Open Access Articles

Open access articles are primarily funded through grants from the German Research Foundation (DFG). The MIZ Library successfully secured funding under the DFG funding program "Open Access Publication Funding".

NOTE: 2025 is the final year of DFG funding. Starting in 2026, funding will be provided through the local publication fund of the MIZ:Library. Please update the funding acknowledgment in your article accordingly.

► In addition to the publication fund, funding for open access articles is possible via publisher agreements, on the basis of which open access publishing can be either discounted or free of charge.

► You can use the Leuphana B!SON version to search for open access journals and to display information on funding opportunities at Leuphana for each journal.

Further Notes

• Articles in journals with an open access option are not eligible (so-called hybrid open access). Some hybrid journals are covered by the publisher agreements.
• Third-party funds available to finance publication fees must be used as a priority.
• Please submit your manuscripts to publishers with your ORCID iD whenever possible.
• Regarding the choice of a Creative Commons licence, we strongly recommend the CC BY 4.0 licence, as this is open access compliant.

Fees for open access articles can be fully financed via the publication fund. If other funds are available for (partial) financing, these are to be used as a priority (this applies in particular to third-party funds).

Eligible authors are those who are members of Leuphana University Lüneburg up to the date of publication and are responsible for payment of the publication fee as corresponding authors. The primary affiliation to Leuphana must be stated by the corresponding author in the publication.

The conditions apply equally to DFG and library funding:

• articles for which the corresponding author is an eligible applicant.
• articles for which the corresponding author indicates Leuphana as the primary affiliation.
• the article is published in a fully/gold open access journal (= all articles are published open access). The journal should preferably be indexed in the DOAJ (Directory of Open Access Journals).
• the article is quality controlled ("peer reviewed").
• the article is of the type "Research Article".
• the article is published under a free licence (recommendation: Creative Commons licence CC BY 4.0).

The funded articles are to be provided with a respective funding notice.

The DFG and library funds are not used for:

• articles in hybrid journals (= subscription journals in which authors can choose to publish in open access for a fee). Note: On the basis of publisher agreements, open access publishing in hybrid journals is often possible free of charge for Leu phana members. Check on the page "Publisher agreements" via the linked title lists whether your desired journal is covered by an agreement.
•  articles in mirror journals (= open access version of an existing subscription journal)
• additional fees, e.g. colour charge or submission charge
• publications that can be fully financed by third-party funding

Until 2025: The following funding acknowledgment is to be included in all funded articles: This publication was funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG).

The invoice amounts can either be paid directly to the publisher via MIZ:Library or reimbursed to the Institute.

Refunds are only possible for already published open access publications with a publication date starting in 2021. In addition, refunds require that the corresponding author is affiliated with Leuphana at the time of payment, as refunds to external parties are not possible.

Funding applications for open access articles can be submitted as soon as the manuscript has been accepted for publication.

Applications for funding are to be submitted to the Open Access Team: openaccess@leuphana.de.

The funding commitments are valid for 12 months. If publication has not taken place after this period, a new funding application must be submitted.

It is best to contact the Open Access Team before submitting your manuscript to clarify any questions regarding eligibility or invoicing. We will be pleased to support you: openaccess@leuphana.de