Most external funding organisations will have a policy in place that requires grant holders to make any resulting publications immediately Open Access. These policies are a condition of grant and it is important to gain an understanding of these in order to ensure compliance whilst considering the larger implications for the dissemination of your work such as equitable access. It is best practice to check funders’ OA requirements at the start of your research project. You can find information about funder policies on the SHERPA Juliet database which is the authoritative resource for understanding funder requirements.
The Researcher Development team in the University Research and Knowledge Exchange office can provide help on research funding applications. Their details can be found on the University Research and Knowledge Exchange (URKEO) SharePoint Pages.
Guidance for research funders' open access policies:
A condition of funding granted by UKRI is that all outputs must be made immediately Open Access. UKRI, a founding member of cOAlition S, has released its revised OA policy to align with Plan S principles. The UKRI Open Access Policy will replace the existing research councils Policy on Open Access, which applies to peer-reviewed research articles acknowledging research council funding and was published in 2013.
The UKRI Open Access Policy is now also applicable for long-form publications including monographs, book chapters and edited collections, that acknowledge funding, in part or full, from UKRI or any of its councils which are published on, or after, 1 January 2024. This policy requirement is in addition to the current requirement for peer-reviewed research articles submitted for publication on or after 1 April 2022. There are many different options to choose from to ensure that a long form output type is Open Access including on publication, or via an Open Access repository such as UDORA.
UKRI are providing a separate ring-fenced fund of approximately £3.5 million to support Open Access for long-form publications and the Book Processing Charge (BPC) route to achieve Open Access. The fund is held centrally by UKRI, and research organisations will apply directly to access this fund, if necessary, on behalf of the author. For further guidance on the fund and the application process involved, please contact Repository and Open Access Librarian, Holly Limbert.