Make sure you do not receive the bill unintentionally. The maximum for the number of articles in full Open Access journals has not been reached yet. Are you unsure whether you have submitted to a hybrid or full Open Access journal? Please see the .
Earlier this year, the maximum number was also reached for publishers Lippincott Williams & Wilkins (LWW), Taylor & Francis (T&F), and Springer Nature. It is expected that later this year the maxima for American Chemical Society (ACS) and the full open access journals of Oxford University Press (OUP) will be reached.
The agreement that UNL has made with on behalf of the Dutch universities, including Vrije Universiteit and Amsterdam UMC - location VUMC, applies to a maximum of 707 Open Access articles in hybrid journals per year.
During the suspension of the agreement, you can choose to publish closed access (free of charge) or open access through own financing. In the last case you will have to provide for the APC-payment yourself. There is no central Open Access VU fund to which claims can be made.
Alternative for VU authors: automatically open access after 6 months
The VU Open Access policy ensures that the publisher’s version of your work will be made available through the VU Research Portal after an embargo of 6 months. This regulation applies to all authors of the Vrije Universiteit (VUmc excluded) on the basis of article 25fa of the Dutch copyright law. Should you wish to exclude your publication from being made Open Access, you can .
Alternative for Amsterdam UMC, VUmc authors
The AUMC library advises not to buy an extra APC and just publish your articles as ‘closed’. The AUMC library will republish a PDF of your article Open Access in the Pure portal on your behalf after 6 months following the Amsterdam UMC Open Science policy.
Demands research funders
If you research funder (f.e. NWO or Horizon Europe) demands you to share your work in open access immediately (without embargo), and under an open license, please contact the Open Access-team of the University Library.
What about my other articles?
From the 1st of January 2026 on, corresponding authors can once again make use of the new APC-discounts. Researchers who want to stay informed about the status can sign in for an ‘’. This service can also be used to receive updates about other publishers with a maximum amount of open access publications.
It is expected the maximum will also be reached for publisher Taylor & Francis at the end of November.
Do you have questions or are you looking for an alternative way to publish your article open access? Please contact openaccess@vu.nl
