FAQ - Open Access

Frequently asked questions and answers in connection with the national Open Access agreements.

Tastatur med knap mærket "FAQ"

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You will find a list of publishers with national license agreements with the possibility of Open Access publishing for affiliated researchers here.

You will find links to journal lists under the individual publishers here.

You will find an overview of the institutions covered by a specific agreement with Open Access publishing under the individual publishing agreement here.

You will find an overview of details for each agreement here.

As a starting point, we recommend, and some agreements require, that you use your institutional e-mail for submission. Your e-mail address is the fastest way in which the publisher can verify that you are eligible, and therefore exempt from the payment of the Article Processing Charge (APC) under an agreement concluded by Royal Danish Library. Other verification methods can be used in special cases, but this may mean a longer processing time.

Please note that the information below this answer is not legal advice.

When you publish Open Access, you as the author must choose a Creative Commons license. The type of Creative Commons license you choose determines the rights that both you as author and readers get in relation to the sharing and reuse of your article. It is therefore important that you choose the license that best covers your needs for future use of the article.

Please note that your copyright as an author is also subject to the license terms in the specific agreement under which you publish.

Get more information about which CC licenses you can choose from in the individual agreements here.

Get more information about CC licenses in general at Creative Commons.

Articles only count towards an agreement when the corresponding author's institution has been checked and approved. For most agreements, this happens in two stages, where the publisher carries out the first (automatic) screening and Royal Danish Library then confirms this (manually). In addition to your affiliation, the publisher will check whether the article has been accepted for publication within the applicable agreement period.

Please note that these processes for approval of publication without payment by APC are not linked to editorial processes at the journals. They are purely a check to see if the corresponding author can cover their APC payment and have their article published Open Access after it has been accepted for publication by the journal.

Royal Danish Library regularly receives information from the publishers about the status of publication, which is forwarded to the participating institutions. In this way, the institutions can see in good time whether maximum is about to be reached.

There may be several reasons why you may encounter a charge at the end of your Author Journey, when both your institution and the chosen journal are covered by an agreement with Open Access publishing.

If it is an agreement with a limited number of articles that may be published Open Access, it may be that the ceiling has already been reached before your article entered. In that case, contact your institution's library.

It may also be because the publisher's system does not recognise your institution's name. Check in the drop down menu whether your institution is mentioned. If it is mentioned, contact your institution's library.

There can be various reasons why you receive an invoice.

In certain cases, there will be costs associated with publication that are not covered by the agreement. It can, for example, be colour charges or page charges.

Read more about guidelines for Open Access publishing in license agreements between Royal Danish Library and publisher here.

Even if your institution is part of an agreement with Open Access publishing, it may happen that you do not meet all conditions as corresponding author and therefore your request will not be validated by Royal Danish Library. If you think there is an error, please contact your institution's library.

It may also be because the publisher's system does not recognise your institution's name, as it does not match the information in the publisher's system.

Try going through the Author Journey one more time and use the drop down menu to identify your institution. If you cannot see your institution in the drop down menu, please contact your institution's library.

It depends on the individual agreement. Contact your institution's library to find out more.

It is the publisher who has an overview of the editorial process. Please contact the journal's editorial office to find out more.

It is the publisher that issues the post acceptance link. Please contact the publisher's support team to find out more.

If your question is about publishing, copyright or Open Access in general, you can contact your institution's library.

If it concerns the conditions in the agreements, you can write to licensservice@kb.dk