Green Road: archive a version of your publication in the Institutional Repository (SUSI, see below). Gold Road: articles are directly published online in an Open Access journal. Check doaj.org to find high-quality OA journals. Hybrid Road: use only if agreement is listed on the library’s website.
The Swiss National Science Foundation provides financial support to OA expenses for project-related publications. Article Processing Charges invoices can be directly submitted via the SNSF Chronoshub platform. Funding can also be requested after the project has ended.
From February 2024, the SNSF no longer funds OA articles in special issues. The increase in the number of special issues, the shorter processing times and lower rejection rates led the SNSF to this decision. Publishing a large number of articles as quickly as possible does not reflect their values.
Specific agreements have been reached with some publishers: USI researchers benefit from several discount rates, including free APCs for Gold or Hybrid OA articles. Some agreements cover all journals of a publisher, others cover only a selection. The lists are available on the libraries’ websites.
No agreement has been reached for 2024 with the two publishers Elsevier and Taylor&Francis that meets the requirements of swissuniversities on Read&Publish contracts. Negotiations are continuing, but without a definite timeframe for the conclusion of the agreements.
Access to all new non-Open Access articles published in 2024 by the two publishers is in principle precluded. Should it be impossible to access an article of interest, researchers may explore the alternative routes indicated in the factsheet "How to get the article?" produced by the Libraries.
Is the journal not fully Open Access and not covered by one of the above-mentioned agreements? Does it require you to pay an extra fee for OA? Do not accept, as it’s “Hybrid OA”, not reimbursed by USI nor by the SNSF. Instead, deposit the article in Green OA in the institutional repository SUSI.
SUSI, USI's institutional repository, archives academic work ensuring free access in accordance with the university’s OA policy. Managed by the USI Libraries, it hosts publications by USI researchers (articles, theses, books, preprints, etc.). Contact OA-BiUSI@usi.ch for support about SUSI.
