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 publishsupport@epfl.ch
Note: if an SNSF grant is acknowledged in the manuscript, please look at the SNSF Open Access funding section below.
- Reimbursement of 2/3 of:
- Article Processing Charges (APC)
- Book Processing Charges (BPC)
- Book Chapter Processing Charges (BCPC)
- Publishing fees for OA conference proceedings
- Maximum contribution of CHF 2’500 per article
- Maximum contribution of CHF 3’000 per book
- The research project must have been carried out at least in part at EPFL, and the corresponding author must declare an EPFL affiliation in the 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 one of the following websites:
- Proceedings must be part of a reputable, peer-reviewed conference;
- A Creative Commons (CC) license must be applied to the publication. For journal articles and conference proceedings, the CC BY license is strongly recommended (although CC BY-NC and CC BY-NC-ND are also accepted);
- Reimbursements can only be made to EPFL units (external reimbursements are not allowed);
- Authors must deposit the Version of Record (VoR) of the publication on Infoscience as soon as possible;
- OA fees for articles or books published in December can be reimbursed until the end of January of the following year;
- Charges for printing, color pages and extra pages are not eligible for a refund.
Detailed information can be found on the SNSF website.
Amount funded
- Full funding of:
- Article Processing Charges (APC)
- Book Processing Charges (BPC)
- Book Chapter Processing Charges (BCPC)
- There is no upper limit to the contribution (but SNSF may reduce unreasonably high charges)
Procedure
Since January 2025:
- Eligible APC invoices must be always forwarded to chronoshub.io for upfront payment;
- Unlike in the past, APC that have already been paid by labs cannot be reimbursed anymore by sending the invoice and proof of payment to ChronosHub (link to the news);
Funding conditions (for journal articles):
- The article must be published in a Gold OA journal. The Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) lists quality-controlled, peer-reviewed Gold OA journals. Please note: no funding for publications in Hybrid journals;
- There is no limit to the number of publications that can be funded;
- Only researchers who have received an SNSF grant or have worked as part of an SNSF-funded project are eligible for this funding. At least one of the researchers must be listed as an author in the article, which should be based on the results of the SNSF-funded project;
- The funding of the research by the SNSF (including the grant number) must be mentioned in the acknowledgements of the article;
- Financing by the SNSF is linked to the original grant, but it comes from a separate fund (i.e., not the grant budget);
- If the participation requirements are met, the funding can also be requested after the project has ended;
- As of February 2024, the SNSF is no longer funding OA articles published in special issues (link to the news);
- Further information can be found at this link: Open access article publications.
Funding conditions (for books and book chapters)
Detailed information can be found at these links:
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?
All Copernicus journals – List of titles on the publisher’s website
What is excluded?
Articles resulting from SNSF-funded projects are not eligible because the SNSF can full cover these costs.
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: publishsupport@epfl.ch
Requirements
The agreement is valid for publications accepted after 01.01.2025. 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
What is excluded?
Articles resulting from SNSF-funded projects are not eligible because the SNSF can full cover these costs.
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: publishsupport@epfl.ch
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 (2025-2026) 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 institutional level: 12 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?
Articles resulting from SNSF-funded projects are not eligible because the SNSF can full cover these costs.
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: publishsupport@epfl.ch
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 (the quota was reached in October 2024)
– 216 in 2025
Once the quota is reached, a reduced APC of $3000 applies.
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 (2025) 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:
– 145 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 (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.
Type of contract
The R&P agreement (2024-2028) allows corresponding authors affiliated with EPFL to publish OA free of charge.
What is included?
All Elsevier, Cell Press and The Lancet journals.
Download the list of titles
What is excluded?
Some selected Learned Society journals.
Quota
No quota (i.e. unlimited number of publications)
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 (2025-2027) allows corresponding authors affiliated with EPFL to publish OA free of charge.
What is included?
56 Hybrid (including ECS Journal of Solid State Science and Technology and Journal of the Electrochemical Society) 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 (the quota was reached in May 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 (2025-2027) allows corresponding authors affiliated with EPFL to publish OA free of charge.
What is included?
All hybrid journals of the OUP Full Collection – Download the list of titles
What is excluded?
Gold journals. 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.
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 (the quota was reached on 19.12.2024)
– 1635 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.
No contract (yet) with Wiley for a new agreement from 2025
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: publishsupport@epfl.ch
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 ($5495 instead of $5995) 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.