Researcher's guide to responsible and open science

In 2024, Tampere University Library will pay article and book processing charges (APCs and BPCs) arising from the open access publication of peer-reviewed scientific publications by members of the higher education community. Researchers and staff members working at Tampere University and Tampere University of Applied Sciences are eligible to apply for the OA support funding if they meet the criteria for the funding.

Read more about the article processing charge discounts available to researchers affiliated with the Tampere Universities before applying for OA support funding.

Self-archiving is an excellent way of making your peer-reviewed and non-peer-reviewed publications open access without a fee. Read more about self-archiving.

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You can apply for support funding from the Library to pay the article processing charges (APC) or book processing charges (BPC) for your peer-reviewed publication that has been accepted for publication on or after 1.1.2024.

What to do when applying for OA support funding

1. First, check whether you can take advantage of the article processing charge discounts available to members of the Tampere Universities community or whether you can publish your article open access free of charge due to an agreement with the publisher. If the publication channel you have chosen is not covered by the Library's agreements, or the agreement does not cover the full APC, you can apply for support funding for the APC.
2. Read more about the criteria for OA support funding.
3. Apply for support funding using the form below. Follow the instructions in the email you will receive to confirm your application. The email is sent from an address ending in @chronoshub.io. We process confirmed applications within 1-3 business days.
4. When your application for support funding is accepted, forward the invoicing address for Tampere University to the publisher as instructed.
5. Self-archive your publication in Tampere University's TUNICRIS research information system or in Tampere University of Applied Sciences' institutional repository Theseus.

By applying for OA support funding, you commit to self-archiving your open access publication in the institutional repository of Tampere University or Tampere University of Applied Sciences.

Do the following with an article processing charge invoice

Please note that the Library does not pay any other publishing costs, such as page, image, or colour fees, or the costs of submitting a manuscript. The Library does not reimburse article processing charges that have already been paid.

The Library will provide you with an invoicing address and other necessary information for the publisher once the Library has processed your application and agreed to pay the article processing charge. Follow the instructions provided. Please do not pay the article processing charge with a credit card.

The Library covers article or book processing charges for peer-reviewed publications when the criteria below are met. Applications for OA support funding can be made once the manuscript has been accepted for publication.

The Library monitors the criteria of OA support funding and, if necessary, changes may be made to them during the year.

Corresponding author

• The corresponding author of the publication must be affiliated with Tampere University or Tampere University of Applied Sciences when applying for funding for the costs of open access publication.
• The affiliated person has a valid employment contract or extended resource agreement with Tampere University or Tampere University of Applied Sciences or is actively working towards a doctoral degree at Tampere University.
• The affiliation with Tampere University or Tampere University of Applied Sciences is mentioned in the publication. The publication is reported as a Tampere University or Tampere University of Applied Sciences publication in the Ministry of Education and Culture's publication data collection.

Publication type

• Funding is available for the open access publishing of a peer-reviewed scientific journal article, review article, book chapter, or monograph (categories A1-A3 and C1 of the Ministry of Education and Culture's publication data collection).
• The Library decides on a case-by-case basis whether to pay the costs of open access publishing for the whole edited volume (category C2 of the Ministry of Education and Culture's publication data collection) or only the book chapters written by researchers affiliated with Tampere Universities.
• The Library pays the open access publishing costs for peer-reviewed conference papers for projects funded by Horizon Europe (category A4 of the Ministry of Education and Culture's publication data collection).

Publication channel

• The selected publication channel is ranked at level 1-3 by the Finnish Publication Forum.
• The publication channel uses Creative Commons licenses for open access articles and monographs.
• The publication channel is Plan S compliant and meets the Research Council of Finland’s* open access requirements, including the use of CC licenses when the project is funded by the Research Council.
• The publication channel meets Horizon Europe's** open access requirements (PDF), including the use of CC licenses when the project is funded by Horizon Europe.
• The publication channel charges an article processing charge (APC) of up to 3,500 euros or a book processing charge (BPC) of up to 15,000 euros for a monograph or an edited work. If the open access costs exceed the above amounts, the Library may accept the application for a special reason.

* The Library will pay the APC for those projects funded by the Research Council of Finland that have received a positive funding decision from the Research Council in a call for proposals opened after 1 January 2021, in accordance with the Research Council’s renewed open access policy for scientific publications. For projects funded as a result of calls for proposals launched by the Research Council of Finland before 1 January 2021 article processing charges will be paid from the funding allocated to the project.

** Horizon Europe covers publication fees in fully open access publication channels for peer-reviewed scientific publications. The Library covers article and book processing charges for publications published in other channels. In Horizon 2020 projects article processing charges will be paid from the funding allocated to the project.

The ChronosHub service is a tool that helps researchers find publication channels where they can publish Open Access articles either completely without an article processing charge (APC), or with a discounted APC. The service is tailored to the needs of the Tampere Universities community.

ChronosHub is linked to two separate types of Open Access support:

1. Open Access support funding coordinated by Tampere University Library, which researchers can apply for through the ChronosHub form (see application criteria and instructions in the library's guide), and
2. agreements with scientific publishers that include discounts on article processing charges. Information about these has been collected in ChronosHub's Journal Guide tool.

Journal Guide

ChronosHub's Journal Guide tool contains information on the terms and conditions of agreements between the Tampere Universities community and publishers, as well as discounts under the agreements. Information on the journal's JUFO category has also been included in the journal search.

The Journal Guide can also be used just to find publication channels in your own field of science outside the agreements. Most journals included in the Journal Guide are not part of the agreements.

• Contains information from more than 52,000 journals, including: Journals indexed in the Scopus database, DOAJ's completely open access journals that are free of charge for authors, and journals evaluated in the Publication Forum (JUFO).
• You can search for either a specific journal or journal on a specific topic using keywords or subject area filters.
• You can compare the suitability of journals with the requirements of research funders (e.g. Plan S funders).
• You can filter the search results to only show journals that are part of an open access agreement between the library and publishers.
• The Journal Guide works best on Chrome.
• For the time being, the Journal Guide is available only in English.

Instructions how to fill OA Support Funding form.

Video OA Support Funding form (video opens to the new window).

Following information will be transferred to ChronosHub when you log in:

• your name
• email address
• phone number
• faculty / unit

Fill in the following information on the request form:

• title of the publication
• corresponding author and co-authors
• publication type
• title of the publication channel
• publisher
• amount of the article or book processing charge and currency
• research funder and grant number, if applicable