FLI Guide to Open Access Publishing
This guide was last revised in its entirety in February 2026
- Open Access Publishing Information
- Open Access Publishing: Copyright vs. License
- Choosing the right Open Access license for your article
- OA Best Practises
- Green Open Access or Self Archiving
- Financing OA
- FLI Open Access Policy
Open Access Publishing Information
An Open Access (OA) article is one that is freely available to anyone, without requiring a subscription or payment. OA publishing is considered Good Research Practice (see also → FLI GRP Guidlines p.20) and FLI, as part of the Leibniz Association, is committed to actively support and promote the Open Access model (see also → Leibniz Association OA policy).
Routes to Open Access
There is not just one way to publish your article/work Open Access. The three main routes are:
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Gold/ Diamond*: This is when you publish your article/work in an Open Access only journal.
How can you tell if your target journal is a gold OA journal?
Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) indexes gold open access journals worldwide, making it simpler to confirm if your target journal is a gold open access journal.
If your journal is not in the DOAJ you can double check in the Elektronische Zeitschriftenbibliothek (EZB):
Examples:
*Gold vs. Diamond journals : Gold journals charge authors (or their institutions) Article Processing Charges (APCs) but readers can freely access all articles. Diamond journals are free for both authors and readers, often funded by academic institutions, societies, or grants. You can find Diamond journals in the DOAJ (select "see journals... and tick the box "without fees")
Hybrid: Journals that offer both Open Access and Closed Access options are referred to as 'Hybrid' journals. To make your article Open Access in a hybrid journal, you must pay an additional fee.
The Problem with HybridIf you choose not to pay, the article remains behind a paywall, meaning that libraries or the general public must pay to access it. This creates two streams of revenue for the journal. Hybrid Open Access journals generally have higher costs compared to fully Open Access journals, primarily due to business strategies designed to maintain existing revenue streams.
Green: The article is initially published in a Closed Access journal, but you choose to exercise your right to secondary publication and make it publicly available anyway. Is this legal? Absolutely. Check out this page for a brief overview on how to make it happen.
Closed: Is access but not Open Access i.e., behind a paywall (cul-de-sac so to speak).
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(red traffic light) = Hybrid or Closed Journal
(green traffic light) = Gold Open Access Journal
Do you have questions regarding your open access publication or license?
Don't hesitate to reach out to FLI's Open Access Officer [INTERNAL ONLY - Page 467] for help.
Open Access Publishing: Copyright vs. License
How Copyright and licenses work for research articles
Disclaimer
The following pages are not meant to be taken as legal advice, but rather to offer you guidance for orientation. The content of this guide has been carefully compiled to the best of our knowledge and belief. However, we do not assume any liability for the topicality, correctness, and completeness of the content.
As the author of your research article you automatically own all rights to your work without having to do anything or tell anyone, a.k.a. all rights are reserved to you: you own the copyright to your article*.
*Additionally the labor law agreements with the FLI also apply. See § 7 (5) in your work contract (click to see more details)
🇬🇧 Courtesy translation: (5) The employee will prominently acknowledge the institutional affiliation with the FLI in all publications, reports, presentations, and similar materials. Furthermore, the employee will share publications, presentations, and comparable statements with the Scientific Board in advance by submitting the corresponding manuscript for review, particularly to allow the FLI the opportunity to check for content relevant to intellectual property rights. Both parties agree that this review will be conducted promptly to protect publication interests, typically within one month, and in no case exceeding two months, as per § 42 paragraph 1 of the Employee Invention Act. In the event of legitimate concerns raised by the FLI, the employee and the FLI will cooperate in good faith to reach a manuscript version as quickly as possible.
🇩🇪 Official version: (5) Der Arbeitnehmer wird in Veröffentlichungen, Berichten, Vorträgen u. ä. die institutionelle Anbindung an das FLI herausstellen. Im Übrigen wird der Arbeitnehmer Veröffentlichungen, Vorträge und vergleichbare Äußerungen im Vorfeld mit dem wissenschaftlichen Vorstand durch Übermittlung des entsprechenden Manuskripts zur Kenntnis geben, insbesondere um dem FLI die Möglichkeit zur Prüfung auf schutzrechtsrelevante Inhalte einzuräumen. Die Parteien sind sich darüber einig, dass eine solche Prüfung zum Schutz des Publikationsinteresses zeitnah vorgenommen werden soll, in der Regel innerhalb eines Monats, und in Anlehnung an § 42 Ziffer 1 Arbeitnehmererfindungsgesetz zwei Monate nicht übersteigen darf. Der Arbeitnehmer und das FLI werden in einem Fall berechtigter Bedenken des FLI im besten Einvernehmen zusammenarbeiten, um so schnell wie möglich zu einer Manuskriptfassung zu kommen.
The expert depicted here represents a typical standard, there may be some slight variations in your contract.
What is copyright?
Copyright refers to a type of intellectual property [INTERNAL ONLY - Page 863] and gives its owners/holders the exclusive legal right to copy, share, adapt, display, and perform the respective work. Copyright is intended to protect the original expression of an idea in the form of a creative work, but not the idea itself.
Only the copyright holder/owner (or, if there are multiple, the holders collectively) can grant permission to others to use their research article. This permission can be given in the form of a license.
What is a license?
A license is a way to give permission from the copyright owner(s) specifying how their work can be (re)used by others. Without a license, anyone wanting to reuse the research article would need to contact the copyright owner(s) directly for permission. A license makes it convenient for the owner to define how their article can be used by others while avoiding constant requests.
Copyright can be transferred completely but it can also be transferred partially - meaning only certain rights encompassed within the copyright are transferred.
Exclusive vs non-exclusive licensesA transfer can be exclusive, meaning the previous owner can no longer use the transferred rights themselves anymore - or license them to anyone else.
Alternatively, a license can also be non-exclusive, allowing the owner to continue owning and using the rights and also license them to further additional parties. |
Common licensing practices in academic publishing:
Contrary to common belief, publishers don’t need an exclusive license to publish and profit from your research article. However, many publishers do ask you to exclusively license your article to them.
To publish your work, the publisher always needs you to sign a "License to Publish agreement." This agreement is a license you grant to the publisher, and the terms vary between publishers. It will outline what rights you are transferring – and whether you are transferring them exclusively or are only giving non-exclusive permission.
In the "License to Publish agreement," you’ll also agree on the type of license the publisher will use to make your work publicly available to everyone else – you often get to choose between some Creative Commons Licenses (for open access publishing) or a license by the publisher, which usually results in the article being pay-walled to the general public.
Choosing the right Open Access license for your article: Find out which license makes sense for your research article on the next page
Choosing the right Open Access license for your article
CC BY means Open Access
There are many different licenses, but most researchers want to get their work out there so that others can further build upon it (e.g., by reusing remixing and transforming it in new and innovative ways) but will also want to get credit for their work. Creative Commons (CC) licenses are great for that case: these licenses allow the copyright owner to choose how others are allowed to use their work. They additionally play an important role in facilitating Open Access publishing. Frequently, however, authors inadvertently pick a CC license that is not actually in their best interest for how they want their work to be (re)used. Creative Commons licenses are irrevocable so be cautious in selecting a license.
You can choose from several types. Generally, if you want people to be able to build upon your work, you should not pick a license that disallows derivatives (CC BY-ND, CC BY-NC-ND). Example: even a translation of your work would be considered a derivative. A license that disallows commercial use should also be picked with caution, as it is often controversial what ’commercial use’ actually constitutes and is therefore (particularly in the Open Access context) not recommended. What authors also often don't realize is that they may have already relinquished their exclusive rights to their work in the "license to publish agreement". This means they have unknowingly transferred their exclusive commercial and derivative rights to the publisher when applying a CC BY-ND or CC BY-NC license. The most recommended license for open access articles is the therefore the CC BY license. It allows for the greatest possible (re)use of research, enabling people everywhere to build on your work while still having to give you credit for it.
Applying a CC license is simple, all you have to do is indicate which CC license you are applying to your work (see → examples for different formats). To get a comprehensive overview of the different CC licenses please refer to the chart below:
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The Creative Commons License Chooser can help you to find a suitable CC license to publish your work: https://creativecommons.org/chooser/ Creative Commons also have a great FAQ that helps with more detailed questions.
What does 'public domain' mean? Copyrights expire after some time once that happens the works automatically enter the so called public domain these works can now freely be used by anyone without a license - this usually happens 70 years after the creator has passed away or once the copyrights were waived e.g. by applying the CC0 license. |
Creative Commons recommends that you use their latest 4.0 international licenses (e.g. CC BY 4.0). They have been written to be internationally valid.
OA Best Practises
This section provides you with information on best practices for OA publishing. For a brief overview or to browse through, please refer to the OA checklist.
Article Metadata
Article and journal metadata provide essential details about a publication and its content. They help you, as a researcher, to locate and select resources, while also assisting publishers and indexing organizations in categorizing and including your work in their databases and search engines. It is very helpful to adhere to some metadata standards if you want to maximize discoverability of your work.
What standards ID’s to use:
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Preprints
Why is it a good idea to publish a preprint of your article in a preprint repository such as → BioRxiv.?
In contrast to journal articles, which are often behind paywalls, preprints are freely accessible in the long term and are thus a key component of green open access. When a journal article is not freely accessible, the preprint version can be found via services like Unpaywall provided it is linked to the publisher’s version (the version of record). Preprints also make the process of gaining and communicating scientific knowledge more transparent. They enable critical discussion of works in the community before final publication Thus, authors can receive and take into account feedback in addition to the actual peer reviews. Preprints thus form the basis for informal or formalised open peer review
What license should you choose for publishing your preprint? The same considerations should be made as those for your final peer-reviewed article license. Opt for a free license such as CC BY to ensure that your article remains open even after peer review and publication in a closed-access journal. However, while most journals accept articles that have been shared as preprints, it’s worthwhile checking with your target journal beforehand, as some journals may not permit it.
Further reading: "A Practical Guide to Preprints"
Green Open Access or Self Archiving
Retain your Rights to Remain in Control
| TL:DR Publishers don’t require exclusive rights to publish your work or generate revenue from it. Consider to negotiate a non-exclusive license. Publish under the CC BY license to bypass the situation. There’s always a legal way to make your article Open Access! |
Finally! You did it! Your manuscript has been accepted by the journal of your choice. At this stage the publisher of the journal will present you with some form of publishing agreement often called ’license to publish’. They have to ask you (the copyright holder) to sign a license agreement because without it they are not allowed to publish your work.
The ’license to publish’ that you grant to the publisher may be either exclusive or non-exclusive: frequently, they are of the more restrictive ‘exclusive’ type.
Publishers know full well that authors are often willing to sign pretty much anything to get their article ‘out of the door’ and published. As this might seem like just another formal step, and considering you may feel powerless to negotiate their terms and conditions, there might be a temptation to simply sign, granting them exclusive rights to your work. Granting exclusive rights to your work is unfortunately equal to a full transfer of your copyright to the publisher.
Even if it appears otherwise, the contents of the license to publish agreement are very much negotiable.
Many publishers, not only of Closed- and Hybrid- but also several Gold Open Access journals, ask for the exclusive rights to your work by default. Yet many journals also function well without full ownership of the copyright. Why do they ask for the exclusive rights then? It is to maintain control and potentially maximize revenue; but not because they actually need them. This frequently results in the baffling situation where you, the author, may be excluded from exploiting your own work. You can negotiate with a publisher to get a non-exclusive license agreement. You hold leverage here, especially since the publisher is equally wanting to publish your article at this stage.To find Open Access journals that allow authors to retain all rights, check the DOAJ and filter for ’Author retains all rights’ or the 'DOAJ seal'.
Preprints published under a free license remains free and accessible, even if the reviewed version of your article becomes inaccessible.
While all of this sounds promising, you may find yourself short on time or unwilling to put in the effort. That’s completely understandable. The great thing is, there’s an easy way to sidestep this situation: publishing a preprint of your article under a free license. A preprint with a CC BY license stays free and accessible, even if your article gets locked behind a paywall and is no longer accessible. By linking your preprint to your journal article and vice versa, you can also make it easy for others to find it. This method is also a way to ensure your work appears in Unpaywall [INTERNAL ONLY - Page 163]and is one of the ways to make your article Green Open Access. If you would like to do this with your article but need support please get in touch with our Open Access Officer [INTERNAL ONLY - Page 467].
Turn Closed to Open Access by Self Archiving
You may be thinking, "I don’t have a preprint, and I didn’t publish under a free license. Now what? Will the article remain locked?" Actually, no. You can still make it Open Access. Many journals allow secondary publication after an embargo period, typically lasting from 3 to 12 months. This information is sometimes hard to find on journal websites, but you can consult a database (a convenient summary listing of permissions) called Jisc Open policy finder to quickly find this info for your target journal.
Once the embargo period has passed, you can publish a version of your article on a repository to make it available to others. As an FLI member, you have the option to secondary publish your work (also called Zweitveröffentlichungsrecht) on → PUBLISSO ZB MED-Publikationsportal Lebenswissenschaften. They also feed these
Green Open Access article versions back to Unpaywall [INTERNAL ONLY - Page 163]for quick access by others. If you would like to do this with your article but need support please get in touch with me. But what if the journal you published in doesn’t allow secondary publication? All hope isn’t lost. You can always fall back on your right to secondary publish your research (12 months after initial publication):
Urheberrechtsgesetz (UrhG) §38 (4). (English translation for convenience: Act on Copyright and Related Rights) This may be the last resort, but it should reassure you that there’s always a legal way to make your article Open Access.
Financing OA
Financial support can be applied for during the FLI internal article announcement [INTERNAL ONLY - Page 504] and may cover up to 100% of the publication costs (only article processing charges are eligible; surcharges such as color or page charges are not covered). Any partial or full financial support only applies if the article was announced through the form [INTERNAL ONLY - Page 504] at least 3 working days before submission to any journal or preprint repository and the article at least meets the required criteria of the FLI's Open Access Policy [INTERNAL ONLY - Page 516].
Please get in touch with our Open Access contact person [INTERNAL ONLY - Page 467] for consultation regarding financing, or licensing your OA article.
Where does the financial support come from?
The financial support for OA publications comes from an institute budget fund, which currently receives extra support from a DFG grant for open access publications until the end of 2026.
Our contracts with Wiley, Elsevier, and Springer Nature through DEAL [INTERNAL ONLY - Page 142] also reduce the publication costs for Open Access publications in journals from these publishers, (typically by around 15-20% off their standard list prices).
Checklist for Your OA Publication ✅
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FLI Open Access Policy
Effective July 1, 2025. For publications released before this date with payment now due, the prior policy [INTERNAL ONLY - Page 515] remains applicable.
The Open Access policy helps support open access publishing at FLI by offering guidance and financial aid, while also following the Leibniz Open Access policy. For more information, please check the FLI Guide to Open Access for FLI members.
Required criteria
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If the article announcement form is submitted on time and authors apply for funding support, the institute will cover 50% of the publication fees (also known as article processing charges, APCs) for eligible peer-reviewed open access articles. This funding will only cover direct publication charges. Extra charges, like page or color charges, etc. cannot be covered. Authors can receive up to 100% coverage by meeting the following additional criteria:
Optional criteria
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Why This Policy?
The publishing landscape has changed significantly towards open access over the past two decades. However, open access publishing can be expensive, which is why FLI offers financial support to its researchers to help them publish their articles as open access. This ensures that all FLI authors are not limited by publication fees, giving them the freedom to publish in the journal of their choice while making their articles freely available to everyone.
Many journals still offer the option to publish articles behind a paywall as an alternative to open access, which can be more affordable for authors but places subscription costs on institutions and access fees on readers. This also creates confusion for the public, as some articles are freely accessible while others are not. Therefore, FLI encourages all its authors to publish in journals that commit to open access for all articles they publish (known as Gold Open Access journals).
FLI also strongly encourages authors to publish under a CC BY license, as it allows for maximum reuse and accessibility. More restrictive licenses (e.g., CC BY NC, CC BY ND) limit the potential impact of research and can create confusion for authors about the rights they retain when choosing these licenses (more information here [INTERNAL ONLY - Page 175]). By choosing CC BY, authors ensure that their work is accessible and can be (re-)used by all e.g. for educational purposes worldwide etc.
FLI encourages all its authors to preprint their articles to enhance research visibility and accelerate communication of research findings and their dissemination.
Publishing in high-impact journals is also encouraged. While JIF is not a direct measure of article quality, it is widely recognized and can enhance the visibility of research.
Conclusion: FLI is committed to supporting open access publishing to ensure that its publicly funded research is freely available to all. All FLI authors are encouraged to take advantage of this policy to maximize the impact of their work.