Funding

Guidelines

Guidelines for meeting the OA requirement of the SNSF

Grantees are obliged to make all SNSF-funded research results they publish publicly accessible without any restrictions (open access requirement of the SNSF). This applies to all publications that are regarded as scientific output (e.g. articles, book chapters, books).

Open access on first publication (gold, hybrid)

The scientific text is published in an open access format from the outset. This might involve publishing in a purely open access journal that grants immediate access to all articles. This is generally referred to as the gold road. Authors can apply for open access funding to snsf.chronoshub.io to cover the costs of gold road publishing. The publishing costs can be applied for in addition to ongoing grants via snsf.chronoshub.io.

Against payment of a fee, many publishers offer immediate open access publishing for individual articles in journals that are otherwise subscription-based. This is known as the hybrid model. Publishers often refer to their hybrid models as “Gold Open Access”, which can be misleading. The costs of publication in hybrid journals are not covered by the SNSF’s open access funding.

Both roads lead to immediate open access and meet the OA requirement. However, the SNSF financially supports only publications in purely open access journals.

Recommended procedure

Check the open access models offered by a journal

  • Gold OA: Is the journal listed in the Directory of Open Access Journals?
    • Yes: The journal is a purely OA journal. The open access requirements set by the SNSF are met, and the costs can be covered by the SNSF’s open access funding.
    • No: The journal follows the hybrid model, does not offer any options for immediate open access or (in rare cases) has not yet been registered in the Directory of Open Access Journals.
  • Hybrid OA: If you can answer one of the following questions with “yes”, the journal you have in mind is a hybrid journal.
    • Are authors offered a choice between open access publishing and publishing without open access in the same journal?
    • Are some articles published in an open access format, but not others?
  • If you are unsure about the open access model of a journal, please do not hesitate to contact us at oa@snf.ch

Open access on second publication (green)

The text is published in a subscription-based journal, as a closed-access book or as a book chapter in a closed-access anthology. An identical version of the publication is additionally made publicly available in a repository at a later date. This model is known as the green road. 

Usually, publishers include a clause in their agreement obliging the authors to agree to an embargo period of several months before granting open access to the publication. A specific version of the manuscript (e.g. pre-print, author’s accepted manuscript, version of record) is defined in the agreement along with the properties of the database (repository) chosen to store the publication in. 

How can the open access requirement be met via the green road?

  • For applications submitted from 1 January 2023: Embargos are no longer permissible for articles, and they are limited to a maximum of 12 months for books and book chapters 
  • For applications submitted prior to 1 January 2023: Embargo period of a maximum of 6 months for articles, and 12 months for books and book chapters 
  • The version published in open-access format must be at least the author’s accepted manuscript, i.e. including the changes made after peer review (but without the publisher’s layout) and under a CC BY licence 
  • Availability in an institutional or discipline-specific repository, i.e. unrestricted access without any need for registration; permanent, free access to the publications.
Recommended procedure
  • Already apply the Rights Retention Strategy when submitting an article, to secure the rights to your own work while ensuring that the SNSF’s OA obligation is met  
  • Insert the following standard statement when submitting an article, e.g. in the acknowledgements field: “This research was funded in whole or in part by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) [Grant number]. For the purpose of Open Access, a CC BY public copyright licence is applied to any Author Accepted Manuscript (AAM) version arising from this submission.”  
  • As soon as the AAM becomes available, upload it to a repository (no embargo; OA immediately effective). 
  • Pre-print versions only meet the OA requirement if their content is brought into line with the ‘author’s accepted manuscript’. 

Choosing a repository

  • A repository needs to ensure that the publications remain freely accessible in the long term and that they are discoverable by frequently used search engines.
    • It is not sufficient to upload texts onto private or institutional websites. Neither type of website guarantees long-term availability and the texts are not as visible as they should be.
    • It is not sufficient to upload to academic social networks (e.g. Researchgate or Academia.edu). Users need to register, and therefore access is not free and visibility is limited.
  • The open access requirement of the SNSF is met when publications are made available in
    • institutional repositories, which often assist researchers with the upload (see list)
    • disciplinary or general repositories, such as arxiv.org, PubMed, Europe PMC or zenodo, provided the content corresponds at least to the ‘author’s accepted manuscript’ stage

List of institutional repositories

Eawag Repository Contact
Empa Repository Contact
EPF Lausanne Repository Contact
WSL Repository Contact
ETH Zurich Repository Contact
Paul Scherrer Institut Repository Contact
Università della Svizzera italiana Repository Contact
University of Basel Repository Contact
University of Bern Repository Contact
University of Fribourg Repository Contact
University of Lucerne Repository Contact
University of St. Gallen Repository Contact
University of Zurich Repository Contact
University of Geneva Repository Contact
University of Lausanne Repository Contact
University of Neuchâtel Repository Contact
Bern University of Applied Sciences Repository Contact
University of Applied Sciences and Arts Western Switzerland Repository Contact
Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts – HSLU Repository Contact
Zurich University of Applied Sciences ZHAW Repository Contact
Zurich University of Arts Repository Contact
University of Applied Sciences Northwestern Switzerland Repository
FHS St. Gallen – University of Applied Sciences Repository
SUPSI – La Scuola universitaria professionale della Svizzera italiana Repository
Haute école pédagogique du Valais Repository Contact
Haute école pédagogique du canton de Vaud Repository Contact
Haute école pédagogique Fribourg Repository Contact
Interkantonale Hochschule für Heilpädagogik Repository Contact
Pädagogische Hochschule Luzern Repository
Pädagogische Hochschule St.Gallen Repository Contact
Pädagogische Hochschule Thurgau Repository Contact
Pädagogische Hochschule Zürich Repository Contact
Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies Repository Contact
Pädagogische Hochschule Schwyz Repository Contact