Financial support for Open Access

Since January 2016, EPFL authors can benefit from a financial support when publishing articles, books, book chapters or conference proceedings in Open Access (OA). This financial support can be of two alternative types:

  • Option 1: Gold Open Access fund
    A partial reimbursement of the APC from the Gold Open Access fund of the EPFL Library
  • Option 2: Specific agreements with publishers
    Special conditions negotiated with some publishers, which can come in the form of a full APC funding, a discount on APC, or a Read & Publish agreement

Option 1:
Gold Open Access fund

Reimbursement requests can be sent by email to [email protected]

  • Reimbursement of 2/3 of:
    • Article Processing Charges (APC)
    • Book Processing Charges (BPC)
    • Book Chapter Processing Charges (BCPC)
    • Publishing fees for conference proceedings
  • Maximum contribution of CHF 2’500 per publication
  • The publication must be distributed in Gold OA and immediately available online without restrictions at the time of publication or conference. Please note: no reimbursement for publications in Hybrid journals;
  • Reimbursements are limited to 2 publications per laboratory per year;
  • Alternative funds specifically dedicated to covering the costs of Gold OA publications (such as the one made available by the SNSF) should be used first;
  • The first-come, first-served principle applies (based on the acceptance date of the publication) until the fund is exhausted;
  • The selected journal or book must be listed in at least one of the following websites:
    • Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ)
    • Directory of Open Access Books (DOAB)
    • Open Access Scholarly Publishers Association (OASPA)
    • Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE)
  • OA fees for articles or books published in December can be reimbursed until the end of January of the following year;
  • Proceedings must be part of a reputable, peer-reviewed conference.

Option 2:
Specific agreements with publishers

■   Full APC funding

Type of contract
Corresponding authors affiliated with EPFL publish OA free of charge

What is included?
A selection of 5 journals:
Annual Review of Cancer Biology
Annual Review of Environment and Resources
Annual Review of Nuclear and Particle Science
Annual Review of Political Science
Annual Review of Public Health

Quota
No quota (i.e., unlimited number of articles)

Requirements
The corresponding author must be affiliated with EPFL and the research project must have been carried out at least in part at EPFL.

Type of contract
Corresponding authors affiliated with EPFL publish OA free of charge

What is included?
All the publisher’s journals:
Media and Communication
Ocean and Society
Politics and Governance
Social Inclusion
Urban Planning

Quota
No quota (i.e., unlimited number of articles)

Requirements
The corresponding author must be affiliated with EPFL and the research project must have been carried out at least in part at EPFL.

Type of contract
Corresponding authors affiliated with EPFL publish OA free of charge

What is included?
The two ECS journals:
ECS Journal of Solid State Science and Technology
Journal of the Electrochemical Society

Quota
No quota (i.e., unlimited number of articles)

Requirements
The corresponding author must be affiliated with EPFL and the research project must have been carried out at least in part at EPFL.

Workflow
Authors must select “ECS Plus” under Step 6 – Open Access Waivers, Charges and Credits at the time of manuscript submission. Click here to read the detailed workflow on the publisher’s website.

Type of contract
Corresponding authors affiliated with EPFL publish OA free of charge

What is included?
All Frontiers journals – List of titles on the publisher’s website

Quota
To cover for the Open Access publishing fees, APCs are deducted from an available annual budget on a first-come, first-served basis. Please contact the EPFL Library for further information on this quota: [email protected]

Requirements
The agreement is valid for publications accepted after 01.01.2023. The corresponding author must be affiliated with EPFL and the research project must have been carried out at least in part at EPFL. 

Type of contract
The current agreement (2022-2024) allows corresponding authors affiliated with EPFL to publish OA free of charge in all Gold titles

What is included?
All Gold journals – Download the list of titles

Quota
The maximum number of Open Access articles covered by the agreement is limited at national level: 44 publications per year.

Requirements
The corresponding author must be affiliated with EPFL and the research project must have been carried out at least in part at EPFL.

Type of contract
Corresponding authors affiliated with EPFL publish OA free of charge

What is included?
Nearly all PLOS journals – List of titles on the publisher’s website

What is excluded?
Two journals:
PLOS Sustainability and Transformation
PLOS Water

Quota
No quota (i.e., unlimited number of articles)

Requirements
The corresponding author must be affiliated with EPFL and the research project must have been carried out at least in part at EPFL.

Type of contract
Corresponding authors affiliated with EPFL publish OA free of charge

What is included?
All SciPost journals – List of titles on the publisher’s website

Quota
No quota (i.e., unlimited number of articles)

Requirements
The corresponding author must be affiliated with EPFL and the research project must have been carried out at least in part at EPFL.

Type of contract
Corresponding authors affiliated with EPFL publish OA free of charge

What is included?
A selection of key journals in the field of High-Energy Physics – List of titles on the publisher’s website. It should be noted that, for some of these journals, not all published articles can be included in the agreement, but only those concerning High-Energy Physics.

Quota
No quota (i.e., unlimited number of articles)

Requirements
The corresponding author must be affiliated with EPFL and the research project must have been carried out at least in part at EPFL.

■   Full APC funding via Read&Publish agreement

Type of contract
The current R&P agreement (2023-2025) allows corresponding authors affiliated with EPFL to publish OA free of charge.

What is included?
Hybrid and Gold journals – Download the list of titles

What is excluded?
Articles published as part of SNSF-funded projects. However, they are eligible for APC reduced to $3’000.

Quota
The maximum number of OA articles covered by the agreement is limited at national level:
– 138 in 2023 (the quota was reached in October 2023)
177 in 2024
– 216 in 2025

Requirements
The corresponding author must be affiliated with EPFL and the research project must have been carried out at least in part at EPFL.

Workflow
Click here to read the detailed workflow on the publisher’s website.

Latest news
For articles excluded from the Read&Publish agreement, ACS just announced that there is now a zero-embargo Green OA option. This allows the authors to post their accepted manuscripts with a CC BY license in OA repositories immediately upon acceptance, instead of waiting for the embargo period of 12 months. Unfortunately, this option is subject to an Article Development Charge (ADC) of $2’500, which is in direct contradiction to the spirit of Green OA.

Type of contract
The current R&P agreement (2022-2024) allows corresponding authors affiliated with EPFL to publish OA free of charge.

What is included?
30 Hybrid journals – Download the list of titles

Quota
The maximum number of OA articles covered by the agreement is limited at national level:
– 136 in 2022
– 140 in 2023
142 in 2024

Requirements
The corresponding author must be affiliated with EPFL and the research project must have been carried out at least in part at EPFL.

Workflow
Click here to read the detailed workflow on the publisher’s website.

Type of contract
The current R&P agreement (2024-2026) allows corresponding authors affiliated with EPFL to publish OA free of charge.

What is included?
Almost all hybrid and gold journals – Download the list of titles

What is excluded?

Newly launched Gold series Cambridge Prisms and Research Directions. However, they are eligible for a 10% discount on APC.

Quota
No quota (i.e., unlimited number of articles)

Requirements
The corresponding author must be affiliated with EPFL and the research project must have been carried out at least in part at EPFL.

Workflow
Click here and here to read the detailed workflow on the publisher’s website.

Latest News – December 2023

No contract (yet) with Elsevier for a new R&P agreement from 2024. Please find more information on this topic here. All articles submitted before 31 December 2023 will be still eligible for being published Open Access under the conditions of the current agreement (see conditions below).

Type of contract
The R&P agreement (2020-2023) allows corresponding authors affiliated with EPFL to publish OA free of charge.

What is included?
Over 2’300 Hybrid and Gold journals – Download the list of titles

What is excluded?
Cell Press titles, The Lancet titles and some selected society journals

Quota
No quota (i.e., unlimited number of publications) for articles submitted in 2023. For articles submitted in the period 2020-2022, the maximum number of OA publications covered by the agreement is limited at national level:
– 2085 in 2020
– 3000 in 2021
– 3150 in 2022

Requirements
The corresponding author must be affiliated with EPFL and the research project must have been carried out at least in part at EPFL.

Workflow
Click here to read the detailed workflow on the publisher’s website.

The APC of articles submitted to Gold Open Access journals after 31 December 2023 can be reimbursed under the same conditions of the Gold Open Access fund (however the limitation of 2 articles per laboratory won’t apply).
The APC will be reimbursed until 30.06.2024. The situation will then be reassessed according to developments in the negotiations.

The APC of articles submitted to hybrid journals remain not eligible for reimbursment with the Library Gold Open Access fund.

Type of contract
The current R&P agreement (2022-2024) allows corresponding authors affiliated with EPFL to publish OA free of charge.

What is included?
53 Hybrid and 21 Gold journals – Download the list of titles

Quota
No quota (i.e., unlimited number of articles)

Requirements
The corresponding author must be affiliated with EPFL and the research project must have been carried out at least in part at EPFL.

Workflow
Click here to read the detailed workflow on the publisher’s website.

Type of contract
The current R&P agreement (2023-2025) allows corresponding authors affiliated with EPFL to publish OA free of charge.

What is included?
39 Hybrid journals – Download the list of titles

Quota
The maximum number of OA articles covered by the agreement is limited at national level:
– 72 in 2023 (the quota was reached in May 2023)
80 in 2024
– 88 in 2025

Requirements
The corresponding author must be affiliated with EPFL and the research project must have been carried out at least in part at EPFL.

Workflow
Click here to read the detailed workflow on the publisher’s website.

Type of contract
The current R&P agreement (2023-2024) allows corresponding authors affiliated with EPFL to publish OA free of charge.

What is included?
Over 360 Hybrid journals – Download the list of titles

What is excluded?
Gold journals. However, they are eligible for a 10% discount on APC.

Quota
The maximum number of OA articles covered by the agreement is limited at national level:
– 298 in 2023
304 in 2024

Requirements
The corresponding author must be affiliated with EPFL and the research project must have been carried out at least in part at EPFL.

Workflow
Click here and here to read the detailed workflow on the publisher’s website.

Type of contract
The current R&P agreement (2024-2026) allows corresponding authors affiliated with EPFL to publish OA free of charge.

What is included?
37 Hybrid journals – Download the list of titles

What is excluded?
Gold journals – Download the list of titles
However, they are eligible for a 15% discount on APC.

Quota
No quota (i.e., unlimited number of articles)

Requirements
The corresponding author must be affiliated with EPFL and the research project must have been carried out at least in part at EPFL.

Workflow
Click here and here to read the detailed workflow on the publisher’s website.

Type of contract
The current R&P agreement (2023-2025) allows corresponding authors affiliated with EPFL to publish OA free of charge.

What is included?
Over 2’000 Hybrid journals – Download the list of titles

Quota
The maximum number of OA articles covered by the agreement is limited at national level:
– 1479 in 2023
1520 in 2024
– 1430 in 2025

Requirements
The corresponding author must be affiliated with EPFL and the research project must have been carried out at least in part at EPFL.

Workflow
Click here to read the detailed workflow on the publisher’s website.

Type of contract
The R&P agreement (2024-2027) allows corresponding authors affiliated with EPFL to publish OA free of charge.

What is included?
Over 2’500 Hybrid and Gold journals – Download the list of titles

Quota
The maximum number of OA articles covered by the agreement is limited at national level:
702 in 2024
– 716 in 2025
– 730 in 2026
– 745 in 2027

Requirements
The corresponding author must be affiliated with EPFL and the research project must have been carried out at least in part at EPFL.

Workflow
Click here to read the detailed workflow on the publisher’s website.

Type of contract
The current R&P agreement (2021-2024) allows corresponding authors affiliated with EPFL to publish OA free of charge.

What is included?
Over 1’300 Hybrid journals – Download the list of titles

Quota
To cover for the OA publishing fees, APC are deducted from an available annual budget on a first-come, first-served basis. Please contact the EPFL Library for further information on this quota: [email protected]

Requirements
The agreement is valid for review article and primary research publications. The responsible corresponding author must be affiliated with EPFL at the point of acceptance, and the research project must have been carried out at least in part at EPFL.

Workflow
Click here and here to read the detailed workflow on the publisher’s website.

■   Discounts on APC

Type of contract
This agreement allows corresponding authors affiliated with EPFL to publish OA at a reduced price.

Discount
10% discount on APC (14% for members of the American Association for the Advancement of Science – AAAS)

What is included?
The Gold journal Science Advances

Quota
No quota (i.e., unlimited number of articles)

Requirements
The corresponding author must be affiliated with EPFL and the research project must have been carried out at least in part at EPFL.

Type of contract
This agreement allows corresponding authors affiliated with EPFL to publish OA at a reduced price.

Discount
20% discount on APC

What is included?
All MDPI journals – List of titles on the publisher’s website

Quota
No quota (i.e., unlimited number of articles)

Requirements
The corresponding author must be affiliated with EPFL and the research project must have been carried out at least in part at EPFL.

Type of contract
This agreement allows corresponding authors affiliated with EPFL to publish OA at a reduced price.

Discount
$500 discount on APC ($5300 instead of $5800) for the Hybrid OA option called “Immediate Open Access”.

What is included?
The journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS)

Quota
No quota (i.e., unlimited number of articles)

Requirements
The corresponding author must be affiliated with EPFL and the research project must have been carried out at least in part at EPFL.

Type of contract
This agreement allows corresponding authors affiliated with EPFL to publish OA at a reduced price.

Discount
15% discount on APC

What is included?
3 Hybrid journals:
Biochemical Society Transactions
Biochemical Journal
Essays in Biochemistry

Quota
No quota (i.e., unlimited number of articles)

Requirements
The corresponding author must be affiliated with EPFL and the research project must have been carried out at least in part at EPFL.

Type of contract
This agreement allows corresponding authors affiliated with EPFL to publish OA at a reduced price.

Discount
50% discount on APC

What is included?
All Scientific.net journals – List of titles on the publisher’s website

Quota
No quota (i.e., unlimited number of articles)

Requirements
The corresponding author must be affiliated with EPFL and the research project must have been carried out at least in part at EPFL.

Contact

[email protected]


+41 21 693 21 56


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