Open access: changes to funding for articles and books
New open access regulations will come into force starting in January 2027. The SNSF will continue to fund articles, but publication fees will be capped. It will only support books that are based on SNSF-funded projects.
Since 2018, the SNSF has provided extensive funding for open access articles and books. Unlike most Swiss higher education institutions, it covers publication fees for scientific articles with no upper limit. In contrast to articles, the SNSF also provides funding for books even if they are not the result of an SNSF-funded research project.
Exceptions will be discontinued
The publishing landscape has evolved, and these temporary exceptions are no longer necessary. Researchers in Switzerland have a wide range of options for making their publications freely accessible.
The SNSF is also amending the regulations for financial reasons. Due to the federal government’s cost-saving measures, it is focusing on its core activities. The open access grants are intended to benefit as many researchers as possible who publish the results of their SNSF-funded work.
The SNSF already announced these changes back in December 2025, allowing researchers to start planning their future open access publications well in advance. The focus is now on the practical implementation. Key questions and answers:
What will change with regard to scientific articles?
In January 2027, the SNSF will reintroduce an upper limit on the costs of open access articles. The SNSF will cover article processing charges (APCs) of up to 3,500 Swiss francs, but it will no longer pay higher fees, not even partially.
How many articles will be affected by the revised regulations?
The large majority of articles funded by the SNSF are not affected by the upper limit. Only around 20 percent exceed it. However, these outliers incur considerable costs, with fees of up to 6,500 Swiss francs per article. The SNSF considers such fees to be too high in today’s publishing landscape. Many journal publishers provide excellent services for less than 3,500 Swiss francs.
Furthermore, there are an increasing number of options for publishing articles without authors having to pay publication fees. Starting in autumn 2026, for example, all researchers based in Switzerland will be able to use the Open Research Europe platform.
Does the upper limit also apply to articles that were submitted to a publisher before 1 January 2027 but that will not be published until after that date?
No, the new regulations – and therefore the upper limit – will only apply to articles submitted to a publisher for publication on or after 1 January 2027.
What will change with regard to book funding?
In various disciplines, the academic book remains a key format for presenting and developing new research findings in detail. This is particularly true in the social sciences and humanities.
From January 2027 onwards, SNSF-funded project leaders and team members will still be able to apply for open access funding for books. The new requirement is that the book must be a direct result of the project. The SNSF will no longer cover the publication costs for other books, with the exception of doctoral theses and habilitations (see below).
When is a book considered a direct result of an SNSF-funded project?
Several conditions apply for a book to be considered as having a direct link to a project. Firstly, the key findings must stem from the SNSF-funded research. Secondly, they must be published for the first time in the book. And thirdly, the end of the relevant funding period must generally not have been more than five years ago in order to ensure the results become accessible as quickly as possible.
What rules apply to doctoral theses and habilitations?
The SNSF will also continue to fund doctoral theses and habilitations that are not linked to a project it has funded, provided that they have been defended and accepted at a Swiss higher education institution.
This is subject to the condition that a publisher prepares the thesis or habilitation as a monograph and organises an independent external review of the complete manuscript. The SNSF will no longer accept doctoral thesis reports or habilitation assessment reports as evidence of quality assurance.
This is because, whilst the evaluations of higher education institutions also assess doctoral and postdoctoral researchers’ research skills, the assessment of a book manuscript focuses on different criteria. External peer review ensures that the findings are relevant to the field and that the publication meets the required scientific quality.
What costs will the SNSF cover for a book?
From 2027, the SNSF will pay a maximum of 12,000 Swiss francs for the basic module of the book funding, and up to a total of 32,000 Swiss francs when additional modules are included. In addition, researchers may apply for funding from other organisations.
Do the revised regulations also apply if an application was submitted to the SNSF before 1 January 2027, but the book will not be published until after that date?
No, the revised regulations will only apply to applications submitted to the SNSF on or after 1 January 2027.