Funder Policies
Understand the open access policies of major funders.
Ensure your publication meets funder requirements
The open access policies of the major funders of research at Newcastle University are summarised below. We also recommend authors check that their publication will meet their funder requirements using the following services:
- SHERPA/FACT - check if a journal meets funder requirements for open access.
- SHERPA/ROMEO - publisher policies on copyright and self-archiving.
- Sherpa Services - consolidates Sherpa Services (Romeo, Juliet, Fact) in to one tool.
- Journal checker tool - check if a journal is compliant with funder requirements for open access.
Blood Cancer UK
Policy Summary
Electronic copies of original research papers published in a peer reviewed journal, and that acknowledge Blood Cancer UK funding, should be made available through Europe PubMed Central within six months of the date of final publication. Researchers can comply via either the gold or green routes, but the funder prefers gold open access where this is compliant with their policy.
Breast Cancer Now
Policy Summary
Publications arising from Breast Cancer Now funded research must be deposited in Europe PMC no later than 12 months after publication. The charity now favours the green route to open access, which allows open access at no additional cost. However, where required open access fees can be paid using any underspend on existing grants.
British Heart Foundation
Policy Summary
An electronic copy of the final version of each peer-reviewed primary research paper or non-commissioned review article acknowleding British Heart Foundation (BHF) funding should be made freely available in Europe PubMed Central within 6 months of publication. Researchers can comply via either the green or gold routes, with a block grant provided to the university to support eligible costs for gold open access. Please note that grant funds are limited and payments can only be made subject to availabilty.
Cancer Research UK
Policy Summary
Cancer Research UK (CRUK) require all peer-reviewed, original research publications which acknowledge a CRUK grant and were accepted for publication from 1 January 2022 to be made open access in Europe PubMed Central upon publication. Immediate open access can be achieved by publishing gold open access in fully open access, hybrid, or transformative journals (those that have committed to transition to fully open access) or green open access (self-deposit of the article in Europe PubMed Central ). CRUK provide the university with a block grant to support the costs of gold open access.
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
The open access policy applies for all grants awarded from 1 January 2015 and and all Funded Research consisting of manuscript submissions and data depositions made from 1 January 2021. It does not apply to invited reviews or monograph or book chapters.
All Funded Research should be published under a CC BY 4.0 or equivalent licence, available open access immediately upon publication, with no embargo period. A Data Availability Statement must be included in each article.
The foundation will pay resonable fees (article processing charge. APC) required to publish articles in fully open access journals. See Directory of Open Access Journals for a comprehensive list.
Accepted articles should be deposited immediately upon publication in PubMed Central or another openly accessible repository, with proper tagging identifying Gates funding. If not published in a fully open access journal, the author accepted manuscript should be deposited in PubMed Central with a CC BY 4.0 licence.
Grantees must include the following acknowledgment in manuscripts submitted for publication:
“This work was supported, in whole or in part, by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation [grant number]. Under the grant conditions of the Foundation, a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Generic License has already been assigned to the Author Accepted Manuscript version that might arise from this submission.”
From 1 January 2025:
- The Foundation will no longer pay individual publishing fees (APCs) to publish articles.
- All foundation funded manuscripts will be made available as an Open Access preprint with a CC-BY license.
- Grantees can continue to publish in the journal of their choice but are not mandated to select the Open Access option for the journal’s version of record.
- Grantees will be able to publish their preprints through Gates Open Research and other verified preprint servers.
Horizon 2020
Policy Summary
Peer-reviewed scientific publications arising from research funded through the Horizon 2020 programmes of the European Commission must be made open access, via either the Gold or Green route. APC costs for Gold open access publication incurred during projects are eligible for reimbursement by the European Commission.
Leverhulme Trust
The Leverhulme Trust does not currently require either mandatory archiving, or open access publication for research outputs. However you are permitted to include open access charges as an expense.
See the Leverhulme Trust open access policy for further details.
National Institute for Health Research (NIHR)
Policy Summary
Peer-reviewed research articles (including review articles not commissioned by publishers, final reports or executive summaries) arising from research supported through NIHR funding should be made open access via Europe PubMed Central within six months of publication. Where open access is provided via the gold route, associated costs can be supported by the original NIHR grant or an NIHR Open Access Fund.
Plan S
Policy Summary
Plan S is an open access publishing initiative from cOAlition S, an international consortium of research funders which includes UKRI, the Wellcome Trust and the European Commission. Plan S requires that publications arising from research funded through grants from cOAlition S members must be published in open access journals, on open access platforms or made immediately available through open access repositories without embargo.
UK Research and Innovation (UKRI)
UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) represents the AHRC, BBSRC, EPSRC, ESRC, Innovate UK, MRC, NERC, Research England and STFC.
Policy Summary for Research Articles
Research papers submitted after 1st April 2022 must comply with the UKRI open access policy
Peer-reviewed research articles, reviews and conference proceedings arising from research funded by the UKRI must be made open access via either the gold or green routes. The UKRI provide a block grant to the university to support the costs of gold open access.
Policy Summary for Long-form Publications
Long-form publications published on or after 1st January 2024 must comply with the UKRI open access policy
In-scope monographs, book chapters and edited collections arising from research funded by the UKRI must be made open access within 12 months of publication. The UKRI provide support for the costs of gold open access.
Wellcome Trust
Policy Summary
Any article submitted for publication from 1 January 2021 that includes original, peer-reviewed research and was supported by Wellcome funding must be made freely available through PubMed Central (PMC) and Europe PMC by the final publication date and be published under a Creative Commons attribution (CC BY) licence or a CC BY-ND licence if approved by Wellcome.
Versus Arthritis
Policy Summary
Articles that acknowledge Versus Arthritis funding and are published in a peer-reviewed journal must be deposited in Europe PMC to become open access within six months of publication. Authors can comply with Versus Arthritis policy via either the gold or green routes to open access, but the funder preference is for immediate gold open access where a compliant option is available.