SNSF-funded articles: APC funding process

Funding Guidelines ETH Zurich

ETH Library generally only funds Article Processing Charges (APCs) if no other funding is available to the authors (c.f. Guidelines regarding Article Processing Charges of ETH Zurich).

Funding Guidelines SNSF

The Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) finances APCs for articles resulting from SNSF-funded projects, provided the publication is in a purely OA journal. The funding is independent of the project budget and can also be claimed after the end of the project. Funding will be provided if at least one of the co-authors is an SNSF grantee or a member of the project staff. The exact funding conditions and a description of the procedure for submitting an APC invoice can be found on the relevant SNSF website.

Process for SNSF-funded publications for ETH members

In pure gold open access journals (cf. DOAJ)

For publishers with whom ETH Library has an agreement to cover the costs

This applies to the publishers Copernicus, Frontiers, IEEE, MDPI and PLOS as well as the pure OA journals of Wiley, and Springer Nature.

• Indicate the SNSF Funding in the Acknowledgements of the article.
• Indicate the SNSF funding when submitting the article in the publisher's Manuscript Submission System.
• If, based on your affiliation or e-mail address, the publisher suggests to you in the submission process that ETH Zurich or the ETH Library can cover the costs, whenever possible, do not take advantage of this or deselect this option.
• Instead, request an individual APC invoice issued in your name from the publisher and submit it to the SNSF via ChronosHub for funding.

The ETH Library reserves the right to refuse funding for articles which, despite SNSF funding, are forwarded by the publishers to the ETH Zurich for payment. In this case, after rejection by the ETH Library, the author will receive an invoice from the publisher, which can be submitted to the SNSF for payment as described above.

Exceptions to this rule:

• Consortial agreements: Special Consortium agreements exist with the publishers Elsevier, CUP, IOP, Karger, Sage and Taylor & Francis, which include all SNSF-funded articles. With these publisher, you therefore do not have to deselect funding through ETH Zurich even for articles in pure gold open access journals (that are included in the agreement).
• Articles in Special Issues: If your article appears in a Special Issue (e.g. in MDPI) or in a Research Topic (e.g. in Frontiers), the SNSF will no longer cover the APCs from 1 February 2024. These APCs can be financed via the ETH Library.

For publishers with whom ETH Library does not yet have an agreement to cover the costs

• Indicate the SNSF Funding in the Acknowledgements of the article.
• Indicate the SNSF funding when submitting the article in the publisher's Manuscript Submission System.
• If the invoice is not sent directly from the publisher to the SNSF, submit it to the SNSF via ChronosHub for funding.

Since the SNSF offers APC funding of articles from SNSF-funded projects, funding by the ETH Library is not required in these cases. An application to the ETH Library to cover the costs is therefore not necessary.

In hybrid journals (cf. FAQ)

The SNSF does not provide funding for OA publications in hybrid journals.

For SNSF-funded articles in hybrid journals, you can usually claim OA funding from the ETH Library, provided the journal is part of a cost coverage agreement. The only exception is currently the publisher ACS: here SNSF-funded articles are excluded from the agreement.

If you publish in a hybrid journal with which the ETH Library does not have an agreement on cost coverage, you can self-archive your article free of charge via the so-called Green Road.