Funding Acknowledgements / Förderhinweise

General Information

What is a funding acknowledgement?

Scientific publications often include acknowledgements ─ a doctoral student thanks their super-visor in their dissertation, a project team member thanks their team, a researcher thanks their reviewers in a journal article. In recent years, it has become increasingly common for authors to also refer to research funders in their publications, whose (financial) support helped promote the research activity that produced the publication in question. This special form of acknowledgement or thanks is usually referred to as a funding acknowledgement.

What is the purpose of a funding acknowledgement?

The funding acknowledgement gives researchers the opportunity to explain the funding context in which a publication was created and from which research funder(s) they received support for the project. The addition of a funding acknowledgement is (now) explicitly required by many research funders and can be part of the terms and conditions of the funding. For their part, research funders can use standardised funding acknowledgements as a means of better understanding and analysing the publication output of their own funding activities. The funding acknowledgement also helps universities and university libraries to find out more about the publishing activities at their own institution and can help them tailor their services more specifically to the needs of their researchers.

What needs to be kept in mind regarding the funding acknowledgements when using funding from the Open Access Publishing Fund?

In case of funding from the Open Access Publishing Fund, please add the following funding acknowledgement (independently of and, if necessary, in addition to other funding information):

German:      Gefördert durch den Open Access Publikationsfonds der Universität Bayreuth.

English:      Funded by the Open Access Publishing Fund of the University of Bayreuth.

Informations on funding acknowledgements of research funders:

German Research Foundation / Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG)

What determines the form of the funding acknowledgement? Are all DFG funding acknowledgements the same?

The DFG’s specifications on funding acknowledgements have changed over time. Therefore, the correct form of the funding acknowledgement depends on the one hand on the date when funding was approved (and which requirements applied at the time of approval). On the other hand, the form of the funding acknowledgement also depends on the specific programme in which the funding was granted. For example, the funding acknowledgement in the context of individual funding differs from that in the context of a Collaborative Research Centre or a Cluster of Excellence.

Where can I find the correct specifications for funding acknowledgements?

Information on the prerequisite form of the funding acknowledgement can be found in the DFG guidelines for the respective funding programme. These guidelines each have their own form number ─ e.g. DFG form 5.01 contains the guidelines for Collaborative Research Centres. The guidelines also contain a version number. This version number consists of the month and year (e.g. 12/14 or 01/24) and indicates the date of validity of the version in question. It is therefore possible for several versions of certain guidelines to coexist. Researchers can find out which guidelines apply to their own funding project in their DFG approval letter. The relevant guidelines stated therein are valid for the entire duration of the funding (irrespective of whether the rele-vant guidelines are subsequently revised, resulting in an updated version).

What are project numbers?

The DFG assigns project numbers to each project since the end of 2015; these are used for distinctly identifying projects. A project number consists of 9 figures and is (contrary to a reference number) made up entirely of numerals. Researchers get their project number with their letter of approval or by logging in to the database GEPRIS which registers every project. The project number is also of great importance for the funding acknowledgement of a publication.

What is the personal reference number?

The personal reference number consist of an abbreviation of the name of the applicant and a combination of numbers that gives information about how many applications said applicant has already submitted with the DFG and whether it is a first time application or a follow-up application. Personal reference numbers are particularly assigned in the context of individual funding by the DFG. These reference numbers are used in written communication with the DFG. According to the current guidelines, they are not part of a funding acknowledgement (any more).

What is the alliance reference number?

For some funding programmes, a so-called alliance reference number is assigned. This reference number starts with a capital letter for the respective funding programme – e.g. SFB for Sonderforschungsbereich (= Collaborative Research Centres). After this abbreviation follows a number, e.g. SFB 1357 or TRR 225. Alliance reference numbers can be looked up in the GEPRIS database. In some cases, alliance reference numbers are a required part of the funding acknowledgement for a publication.
How should the funding acknowledgement be formulated exactly?

Individual funding / no special terms and conditions

For publications that have been created in the context of an individual funding (e.g. Individual Research Grants) and for such funding contexts in which none of the special terms and conditions listed below apply, you should formulate your funding acknowledgement according to the following form (in accordance with the usage guidelines provided by the DFG: DFG-Vordruck 2.00, Stand: 01/25):

German:      Gefördert durch die Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) – Projektnummer(n).

English:      Funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) – project number(s).

For publications that have been created in the context of the Excellence Strategy, a Collaborative Research Centre, or a Research Training Group different rules for formulating a funding acknowledgement may apply, which are listed below.

Excellence Strategy (Cluster of Excellence)

For publication that have been created in the context of the Excellence Strategy (Cluster of Ex-cellence) funding acknowledgements should be formulated as follows (in accordance with the usage guidelines provided by the DFG: DFG-Vordruck ExStra 200, Stand: 01/24):

German:      Gefördert durch die Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) im Rahmen der Exzellenzstrategie des Bundes und der Länder – EXC-Nummer – Projektnummer.

English:      Funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) under Germany´s Excellence Strategy – EXC-Number – project number.

The EXC-number (= alliance reference number) can be found in the DFG approval letter or retrieved from the GEPRIS database.

Collaborative Research Centres (German: SFB) and Transregios (German: TRR)

For publications that were created in the context of a Collaborative Research Centre funding acknowledgements should be formulated as follows (in accordance with the usage guidelines provided by the DFG: DFG-Vordruck 5.01, Stand: 01/2024):

German:      Gefördert durch die Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) – SFB-Geschäftszeichen – Projektnummer.

English:      Funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) – SFB-Geschäftszeichen – project number.

The SFB/TRR-number (= alliance reference number) can be found in the DFG approval letter or retrieved from the GEPRIS database.

Research Training Groups

For publications that were created in the context of a Research Training Group funding acknowledgements should be formulated as follows (in accordance with the usage guidelines provided by the DFG: DFG-Vordruck 2.22, Stand: 01/2025):

German:      Gefördert durch die Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) – Projektnummer.

English:      Funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) –– project number.

The reference number of the Research Training Group (= alliance reference number) can be added to the project number, e.g. GRK 1234 – project number 123456789. The project number and the reference number of the Research Training Group can be found in the DFG approval letter or retrieved from the GEPRIS database.
Please note: The examples of phrasing listed here are valid under the current version of the usage guidelines (updated January 2025). Depending on the date of approval (and the respective version of the usage guidelines in accordance with the conditions of the specific funding programme) the form of the funding acknowledgement may differ.
Where can I find more information?

Contact

Feel free to contact the Open Access Team of the library (oa@uni-bayreuth.de) or the Research Support Office (forschungsfoerderung@uni-bayreuth.de) via mail if you have any further questions.
The information presented here has been compiled to the best of our knowledge and belief and is kept up to date as best as possible. However, this information does not constitute legally binding information. In general, the library cannot provide legally binding information. In case of doubt, please consult the documents relevant to your specific funding programme (information sheets, letters of approval, usage guidelines, etc.) and get in touch with the relevant contact person at the respective research funding body.