An increasing number of funding bodies now have policies in place that require grant holders to make any resulting publications open access. These policies are a condition of your research grant and it is important that you know how to comply. Failure to comply with your funder's policy may affect your eligibility for future funding. How you comply with your funder’s open access requirements will largely depend on the policy of the journal you are intending to publish in.In addition to funder policies all Queen Mary researchers are affected by the Research Excellence Framework; see Open Access and the REF for more information. Please note that compliance with funder policy does not automatically mean compliance with the REF policy.
Funder requirements apply even if the research was only partially funded by that organisation. If your publication acknowledges support from more than one funder, you must ensure that all funder requirements are met.
The Queen Mary Open Access Fund is open to all current Queen Mary researchers and is primarily intended to cover the open access fees for research outputs that were unfunded or for which no other open access publishing funding is available.
This fund is managed by Library Services on a first-come, first-served basis, subject to the following eligibility criteria; these criteria are in line with other research funder’s open access policies:
To make a request for support with open access fees or please fill in our Open Access Fees Request Form.
From 1st April 2022 all 'in scope' publications submitted to either a journal or conference proceedings produced as a result of research partly or wholly funded by UKRI (UK Research and Innovation) are subject to the UKRI Policy on Open Access.
The policy applies to peer-reviewed research articles. This includes reviews and conference papers that are accepted for final publication in either a journal, conference proceeding with an international standards serial number (ISSN), or publishing platform.
Monographs, book chapters and edited collections, will also be in-scope from 1st January 2024 Please see the UKRI Long form details section.
You can make your article open access via one of two routes.
Route onePublish your article open access in a journal or publishing platform that makes the version of record immediately open access via its website with a creative commons attribution (CC BY) licence or other permitted licence.*
*you can apply for an exception to use a creative commons no-derivatives (CC BY-ND) licence from UKRI by filling in their licence exception form.
Route twoPublish your article in a subscription journal and deposit your author’s accepted manuscript in an institutional repository (Queen Mary Research Online) at the time of final publication with a CC BY or other permitted licence. A publisher embargo period on the manuscript is not permitted.
If intending to publish open access via a repository (route two), you must include this statement in the acknowledgement section of your manuscript and any submission cover letter or note, to ensure it is clear at the point of submission what licence you will apply to your author’s accepted manuscript:
"For the purpose of open access, the author has applied a creative commons attribution (CC BY) licence (where permitted by UKRI, ‘open government licence’ or ‘creative commons attribution no-derivatives (CC BY-ND) licence’ may be stated instead) to any author accepted manuscript version arising."
If a publisher rejects your submission based on the inclusion of the statement or advises removal of the statement, contact openresearch@qmul.ac.uk for advice.
Include a data access statement in your articleYou must also include a data access statement in your article, even where there is not data associated with the article or the data are inaccessible.
UKRI has provided the university with an open access block grant to support payment of open access fees for eligible articles.
Articles eligible for support must be published in:
To check if your chosen journal is eligible via either of these conditions you can use the online Journal Checker Tool(for more information about the Journal Checker Tool see our guide). You can also check our Publisher Open Access Agreements webpage to see which agreements you have access to.
Please note the UKRI open access award can only be used for open access publishing fees. Other publishing costs (colour images, page over-length charges etc.) will not be met from the award.
To make a request for support with open access fees or if you are unsure if your chosen journal is either compliant or eligible under the UKRI open access policy, please fill in our Open Access Fees Request Form.
From 1st January 2024 all 'in scope' Monographs, book chapters and edited collections produced as a result of research partly or wholly funded by UKRI (UK Research and Innovation) are subject to the UKRI Policy on Open Access.
The policy applies to Academic monographs, Book chapters and Edited collections. Definitions and clarifications of longform publications can be found in Annex 1 of the UKRI Policy on Open Access.
There is no requirement for monographs, book chapters and edited collections published before 1 January 2024 to be published open access.
Route onePublish your monograph, book chapter or edited collection open access with a publisher that makes the version of record immediately available via its website with a creative commons attribution (CC BY) licence or other permitted licence.*
To ensure the cost of publishing open access is met by the UKRI you must complete an application for funding. The application process is administered by the Open Research Services team in Library Services. UKRI will review each application on a case-by-case basis and decide whether to offer open access funding. If you wish to pursue open access publishing for your monograph, book chapter or edited collection please contact us at openresearch@qmul.ac.uk.
UKRI offer the following maximum levels of funding towards the cost of publishing open access. The maximum limits are as follow:
VAT is not charged in the UK for these models, but where VAT is chargeable, this is included in the maximum funding level.
To apply for funding via Route One please complete our online request form.
Route two
UKRI funded longform publications not published open access can met the UKRI open access policy requirements by the following route:
These requirements and definitions of in-scope and exempt types of publication are further detailed in the UKRI open access policy.
If you require more information on UKRI funded longform publications please contact the Open Research Services team at openresearch@qmul.ac.uk
This policy applies to journal articles submitted from 1st January 2021. For Wellcome-funded book chapters and monographs, the current policy will continue to apply.
If your research is funded in whole, or in part, by the Wellcome Trust you must comply with their open access policy. Where there are multiple partners involved, all research articles supported in whole, or in part, by Wellcome must be compliant with this policy.
All original, peer-reviewed research articles that are supported in whole, or in part, by Wellcome must:
1. Publish in a fully open access journal or platform that meets the Wellcome Trust's requirements.
2. Publish in a subscription journal that is part of a transformative agreement available to you through QMUL, or in a journal that has transformative journal status. The publisher takes responsibility for making the Version of Record freely available in Europe PMC at the time of publication, under a CC BY licence.
3. Publish in a subscription journal and retain the right to self-archive your Author Accepted Manuscript in EuropePMC with a creative commons attributions licence (CC BY 4.0) at the time of publication. Researchers must take responsibility for depositing their accepted manuscript in EuropePMC themselves using Europe PMC plus. When complying by this route, no article processing charge is payable to the publisher.
Researchers are required to use the following statement in their submitted manuscript:
'This research was funded in whole, or in part, by the Wellcome Trust [Grant number xxxxx]. For the purpose of open access, the author has applied a CC BY public copyright licence to any Author Accepted Manuscript version arising from this submission.'
There is more information about these routes in the Wellcome Trust's guide to complying with the policy. If your publisher does not allow any of the above routes, then you will not be able to publish with them compliantly.
Researchers should use the Journal Checker Tool checker to determine whether their journal of choice offers a compliant route (for more information about the Journal Checker Tool see our guide).
The Wellcome Trust has provided the university with an open access block grant to support payment of open access fees for eligible articles.
Wellcome will no longer cover the cost of open access publishing in subscription journals (‘hybrid OA’).
Articles eligible for funding support must be either published in:
To check if a journal is eligible you can use the online Journal Checker Tool (for more information about the Journal Checker Tool see our guide). You can also check our Publisher Open Access Agreements webpage to see which agreements QMUL has access to.
Please note the Wellcome open access award can only be used for open access publishing fees. Other publishing costs (colour images, page over-length charges etc.) will not be met from the award.
To make a request for support with open access fees or if you are unsure if your chosen journal is either compliant or eligible under the Wellcome open access policy, please fill in our Open Access Fees Request Form.
If you are funded by the British Heart Foundation (BHF) you must comply with their policy on open access.
Grantholders should ensure that an electronic copy of each primary research paper or non-commissioned review funded wholly or in part by BHF is made freely available in Europe PubMed Central as soon as possible and no later than six months after publication.
From 1st October 2020 BHF will provide a block grant to the University to cover the costs of article processing charges (APCs) for eligible papers. This fund is managed by Open Research Services. If your paper complies with the terms of BHF's policy you can apply for support to pay open access fees. See Apply for funding to pay APCs for more information.
These funds may be used to meet open access costs providing:
If a journal does not offer an immediate open access option, your article should still be made freely available in Europe PMC no later than six months after publication. If the journal offers a service to deposit your article in Europe PMC, you should choose this option. If not, you'll need to self-archive via Europe PMC plus.
Authors are advised to check that their chosen journal's self-archiving policy allows for this. A small number of journals remain non-compliant with BHF's open access policy. If you wish to publish a paper in a journal that will not allow deposition in Europe PMC within six months of publication, a case must be made in advance to BHF, which will be granted only in exceptional circumstances.
Please refer to BHF's policy or contact them for further information: research@bhf.org.uk.
This policy applies to journal articles accepted for final publication on or after 1 January 2022.
As a CRUK-funded researcher, if you have an original primary article accepted for publication in a peer-reviewed journal, you must comply with CRUK's open access policy.
CRUK provide a block grant to the University to cover the costs of article processing charges (APCs) for eligible papers. This fund is managed by Open Research Services. If your paper complies with the terms of CRUK's policy you can apply for support to pay open access fees. See Apply for funding to pay APCs for more information.
If a journal does not offer an immediate open access option, your article should still be made freely available in Europe PMC immediately on publication. If the journal offers a service to deposit your article in Europe PMC, you should choose this option. If not, you'll need to self-archive via Europe PMC plus.
Please refer to CRUK's policy or contact them for further information: policies@cancer.org.uk.
Direct funding to support this funder's open access policy ended on 30th September 2020.
Please refer to Blood Cancer UK open access policy or contact them for further information: research@bloodcancer.org.uk.
Parkinson's UK encourages grant applicants to include open access costs within their research grant applications.
Please refer to Parkinson's UK policy or contact them for further information: researchapplications@parkinsons.org.uk.
To comply with Versus Arthritis policy, authors should choose one of the two following options:
From 1st October 2020, authors requiring support to publish articles resulting from work funded by Versus Arthritis should apply directly to them via Grant Tracker.
Please refer to Versus Arthritis policy or contact them for further information: research@arthritisresearchuk.org.
Barts Charity do not currently have a stipulated requirement for researchers to publish all outputs open access, but this is encouraged.
They currently provide up to £2,000 per grant, for awards less than 36 months, and £4000 per grant, for awards of 36 months or more which can be used to cover journal costs, or open access fees.
See the Grants Cost Policy.
Acknowledgement of Barts Charity funding is required.
"All published Outputs, including publications, oral or written reports, posters, presentations and information posted on websites that relate to the Grant, Grant Activities or Outputs must acknowledge the Charity’s contribution to the work (in the format “This work was supported by Barts Charity (G-reference or M-reference)” and, where possible, include the Charity’s logo – Requests to use the ‘Funded by Barts Charity’ logo must be sought in advance by contacting comms@bartscharity.org.uk."
See point 7 of the Grants Terms and Conditions.
As of June 2012, it is the expectation of the European Research Council (ERC) that any publications resulting from projects receiving their funding should be open access. They have issued the following guidelines for academics working in the physical sciences and engineering:
These guidelines are subject to periodic review and may get updated. The ERC is currently reviewing the existing practices and infrastructures on open access publishing for researchers working in humanities and the social sciences, and will make recommendations in the future.
Researchers funded by Seventh Research Framework Programme (FP7) projects must ensure open access to peer reviewed research articles resulting from funding in certain areas.
The policy applies to these research areas: Energy, Environment, Health, Information and Communication Technologies (Challenge 2: CognitiveSystems, Interaction, Robotics), Research Infrastructures (e-Infrastructures), Science in Society, Socio-economic Sciences and Humanities.
Gold open access fees can be charged to project grants.
Green open access can be achieved by making papers available through QMRO within 6 months of publication (Energy, Environment, Health, Information and Communication Technologies, Research Infrastructures), or 12 months of publication (Science in Society, Socio-economic Sciences and Humanities).
The EC now provides some open access funding for closed FP7 projects. Researchers publishing in fully open access titles may be eligible to have their Gold open access fees paid subject to the following requirements:
See the FP7 Open Access Policy and the payment pilot webpage for more information.
Horizon 2020 grant holders must ensure open access to all peer-reviewed publications resulting from funded research.
Researchers can comply with the Horizon 2020 policy through Green or Gold open access.
Gold open access charges are eligible costs to Horizon 2020 grants. You will need to indicate expected costs in your grant proposal.Gold open access
When you deposit your paper in an open access repository, include the following information:
Provided your publisher's embargo is no longer than 6 months (12 for Social Sciences and Humanities), you can comply by depositing your final accepted version into an open access repository. This must be done ideally within 3 months of acceptance (but certainly no later than 3 months after first online publication). This will also make you compliant with the REF policy.
This policy applies to peer-reviewed articles describing NIHR funded research findings submitted on or after 1 June 2022. For articles submitted before 1 June 2022, please refer to the previous policy.
The policy applies to all peer-reviewed research articles, including non-commissioned reviews and conference papers published in a journal or proceedings with an ISSN number, submitted for publication on or after 1 June 2022 and arising from:
Monographs (with the exception of NIHR Journals Library publications), book chapters, edited collections, or forms of non-peer-reviewed material, such as pre-prints, are considered out of scope of this policy.
To comply with the policy, the most up to date Version of Record or the Author Accepted Manuscript of in-scope articles must be made freely available through PubMed Central (PMC) and Europe PMC by the official final publication date, without any embargo period, and under a compliant licence.
Funded authors should establish if their chosen journal is compliant before submission. Authors can use Sherpa Fact to identify if the journal they wish to publish in offers compliant publishing options under the NIHR open access policy.
There are two compliance routes:
The article should be made available through PubMed Central and Europe PMC. If an open access fee has been paid, a condition of the funding is that the publisher takes responsibility for this.
Submissions to subscription journals must include the following text in the funding acknowledgement section of the manuscript and any cover letter/note accompanying the submission:
"For the purpose of open access, the author has applied a CC BY public copyright licence (‘Open Government Licence’ or where permitted by the NIHR, ‘CC BY-ND public copyright licence’ may be stated instead) to any Author Accepted Manuscript version arising".
The accepted version should be made available through PubMed Central and Europe PMC. This may be undertaken by the publisher or the author. Information on how to deposit can be found in the Europe PMC user guide.
NIHR provide a checklist to help authors comply with the policy.
In-scope research articles must include:
NIHR will pay reasonable fees required by a publisher to effect publication in line with the criteria of the NIHR open access policy. This will be managed by the grant holder.
From 1 June 2022 all eligible grant holders will be provided with an 'open access funding envelope' from which they can cover the costs of open access for a period extending to two years beyond the end point of their research funding.
Grant holders with awards issued before 1 June 2022 should use the open access budget included in their overall research costs to cover the costs of open access.
In the event that further open access funds are required once the allocated 'open access funding envelope' or budgeted open access costs have been spent, grant holders can apply for additional open access funds through an NIHR Open Access request form.
Authors can read the policy guidance for more information on how to comply with the policy, and the funding guidance for information on the terms and processes for accessing Open Access funding.
For any queries about the NIHR Open Access policy or related guidance please contact openaccess@nihr.ac.uk.
The Society is committed to the widest possible dissemination of research outputs through the awards it supports.
All recipients of a Royal Society award are encouraged to publish peer-reviewed accepted articles and conference proceedings in open access journals. As a minimum, award holders are expected to follow green routes for open access by publishing in a journal which allows deposit of the accepted version in a repository providing free access with a maximum embargo of 12 months from the date of publication. The Society’s preference is for peer-reviewed publications to be freely accessible on publication to ensure the widest reach and maximum benefit to the scientific community.
See https://royalsociety.org/grants-schemes-awards/grants/about-grants/.
The following funders also have open access requirements:
Bill and Melinda Gates FoundationCERNMNDA (Motor Neurone Disease Association) World Health Organisation
You can check Sherpa Juliet, a searchable database of research funders who have registered open access requirements, for information on any other funders. The record will provide a summary of your funder's policy with links to further information online. Please note that if a funding body does not have any requirements registered with Sherpa no result will be shown. Try your funder's website or contact Open Research Services for guidance.