Many UK and International research institutions and funders mandate Open Access for some publication types. Below, you will find information that outlines the key aspects of open access policies in the UK and international policies:
UKRI (including Research England, Innovate UK, and all UKRI Research Councils)
UKRI have an open access policy that covers any journal articles and conference papers acknowledging UKRI funding submitted for publishing on or after 1st April 2022. In order to comply with the policy, these articles must:
be made available immediately at the point of publication, either via Gold or Green Open Access. (i.e. have no embargo).
have a licence. Exceptions can be made for the if .
include the following rights retention statement to the submitted version of the article (to ensure compliance with the above to points):
"For the purpose of open access, the author(s) has applied a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) licence [where permitted by UKRI, 鈥極pen Government Licence鈥� or 鈥楥reative Commons Attribution No-derivatives (CC BY-ND) licence鈥� may be stated instead] to any Author Accepted Manuscript version arising"
have a Data Access Statement, even where there is no data associated with the article or the data are inaccessible.
be archived in , if the article acknowledges funding from MRC and/or BBSRC.
The full UKRI Open Access policy can be found . For support with complying with the policy, get in touch with the Open Research Team.
Ensure that you include the rights retention statement in the submitted manuscript of any article you submit.
At acceptance, deposit the author's accepted manuscript in WRAP to ensure it can be made Open Access at the point of publication.
If you plan to comply via the Gold Route, please ensure that the journal is eligible for funding/ is covered by a Read and Publish Agreement. If you are unsure, contact the Open Research Team.
Use our 'Check Before you Submit' to work through the steps to compliance and if your journal is eligible for open access funding
Use the Plan S and UKRI to check if your journal is compliant with the new UKRI policy
, or, check out our list of 'Read and Publish' agreements that offer open access at no additional cost to the author
Apply for APC funding from the UKRI Block Grant, as long as you are publishing in a Gold Open Access Journals (the Block Grant cannot be used to pay for APCs for articles published in Hybrid journals)
UKRI have an open access policy that covers any longform publications (including books, book chapters and edited collections) published on or after 1st January 2024 and within 7 years of the formal end of the associated UKRI funded project. In order to comply with the policy, the publication:
must be made available within 12 months of publication, either via Gold or Green Open Access.
should have a licence.
should include third-party materials (such as images, photographs, diagrams or maps).
The full UKRI Open Access policy can be found . For support with complying with the policy, get in touch with the Open Research Team.
UKRI have outlined a list of exceptions that can be applied to certain publications that cannot/should not meet the policy. These exceptions include:
where the contract was signed with a publisher before 1st January 2024.
where the only appropriate publisher, after liaison and consideration, is unable to offer an open access option that complies with UKRI鈥檚 policy.
where a monograph, book chapter or edited collection is the outcome of a UKRI Training Grant.
where the longform publication type is out of scope of the policy. Out of scope longform publications include trade books (that is not the only output of the funding), a scholarly edition, an exhibition catalogue, a scholarly illustrated catalogue, a textbook or a form of fictional work/creative writing.
At acceptance, deposit the author's accepted manuscript in WRAP to ensure it can be made Open Access at the point of publication.
At the point of making an agreement with the publisher, you should discuss what Open Access options they offer. If you would find advice around doing this useful, please contact the Open Research Team.
Check out the Open Access Books page to find out more about making your books Open Access.
Use this 鈥�痺hich explains more about the process of publishing a book Open Access.
Jisc have produced a guide about complying with the and UKRI have produced a guide about .
Apply for UKRI BPC funding. Please note the applications for funding MUST be done prior to publication. Applications for funding cannot exceed 拢10,000 (including VAT) for entire monographs/ edited collections, or 拢1,000 (including VAT) for book chapters. Within these caps, up to 拢2,000 can be claimed for acquiring rights to third party material. You may need to discuss these figures with your publisher, and if you have any concerns, get in touch with the Open Research team.
Wellcome Trust
The Wellcome Trust have an open access policy that applies to journal articles. In order to comply with the policy, these articles must:
be made available immediately at the point of publication, either via Gold or Green Open Access. (i.e. have no embargo).
have a licence. Exceptions can be made for the if .
include the following rights retention statement to the submitted version of the article (to ensure compliance with the above to points):
鈥淭his research was funded in whole, or in part, by the Wellcome Trust [Grant number]. 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.鈥�
have a Data Access Statement, even where there is no data associated with the article or the data are inaccessible.
be archived in , where appropriate.
The full Wellcome Trust Open Access policy can be found . For support with complying with the policy, get in touch with the Open Research Team.
Ensure that you include the rights retention statement in the submitted manuscript of any article you submit.
At acceptance, deposit the author's accepted manuscript in WRAP to ensure it can be made Open Access at the point of publication.
If you plan to comply via the Gold Route, please ensure that the journal is eligible for funding/ is covered by a Read and Publish Agreement. If you are unsure, contact the Open Research Team.
Use our 'Check Before you Submit' to work through the steps to compliance and if your journal is eligible for open access funding
Use the Plan S to check if your journal is compliant with the Wellcome Trust policy
, or, check out our list of 'Read and Publish' agreements that offer open access at no additional cost to the author
Apply for APC funding from the Wellcome Trust Block Grant, as long as you are publishing in a Gold Open Access Journals (the Block Grant cannot be used to pay for APCs for articles published in Hybrid journals)
The Wellcome Trust have an open access policy that covers monographs and book chapters. In order to comply with the policy, the publication:
must be made available within 6 months of publication, either via Gold or Green Open Access.
should have a licence.
should include third-party materials (such as images, photographs, diagrams or maps).
The full Wellcome Trust Open Access policy can be found . For support with complying with the policy, get in touch with the Open Research Team.
At acceptance, deposit the author's accepted manuscript in WRAP to ensure it can be made Open Access at the point of publication.
At the point of making an agreement with the publisher, you should discuss what Open Access options they offer. If you would find advice around doing this useful, please contact the Open Research Team.
Check out the Open Access Books page to find out more about making your books Open Access.
Use this 鈥�痺hich explains more about the process of publishing a book Open Access.
directly from Wellcome Trust.
Horizon Europe
Horizon Europe have an open access policy that applies to any peer-reviewed scientific publications arising from projects they have funded. In order to comply with the policy, these articles must:
be made available immediately at the point of publication, either via Gold or Green Open Access. (i.e. have no embargo).
have a licence. For longform publications, Non-Commercial (NC) and Non-Derivative (ND) versions of the licences are permitted.
include the following rights retention statement to the submitted version of the article (to ensure compliance with the above to points):
"This work was funded by the 螘uropean Union under the Horizon Europe grant [grant number]. As set out in the Grant Agreement, beneficiaries must ensure that at the latest at the time of publication, open access is provided via a trusted repository to the published version or the final peer-reviewed manuscript accepted for publication under the latest available version of the Creative Commons Attribution International Public Licence (CC BY) or a licence with equivalent rights."
manage the Research Data in accordance with FAIR Principles and made available under a or a where possible under the principle of 'as open as possible, as closed as necessary'.
Details of the Horizon Europe Open Access requirements can be found in their . For support with complying with the policy, get in touch with the Open Research Team.
National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR)
NIHR have an open access policy that covers both journal articles and conference papers. In order to comply with the policy, these articles must:
be made available immediately at the point of publication, either via Gold or Green Open Access. (i.e. have no embargo).
have a licence. Exceptions can be made for the if .
include the following rights retention statement to the submitted version of the article (to ensure compliance with the above to points):
"For the purpose of open access, the author has applied [a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) licence] [an 鈥極pen Government Licence鈥橾 (or where permitted by the NIHR) [a Creative Commons Attribution No-derivatives (CC BY-ND) licence] to any Author Accepted Manuscript version arising."
have a Data Access Statement describing how the underpinning research data can be accessed.
be archived in .
The full NIHR Open Access policy can be found . For support with complying with the policy, get in touch with the Open Research Team
Ensure that you include the rights retention statement in the submitted manuscript of any article you submit.
At acceptance, deposit the author's accepted manuscript in WRAP to ensure it can be made Open Access at the point of publication.
If you plan to comply via the Gold Route, please ensure that the journal is eligible for funding/ is covered by a Read and Publish Agreement. If you are unsure, contact the Open Research Team.
Use our 'Check Before you Submit' to work through the steps to compliance and if your journal is eligible for open access funding
Use the Plan S to check if your journal is compliant with the NIHR policy
, or, check out our list of 'Read and Publish' agreements that offer open access at no additional cost to the author
from NIHR - full details including eligiblity criteria can be found here.
British Heart Foundation (BHF)
BHF have an open access policy that covers research articles. In order to comply with the policy, these articles must:
be made available within 6 months of publication, either via Gold or Green Open Access.
have a licence.
be archived in .
In exceptional circumstance where a publication cannot meet the open access requirements, exception requests should be made in advanced to research@bhf.org.uk.
The full BHF Open Access policy can be found . For support with complying with the policy, get in touch with the Open Research Team
Cancer Research UK
Cancer Research UK have an open access policy that covers research articles. In order to comply with the policy, these articles must:
be made available immediately at the point of publication, either via Gold or Green Open Access. (i.e. have no embargo).
have a licence. Exceptions can be made for the if permission is granted by the funder.
have a Data Availability Statement describing how the underpinning research data can be assessed by researchers and other users. If your research has used patient data, you must use the .
Researchers should archived their research in , and
post preprints of their work in preprint repositories where possible.
The full Cancer Research UK Open Access policy can be found . For support with complying with the policy, get in touch with the Open Research Team
Other Funders
The British Academy does not have a specific open access policy, and does not permit their awards to be used to pay for Open Access publishing costs, though it encourages Open Access where possible.
The British Academy maintains its position and responses to open access
The Leverhulme Trust currently has , but they do consider during the period of a Leverhulme award, which should be included either within the 25% associated costs allowable on Research Project Grants and Research Programme Grants or within the research expenses category for fellowships.
The Royal Society expects its researchers to follow the 'green' route to Open Access as a minimum and has a preference for research to be made Open Access at point of publication, but it does not have any Open Access requirements in place, and they will not cover Open Access publishing costs.
If your funder has not been listed please do get in touch with the Open Research Team and we will be able to advise you as to whether your funder has an Open Access policy, and if so, how you can comply with it.
