The Open Access policy landscape in the UK is complex. The University of Cambridge Open Access Service assists researchers with policy compliance. Please use these pages to find out more about different Open Access policies and to work out if your journal is compliant.
Summary of open access requirements: Block grant providers
| Funder | Requirements | Maximum embargo | Funds provided? |
|---|---|---|---|
| British Heart Foundation |
Primary research paper or non-commissioned review funded wholly or in part by BHF must be made freely available in Europe PubMed Central as soon as possible. Researchers can choose either self-archiving/green open access, or to opt for gold open access. If self- archiving/green open access is selected, the accepted manuscript must be made available within the maximum specified embargo period. |
6 months |
A block grant is provided to the to the University to support the payment of article processing charges (APCs) and Transformative Agreements.
Papers have to meet a number of criteria before payments can be made from the block grant. |
| Cancer Research UK | An electronic copy of the final, published form of your research paper (either the Author Accepted Manuscript or Version of Record) must be made available on Europe PubMed Central upon publication. Researchers can choose either to self archiving/green open access, or to opt for gold open access. | No embargo allowed |
A block grant is provided to the to the University to support the payment of article processing charges (APCs) and Transformative Agreements.
Papers have to meet a number of criteria before payments can be made from the block grant. |
|
Research outputs must be made immediately open access upon publication. This can be achieved either through self archiving using rights retention, or by paying an Article Processing Charge (APC). Publications are required to use a CC BY licence unless permission to use a CC BY ND licence has been granted in advance. Research funded by MRC or biomedical BBSRC research papers must be made available via EuropePMC upon publication under a CC BY licence.
|
No embargo allowed. |
A block grant is provided to the University to support the payment of (APCs) and Transformative Agreements.
Papers have to meet a number of criteria before payments can be made from the block grant. |
|
| Wellcome Trust |
Research outputs must be made immediately open access with a CC BY licence upon publication. This can be achieved either through self archiving using rights retention, or by paying an Article Processing Charge (APC). All research articles which arise from Wellcome funding must be made available through PubMed Central (PMC) and Europe PMC by the official final publication date and published under a Creative Commons attribution licence (CC BY), unless Wellcome Trust has agreed, as an exception, to allow publication under a CC BY-ND licence. |
No embargo allowed |
A block grant is provided to the to the University to support the payment of article processing charges (APCs) and Transformative Agreements.
Papers have to meet a number of criteria before payments can be made from the block grant. |
Summary of open access requirements: REF
| Funder | Requirements | Maximum embargo |
|---|---|---|
| REF | Journal articles and conference proceedings accepted for publication from 1 April 2016 to be made open access. |
STEM: 12 months HASS: 24 months |
Summary of open access requirements: other UK funders
| Funder | Requirements | Maximum embargo | Funds provided? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Blood Cancer UK |
Articles are to be made available through Europe PubMed Central (Europe PMC) as soon as possible. Researchers can choose either to self archiving/green open access, or to opt for gold open access. If self- archiving/green open access is selected, the accepted manuscript must be made available within the maximum specified embargo period. |
6 months | Must be budgeted into grants |
| Breast Cancer Now | All publications arising from funded research must be deposited in Europe PMC as soon as possible, and no later than 12 months following publication | 12 months | Grant holders may use underspend on their grants towards open access charges |
| NIHR |
Research should be published in a journal that makes the findings available using the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0). Articles are to be made available through PubMed Central (PMC) and Europe PubMed Central (Europe PMC) as soon as possible.
NIHR's policy changed on 1 June 2022. Articles submitted after this date must be made freely available through PubMed Central (PMC) and Europe PMC by the official final publication date, without any embargo period, using the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0).
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6 months (no embargo allowed for papers submitted on or after 1 June 2022). |
Funds to pay for immediate (Gold) Open Access to comply with this policy should have been included in your original NIHR grant, or they may be available from the NIHR. NIHR have introduced a ring-fenced pot of funding to research grants, called an 'envelope', which will be used to pay for open access publishing. The envelopes will be applied to contracts issued from the 1st of June 2022. |
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Articles are to be made available through PubMed Central (PMC) and Europe PubMed Central (Europe PMC) as soon as possible. Researchers can choose either to self- archiving/green open access, or to opt for gold open access. If self- archiving/green open access is selected, the accepted manuscript must be made available within the maximum specified embargo period. |
6 months | Must be budgeted into grants | |
|
The British Academy |
The British Academy does not have an OA policy, and grants cannot be used to pay publication charges | N/A | Open access publishing costs are not eligible costs and cannot be claimed. |
| The Leverhulme Trust | The Leverhulme Trust does not have an OA policy. | N/A | Must be budgeted into grants and APCs should only be incurred during the period of the award. |
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The Royal Society |
The Royal Society’s Research publication policy expects that as a minimum, award holders should follow green routes for open access by publishing in a journal which allows deposit of the accepted manuscript version in an institutional or subject repository with no embargo period on access. The Royal Society will allow the use of funding to cover fair and reasonable article processing charges (APCs) for articles published in journals or platforms with immediate open access under CC-BY licence. |
No embargo. | Should be budgeted into grants. |
| Wellcome Trust Monograph OA Policy | Monographs or book chapters to be openly available in NCBI Bookshelf and Europe PMC within 6 months of final publication. | 6 months |
Grant holders can make a request to Wellcome for supplemental funds to cover monograph open access publishing by contacting openaccess@wellcome.org: They should provide the following information:
|
| Versus Arthritis |
Articles are to be made available through PubMed Central (PMC) and Europe PubMed Central (Europe PMC) as soon as possible Researchers can choose either to self archiving/green open access, or to opt for gold open access. If self- archiving/green open access is selected, the accepted manuscript must be made available within the maximum specified embargo period. |
6 months | Must be requested via the Grant Tracker |
What you need to do
- Deposit your accepted manuscripts via Symplectic Elements upon acceptance.
- Follow any compliance advice we give you