Open Access Books

The Open Access Team determines an individual funding limit based on the publisher's cost calculation (see workflow).
As part of the MIZ Publication Fund, the absolute funding limit is EUR 7,000 (including tax). In the context of NiedersachsenOPEN, the grant may be higher under certain circumstances.

The grant refers exclusively to the open access edition, so that costs for the print version (e.g. for author copies) are not eligible for funding.

MIZ Publication Fund

Eligible for funding are full-time professors and research assistants who are in an employment relationship with Leuphana as well as internal scholarship holders. Professors and research assistants who are only working temporarily or as guests, external scholarship holders and registered doctoral students without employment relationship with Leuphana are not eligible for funding. This employment relationship with Leuphana has to exist until the time of the final print approval by the publisher.
 

Publication fund of the state of Lower Saxony

Eligible for funding are researchers who are affiliated with institutions within the remit of the Ministry for Science and Culture of Lower Saxony (MWK).

Both the MIZ Publication Fund and the Publication Fund of the State of Lower Saxony must fulfil the quality standards for open access books of the AG Universitätsverlage.
 

Key criteria

• the publication must have undergone a professional review process (peer review or editorial review). There is transparent proof of quality assurance by the publisher or a quality guarantee by the editorial board. The publisher should be listed in the DOAB (Directory of Open Access Books) or be a member of OASPA (Open Access Scholarly Publishing Association).
• the publisher has provided a transparent cost calculation. This should clearly indicate the open-access-related services and costs. The total costs must be in reasonable proportion to the services offered by the publisher.
• the book is published under a free licence (recommended: Creative Commons licences CC BY 4.0 or CC BY-SA 4.0). The editors / authors transfer only a non-exclusive usage right to the publisher.
• the publication is DRM-free (without copy protection).
• the publication receives a DOI (Digital Object Identifier).
• the open access version of the book is published at the same time as the print version (if available).
• the publication should be listed in the DOAB and referenced in the OAPEN Library (Open Access Publishing in European Networks).
• the book contains a Leuphana funding notice.
• the affiliation of the editors/authors to Leuphana is indicated in the book.
• the publishing contract (prior to being signed by the authors) and the imprint (prior to publication of the book) are to be submitted to the Open Access Team.

MIZ Publication Fund

German publication
Diese Publikation wurde gefördert durch den Open-Access-Publikationsfonds der Leuphana Universität Lüneburg.     

English publication
This publication was funded by the Open Access Publication Fund of the Leuphana University Lüneburg.
 

Publication fund of the state of Lower Saxony

German publication
Diese Veröffentlichung wurde aus Mitteln des Publikationsfonds NiedersachsenOPEN, gefördert aus zukunft.niedersachsen, unterstützt.

English publication
This publication received financial support from the publication fund NiedersachsenOPEN, funded by zukunft.niedersachsen.

Funding requests can be submitted to the Open Access Team at any time: openaccess@leuphana.de. The chances of receiving funding increase if you contact us at an early stage.

It is recommended that authors already have offers from publishers (cost calculations) when they first contact us. The calculations should clearly indicate the open access-related services and costs and the expected number of pages. The funding grant is calculated on the basis of the publisher's offer. Afterwards, the publishing contract (not yet signed) is to be sent to the Open Access Team.

In the case of NiedersachsenOPEN, publishers also need to submit this funding application to the Open Access Team.

If the funding requirements are met, the Open Access Team approves the funding. The funding commitments are valid for 12 months. If the publication has not taken place by the end of this period, a new funding application must be submitted.

Before the work is published, the final front matter and imprint are to be sent to the Open Access Team in order to review the funding notice, the Creative Commons licence and the copyright notice.

Depending on the publication project, the invoice can be addressed directly to the MIZ Publication Service. In the case of NiedersachsenOPEN, the MIZ handles the pre-financing and then requests reimbursement from the Niedersachsen-Konsortium office.

If you have any questions regarding the funding of open access books, the Open Access Team will be pleased to support you: openaccess@leuphana.de