For ten years, the EUR 2,000 limit set by the DFG was one of the most important instruments for managing and controlling open access publication fees. The DFG cost ceiling made a clear statement about reasonable APC prices, by no means rallied only DFG-funded institutions behind this principle, and set a framework for institutions' concrete financial planning.

At the latest since the DFG announced that it would refrain from defining a binding cost ceiling in its new funding programme, both the 2,000 euros and the instrument of the flat-rate cost ceiling have come under massive pressure. Open access publishers are now noticeably raising their prices and terminating existing agreements.

How should scientific and scholarly institutions react to the new price demands? What options do individual institutions have to manage their open access publi­cation costs sensibly in the future and to manage their budgets sustainably? What common points of orientation and positions are helpful?

The focus group is intended to bring together the discussion on the future of the 2,000-EUR cap, which has already been animated in various groups, and to make it more widespread. Its aim is to support the exchange and coordination of scientific institutions on the topic of cost control for open access publications.

Among other things, this will involve

  • discussing the 2,000-euro limit and its significance for effective cost control, as well as examining alternative approaches.
  • exchanging views on local regulations and requirements for managing the open access budget and funding open access articles.
  • formulating cost control principles and mechanisms that can be effective across institutions.

If you have any questions about the focus group, please contact Ulrike Kändler or Tobias Pohlmann.

You can subscribe to the mailing list of the focus group on cost control here. If you would like to actively participate in the group, you can also apply for a user account for the group's MediaWiki. To make it easier for us to assign you to the group, please indicate that you are interested in working in the focus group "Cost Control".