The University of Groningen launches the second funding cycle of the open access book fund. UG- and UMCG-affiliated authors can apply for funding the publication of their open access monograph or edited volume.  

This funding instrument aims to stimulate the publication of open access academic books. The fund can be used to pay for the open access fee, also known as Book Processing Charge (BPC). The maximum reimbursement is 5,000 Euros per publication. 
The first funding cycle ran from 2022-2023 and contributed to the publication of 47 open access books.

If you have any questions about the fund, contact the MB-Open Access support team: openaccess@umcg.nl.
The UB-Open Access support team is here to help and advise you with regard to book contract negotiations: openaccess@rug.nl.

• Fund regulations, application process and key changes from the previous funding cycle
• Application form

The UG/UMCG Open Access Book Fund is now closed and it is no longer possible to submit applications. The fund is discontinued until further notice. The fund was introduced as pilot within the framework of the UG’s Open Science Programme (2021-2023).

Open access bookfund in a nutshell
The fund was launched in February 2022 and to support the publication of monographs or edited volumes by UG authors. Authors could apply for a maximum of €8,000 to support the open access publication of their books. The fund was initially supposed to run until August 2023 but, given its popularity, the budget ran out earlier than expected.

Statistics about the fund’s usage
In total, 66 applications were received, of which 47 were granted, 19 were rejected (due to ineligibility or lack of funding) or withdrawn by the applicants.

The fund was greatly popular with the humanities and social sciences disciplines:
Faculty of Arts (26 applications); Faculty of Behavioural and Social Sciences (9); Faculty of Religion, Culture and Society (8); Faculty of Law (5); Campus Fryslân (4); Faculty of Spatial Sciences (4); University College Groningen (3); Faculty of Philosophy (2); Faculty of Science and Engineering (2); University Library (2); UMCG (1).

Contact openaccess@umcg.nl​ for support.

The OAPEN Foundation is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to open access, peer-reviewed books. Its core mission is to increase the discoverability of open access books and to build trust around open access publishing.

OAPEN operates three platforms:

• OAPEN Library, which hosts over 20,000 peer-reviewed OA books and generates more than 10 million downloads annually.
• OAPEN open access books toolkit, which provides guidance to authors about open access book publishing.
• Directory of Open Access Books (DOAB), which aggregates metadata for almost 50,000 peer-reviewed OA books from over 550 publishers worldwide.

OAPEN relies on contributions from research institutions, funders, and publishers to carry out its mission. In exchange for their financial support, sponsoring institutions receive benefits in the areas of hosting, dissemination, discovery, metadata support and reporting.

The information provided has been carefully composed. While the information contained within the libguide is periodically updated, no guarantee is given that the information provided in this libguide is correct, complete, and up to date. Therefore we disclaim all liability for, damages of any kind arising out of use, reference to, or reliance on any information contained with this libguide.