Information For Authors

Open Publishing LMU

Dissertations of LMU
Open Publishing LMU
Open Publishing in the Humanities (OPH)
Modern Academic Publishing (MAP)

1. Dissertations of LMU

The University Library (UB) has joined forces with publishing service providers to enable you to publish your thesis simultaneously as a printed book and in electronic form.

Your thesis will be published as a book in the series Dissertationen der LMU or Habilitationsschriften der LMU in DIN A5 format under the license CC BY 4.0.
The electronic version of the text will be published in the repository "Electronic Theses" of Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, permanently archived with a stable and citable address, and a DOI.
Parallel publication in the repository is obligatory.
By publishing through "Open Publishing LMU" you fulfil your statutory obligation to publish your thesis with a publisher. Depending on your doctoral regulation or your Habilitationsordnung, you must submit between 2 and 6 copies of your thesis to the "Publication Services Theses".
We regret that it is not possible to first submit your thesis using the digital option and then apply for publication in print via "Open Publishing LMU".
This offer is available to anyone who has successfully completed a thesis at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München.
Depending on the workload of our graphics department, publication takes approximately 12 weeks from receipt of the type-ready manuscript.

This type of publication requires a certain amount of time on your part. The manuscript of your thesis must be ready for typesetting before it is submitted to us, i.e. the wording cannot be changed, it must be free of spelling mistakes, etc., and formatted according to the specifications in our checklist.

We co-operate with the self-publisher Buchschmiede in Vienna, who will print and distribute your book.

The following costs apply:

A flat rate of around 400 euros gross. (Publication package 249.90 euros + freedom of contract 99.90 euros + proof print 49.90 euros).
You must purchase at least the number of copies required according to your doctoral regulation or your Habilitationsordnung, one copy for the archive of the Referat Elektronisches Publizieren (Associated Electronic Publishing Divisions) and two copies for the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek.
Shipping costs

The services of the UB (typesetting, contact with the publisher, etc.) are free of charge.

This is how it works:

Please send an e-mail to the Referat Elektronisches Publizieren (Associated Electronic Publishing Divisions) and state your faculty. If your thesis is in a format other than Word, please state this as well.
When requested send us a sample chapter of your thesis, formatted according to our checklist. We will then decide whether to publish your thesis with "Open Publishing LMU".
The UB will conclude a contract with you regarding the publication of your thesis. The contract covers costs, services and usage rights. You agree that your thesis will be published under the CC BY 4.0 license.
Please send us your complete, proofread, and formatted manuscript, including the faculty title page, as a Word document. In separate documents, send us the illustrations, an abstract and a short biography for the back cover, and the keywords for the Verzeichnis lieferbarer Bücher (VLB) (Catalogue of available books in Germany). Please send both in English and German.
The UB will use InDesign to layout your manuscript for Dissertationen der LMU or Habilitationsschriften der LMU and create the PDF file for printing. This PDF file will be sent to you for correction and approval.
After approval, you will receive a proof copy. If further corrections are necessary, a new proof will be produced for a fee.
After your final approval, the books are printed. They are given an ISBN and registered with the VLB and various online booksellers. The publisher takes care of the mandatory copy for the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek., but you will be charged for this service.
You will receive the copies you have ordered directly from the publisher. The copies required to fulfil your statutory obligation to publish your thesis and the archive copy will be sent directly from the publisher to the "Publication Services Theses".
The "Publication Services Theses" will immediately forward the copies to the offices responsible for issuing the doctoral certificate (Dean's Office, Promotionsbüro at Bavariaring, or PAGS)
They will also upload the electronic version to the repository "Electronic Theses" of Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München.
In addition, your thesis will be listed on this webpage, where you can view all previously published theses.

You will be kept informed of every step by email.

Checklist for "Open Publishing LMU" (PDF, 195 KB)

Faculty title pages for all faculties (Word)

2. Open Publishing LMU

How to publish simultaneously in both print and digital form

The University Library has joined forces with a publishing service provider to enable you to simultaneously publish congress proceedings, teaching scripts, conference programmes and other works in both print and electronic form on the “Open Access LMU” server.

You will be required to agree to your work being published in parallel on “Open Access LMU” under the Creative Commons Licence CC-BY 4.0 or CC-BY-SA 4.0.

Who is eligible for this offer?

This offer is available to all members of the LMU academic staff.

What charges apply?

Price on request.

How does it work?

Contact the Referat Elektronisches Publizieren (Electronic Publications Department) by email.
You sign a contract with the University Library for the publication of your manuscript. The contract is valid for 5 years, and governs services, costs and usage rights. You grant non-exclusive rights of use only for both the print and digital versions, which means that you can also publish your work elsewhere, and in another form, if you so desire.
Use our Checkliste Open Publishing LMU (Check-list for “Open Publishing LMU”) to help you check and format your manuscript correctly.
Create a layout for the text and the cover, or choose one of our standard templates.
Send your edited manuscript to us, with illustrations and graphics contained in a separate file. We will also require you to provide us with an abstract for the back cover, a short biography, and 3 - 5 keywords for submission to the Verzeichnis lieferbarer Bücher (German books in print, VLB). Please also let us know how many author copies you wish to order.
We will convert your manuscript to your chosen layout and create the PDF file for printing. This PDF file will be returned to you for approval.
You will receive a proof copy for print approval. If any further corrections are needed a new proof copy will be created, for which additional charges will be made. After you have given your final approval the copies will be printed. The title will be assigned an ISBN and submitted for listing by the Verzeichnis lieberbarer Bücher (German books in print, VLB); it will be available from booksellers and the publishers for at least three years. The legal deposit copies for the German National Library (DNB) and the regional legal deposit library will be submitted by the publisher.
You will receive three invoices: for the proof, the printing fee and the cost of the author's copies plus postage.

Titles already published with Open Publishing LMU