the costs of publication are handled centrally by the library. The necessary resources are either financed by the publication fund provided by the University of Göttingen or Göttingen University Medical Center, or are settled through the literature budget in agreement with the faculties.
Additional costs
Only pure open access fees (APC) can be covered. Additional costs such as submission fees, color or page surcharges (etc.) must be paid from project or institute funds; additional costs are not covered by the agreements.
Invoicing
The invoice amount cannot be divided between two research institutions or invoice recipients. An invoice to be processed via the University or University Medical Center Göttingen must correspond to the total publication fees for the article.
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Current Agreements
Period: 2024-2026
- Gold open access agreement with a 15% discount on the open access fee (APC) for the journal Science Advances.
- Personal identification via the Copyright Clearance Center (CCC).
Status: January 2026
Period: 2026
- Publish & Read agreement covering open access fees (APC) in all journals through central funding.
- Individual identification via the Copyright Clearance Center (CCC)
- Information on the submission process at ACS
Status: January 2026
Period: 2024-2026
- Publish & Read Agreement
- In hybrid journals, open access fees (APC) are covered by central funding as part of a consortium contingent (2026 = 590 primary research or review articles).
Status: January 2026
Period: 2025-2028
- Publish & Read Agreement
- Open access fees (APC) are covered by central funding in the following journals:
- Information about the submission process at APS
Status: January 2026
Period: 2024-2026
- Publish & Read agreement covering open access fees (APCs) in hybrid and gold journals through central funding.
- This agreement applies to all fully peer-reviewed research articles newly published in ACM magazines, journals, and proceedings.
- Information about the submission process at ACM Open
Status: January 2026
Period: 2026
- Publish & Read agreement covering open access fees (APC) in hybrid journals via central funding.
- This agreement applies to all articles (“original research articles”) submitted in 2026.
- Personal identification is done by sending an email to bup-journals@bristol.ac.uk containing all information about the submitted article and stating that you are publishing under the University of Göttingen's “Publish & Read Agreement.”
Status: January 2026
Period: 2026
- Publish & Read agreement covering open access fees (APC) in the following hybrid journals via central funding:
- ADC: Education & Practice
- ADC: Fetal & Neonatal
- Archives of Disease in Childhood (Education & Practice und Fetal & Neonatal)
- British Journal of Ophthalmology
- British Journal of Sports Medicine
- BMJ Evidence-Based Medicine
- BMJ Quality & Safety
- Emergency Medicine Journal
- Evidence-Based Nursing
- Frontline Gastroenterology
- Gut
- Heart
- Injury Prevention
- Journal of Clinical Pathology
- Journal of Epidemiology Community Health
- Journal of Medical Ethics
- Journal of Medical Genetics
- Journal of NeuroInterventional Surgery
- Journal of Neurology Neurosurgery & Psychiatry
- Medical Humanities
- Occupational & Environmental Medicine
- Practical Neurology
- Sexually Transmitted Infections
- Thorax
- Tobacco Control
- In addition, articles in the following gold journals are covered by central funding via a gold OA publishing fee:
- The BMJ
- BMJ Connections Clinical Genetics and Genomics
- BMJ Connections Immunology
- BMJ Connections Oncology
- BMJ Digital Health & AI
- BMJ Global Health
- BMJ Health & Care Informatics
- BMJ Medicine
- BMJ Mental Health
- BMJ Neurology Open
- BMJ Nutrition, Prevention & Health
- BMJ Oncology
- BMJ Open
- BMJ Open Diabetes Research & Care
- BMJ Open Gastroenterology
- BMJ Open Ophthalmology
- BMJ Open Quality
- BMJ Open Respiratory Research
- BMJ Open Sport & Exercise Medicine
- BMJ Paediatrics Open
- BMJ Public Health
- BMJ Surgery, Interventions, & Health Technologies
- JME Practical Bioethics
- Journal for ImmunoTherapy of Cancer
- Lupus Science & Medicine
- Open Heart
- RMD Open
- Stroke and Vascular Neurology
- Trauma Surgery & Acute Care Open
- World Journal of Pediatric Surgery
- Information about the submisson process at BMJ
Status: January 2026
Period: 2022-2027
- Publish & Read agreement, in which open access fees (APC) are covered in all journals via central funding.
- The OA Waiver Tool provided by the publisher allows you to check in advance whether you are eligible for open access publication under this agreement.
- Personal identification via the Copyright Clearance Center (CCC)
Status: January 2026
Period: 2026
- Publish & Read agreement covering open access fees (APC) through central funding.
- The agreement covers the following journals:
- Eligible article types: all research articles (Research Article, Research Report, Techniques and Resources Article, Techniques and Resources Report, Short Report, Tools and Resources, Methods & Techniques, Short Communication, Theory & Modelling, Resources & Methods)
- Person identification via the Copyright Clearance Center (CCC)
Status: January 2026
Period: 2025-2027
- General agreement offering discounts on open access fees (APC), see list of titles
- Covers all articles submitted between January 1, 2025, and December 31, 2027, that belong to the following article types: research articles, review articles, technical notes, corrigenda
- Assignment is based on the affiliation of the corresponding authors
Status: January 2026
Period: 2026
- Publish & Read agreement covering open access fees (APC) in hybrid journals in the humanities, social sciences, and economics through central funding.
- 20% discount on APCs in all of the publisher's gold open access journals.
- Identification of individuals via the Copyright Clearance Center (CCC)
Status: January 2026
Period: 2024-2028
- Publish & Read agreement in which open access fees (APC) in hybrid journals are covered by central funding. This applies to all journals in the “included” spreadsheet, column C ‘Bucket’ marked “Core Hybrid” or “CP/TL Hybrid.”
- In the publisher's gold open access journals, a 20% discount (15% for journals from Cell Press (CP) and The Lancet (TL)) is granted on the APC. This applies to all journals in the “included” spreadsheet, column C ‘Bucket’ labeled “Core Gold” or “CP/TL Gold”.
- Individuals are identified by specifying their institution during the submission process.
Status: January 2026
Period: 2026
- Publish & Read agreement in which the open access fees (APC) in the journals of the premier collection are covered by central funding.
- This publishing agreement applies to all articles accepted between January 1, 2026, and December 31, 2026.
- Individuals are identified by the institution's Ringgold ID or email domain.
Status: January 2026
Period: 2014-(automatic renewal)
- Gold Open Access agreement with a 10% discount on the Open Access fee (APC) in all journals published by the publisher
Status: January 2026
Period: 2024-2026
- Publish & Read agreement in which open access fees (APC) in the journals of the PsyJournals portfolio are covered by central funding.
- Eligible article types: scientific research articles (e.g., original articles, review articles, reviews, and multi-study reports, etc.)
- Ineligible article types: other types of articles (e.g., reviews, short communications, news items, conference reports, discussion contributions, comments, etc.)
- Authors receive a 25% discount on the open access fee (APC) in the following gold open access journals:
Status: January 2026
Period: 2026-2027
- Agreement on publishing in pure open access journals (list of titles)
- Two tokens were purchased for 2026, covering the costs for two articles
- If necessary, please check with oa@sub.uni-goettingen.de before submitting your article to see whether the contingent has already been exhausted
- Personal identification via the Copyright Clearance Center (CCC); the Ringgold ID or email domain is relevant for assignment
- IEEE offers an Author Center and provides information on the submission process
Status: January 2026
Period: 2026-2028
- Publish & Read agreement in which open access fees (APC) are covered by central funding in hybrid journals (List A) and in golden open access journals (List D).
- Individuals are identified by specifying their institution during the submission process.
- Eligible publication types: primary research articles, research papers, special issue articles, letters, review articles
- No funding for page charges in IOP journals!
Status: January 2026
Period: 2024-2026
- Publish & Read agreement covering open access fees (APC) in all John Benjamins journals via central funding.
- This publishing agreement applies to all articles submitted between 1 January 2024 and 31 December 2026.
- Individuals are identified via the institution's Ringgold ID or email domain.
Status: January 2026
Period: 2026-2027
- Publish & Read agreement covering open access fees (APC) in the following hybrid journals and book series via central funding:
- Journal of the Geological Society
- Quarterly Journal of Engineering Geology and Hydrogeology
- Petroleum Geoscience
- Geoenergy
- Geochemistry: Exploration, Environment, Analysis
- Proceedings of the Yorkshire Geological Society
- Scottish Journal of Geology
- Series Special Publications
- Series Memoirs
- Series Engineering Geology Special Publications
- Series Energy Geoscience Conference
- Open access fees (APC) in the following gold open access journals and book series will be covered by central funding:
- Information about the submission process at the Geological Society
Status: January 2026
Period: 2025-2027
- Publish & Read agreement covering open access fees (APC) in the following hybrid journals via central funding:
- Open access fees (APC) in the following gold open access journals and platforms will be covered by central funding:
- Microbial Genomics
- Microbiology
- research platform: Access Microbiology
- Access Microbiology is a research platform that enables the publication of replication studies, negative or invalid results, research proposals, data management plans, additions to established methods, and interdisciplinary work.
- Information about submission porocess at the Microbiology Society
Status: January 2026
Period: 2026
- Membership that enables unlimited publishing in all PeerJ journals. The membership is financed centrally.
- All articles submitted during the membership period are eligible.
- Assignment is based on the affiliation of the corresponding authors.
Status: January 2026
Period: 2026
- For articles in PNAS journals, a discount is offered for immediate open access publication. The discounted price is $5,575 net (compared to the regular fee of $6,075).
- Please note: PNAS is not an open access journal! Financial support from the university's open access publication fund cannot therefore be granted.
Status: January 2026
Period: 2012-(automatic renewal)
- Gold open access agreement with central invoicing.
- Proportional payment can be made in accordance with the rules of the publication fund for articles.
Status: January 2026
Period: 2024-2026
- Publish & Read agreement covering open access fees (APC) in hybrid journals via central funding.
- Information about submisson process at RUP
Status: Januar 2026
Period: 2026
- Publish & Read agreement covering open access fees (APC) in the following hybrid journals via central funding:
- Open access fees (APC) in the following gold open access journals will be covered by central funding:
Status: January 2026
Period: 2024-2027
- Publish & Read agreement, in which open access fees (APC) are covered by central funding in all RSC journals .
- Information about the submission process at RSC
Status: January 2026
Period: 2026-2028
- Publish & Read agreement, in which open access fees (APCs) in hybrid Sage Choice journals are covered by central funding.
- Eligible article types for this are: original research papers, review papers, brief communications, commentary, short reports and case reports.
- Publish & Read agreement covering open access fees (APCs) in hybrid IOS Press journals via central funding.
- For 13 journal titles, additional page charges apply that are not covered by the agreement.
- A 20% discount on APCs is granted in all of the publisher's gold open access journals.
- Information about the submission process at Sage
Status: January 2026
Period: 2024-2028
- Publish & Read agreement in which open access fees (APC) in hybrid journals are covered by central funding. This applies to all journals in the ‘included’ spreadsheet, column E ‘Publishing Model’ marked ‘Hybrid (Open Choice)’.
- For specialist medical journals (“Facharztzeitschriften”), only the following publication types are eligible: original papers, review papers, brief communications.
- In the publisher's golden open access journals, a 20% discount on APCs is usually granted. This applies to all journals in the ‘included’ spreadsheet, column E ‘Publishing Model’ marked ‘Fully Open Access’.
- Personal identification is carried out by specifying the institution in the submission process.
Status: January 2026
Period: 2024-2028
- Publish & Read agreement in which open access fees (APC) in hybrid journals are covered by central funding. This applies to all journals in the ‘included’ spreadsheet, column H ‘Revenue Model’ marked ‘HOA’.
- Only the following types of publications are eligible: research articles and reviews.
- In the publisher's golden open access journals, a 20% discount on APCs is usually granted. This applies to all journals in the ‘included’ spreadsheet, column G ‘Revenue Model’ marked ‘OA’.
- Personal identification is carried out by specifying the institution in the submission process.
Status: January 2026
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FAQ - Publishing Agreements
APC refers to a fee that authors must pay to make their articles available in open access journals.
Other terms for APC include “author fees,” “article fees,” “article publication charges,” “article publication fees,” “article processing fees,” or “APF.”
Publishers are encouraged to acknowledge the support provided by the publication fund. They may use the following phrase for this purpose: “We acknowledge support by the Open Access Publication Funds of the University of Göttingen.”
For gold open access article costs exceeding €2,000 (gross), the costs will be split with the corresponding authors' institutions. If it is not possible to cover a part of the costs, funding from the publication fund must also be declined.
- Taxation of publication costs regularly raises questions. The following information may help to prevent misunderstandings:
- In most cases, publication costs on websites, invoices, etc. are net costs.
- As a rule, publication costs are subject to 19% VAT (publishing = use of a publisher's services. In contrast: purchase of literature = reduced tax rate of 7%).
- Exceptions:
- Journal articles via DEAL contracts (publishers: Elsevier, Springer and Wiley) – due to a special billing procedure, only 7% VAT is charged here.
- Non-profit or internal infrastructures (e. g. some scientific societies, university publishers) may be exempt from VAT.
- Special VAT regulation: the so-called reverse charge procedure (reversal of tax liability or deduction procedure) – in this case, the recipient of the service (customer) and not the company providing the service is responsible for paying VAT. Invoices often show 0% tax. This applies in particular to publishers based abroad. Under the reverse charge procedure, companies no longer have to report the transaction separately to the tax office; instead, the recipient of the service pays the VAT when booking/paying the invoice.
Publish & Read agreements are a type of contract in which the license fees for reading access to the content of non-open access journals are offset against the open access publication fees (APC). This prevents the fees for providing content from being charged twice. With these contracts, you can benefit from the exception for publishing in hybrid open access journals.
Some publishers provide unclear information about costs during the submission process.
This applies in particular to publications covered by the DEAL publishing agreement (publishers: Elsevier, Springer, Wiley). At first glance, both during submission and final confirmation, it appears as though the costs are covered in full by the DEAL agreement. However, in certain cases, some institutions, including the University of Göttingen, require authors or their institutes to contribute to the costs.
Example: At DEAL Elsevier, this affects publications in the ‘Core Gold’ and ‘CP/TL Gold’ categories – after deduction of the discount, the remaining gross costs are supported by the publication fund. However, full funding is only provided if this amount is below the fund's funding limit (€2,000 gross). If the costs are higher, the costs are split, with the institution having to contribute to the costs in accordance with the fund rules.
The Research Organization Registry (ROR) is a community-driven database that aims to provide a persistent identifier for every research organization in the world. It complements other commonly used identifiers such as ORCID for scientists and DOI for research results and online scientific publications.
A Ringgold Identifier (Ringgold ID or RIN) is a persistent numerical identifier for organizations involved in scientific research. The Ringgold Identify Database contains almost 600,000 organizations from various scientific sectors, including universities, companies, hospitals, and government agencies.
- Ringgold ID University of Göttingen: 9375
- Ringgold ID University Medical Center Göttingen: 84922
Currently, the model attracting the most attention and having the greatest open access impact are transformation agreements, whereby part of the content of subscription journals is converted to open access with the expectation that the proportion will gradually increase to 100%. The German DEAL project with Wiley, Springer, and Elsevier also falls within the scope of transformation agreements. The hope is that this will cross a critical threshold above which publishers will convert their portfolios completely to open access.