Funder open access policies



This page provides general information for University of Melbourne researchers on the open access policies of major external funders of Australian research.

National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC)
2022 Open Access Policy & 2018 Open Access Policy

Australian Research Council (ARC)
2021 Open Access Policy

Plan S and cOAlition S

US public access policies

NHMRC Open Access Policies

The National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) released a new open access policy on 20 September 2022. This policy requires full and immediate open access for NHMRC-funded research outputs.

The 2022 policy applies immediately to new grants and scholarships awarded under NHMRC Grant Opportunity Guidelines that were issued on or after 20 September 2022.

All other NHMRC grant holders remain under the previous NHMRC open access policy (2018, updated in 2020). Under this policy, research outputs must be open access within 12 months of publication.

NHMRC Open Access Policy documents on the NHMRC website

2022 NHMRC Open Access Policy Summary

Diagram showing the scope of the 2022 NHMRC policy, its requirement for immediate open access under a CC BY licence, and the need for publication details to be in Minerva Access within 3 months - as described in-text.

Scope: Peer-reviewed journal articles and peer-reviewed conference papers supported in whole or in part by the NHMRC.

Requirement: The research output must be open access immediately upon publication (no embargo is permitted).

Licence: A Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) licence is required (exceptions apply).

Version: The open access version must be either the final published version (Version of Record) or the Author Accepted Manuscript (AAM).

Pathways to Compliance (2022 NHMRC Policy)

The following open access pathways are compliant with the 2022 NHMRC Open Access Policy:

  1. Open access publishing (Version of Record open access). There are two preferred pathways for achieving this, wherein the final published version is open access:
    1. Publish in an open access journal or venue. This may require the payment of an Article Processing Charge (APC), although many open access journals do not levy APCs. See our guidance on open access journals and publishers.
    2. Publish in a journal with which we have an open access publishing agreement. For example, publish in a journal covered by one of our Read and Publish agreements. Explore our open access publishing agreements. When submitting to a hybrid journal covered by an agreement, the University recommends including an author rights retention statement (see below), to ensure immediate repository open access is possible if a publishing cap is reached or an agreement is not renewed.
  2. Repository open access (Author Accepted Manuscript open access). Authors should include the NHMRC’s rights retention statement in their submitted manuscript to enable the immediate sharing of the peer-reviewed and revised AAM (without embargo, under a CC BY licence), as described below. Guidance on depositing research outputs in our institutional repository can be found on the Minerva Access website.

As the policy notes, paying an APC to publish open access in a hybrid journal that is not part of an institutional open access publishing agreements does not meet the intent of the policy. Although such an approach technically fulfils the immediate open access requirements of the policy, it is discouraged by the NHMRC and goes against the spirit of the policy (see the FAQ below).

If a journal or publisher will not accept author rights retention for the AAM of an output that will be paywalled upon publication, the authors may need to reconsider where to publish.

Author Rights Retention

NHMRC-funded authors under the 2022 policy must include the following rights retention statement when submitting to a subscription or paywalled venue:

This research was funded in whole or part by the National Health and Medical Research Council [Grant number]. For the purposes of open access, the author has applied a CC BY public copyright licence to any Author Accepted Manuscript version arising from this submission.

This statement allows authors to assert copyright and sharing rights over their peer-reviewed and revised Author Accepted Manuscripts (AAMs). These AAMs can then be shared in a repository, such as Minerva Access, immediately upon publication.

It is common practice for rights retention statements to be included in the submitted manuscript's "Acknowledgements" section and in the submission's accompanying cover letter or note.

As per the NHMRC guidance, any publisher attempts to alter this prior claim of rights, or require an embargo, should be refused. If a publisher will not accept author rights retention for an article that will be published behind a paywall, other publishing options should be explored.

What is rights retention?

More details on rights retention can be found on our What is rights retention? page, and in the 2022 NHMRC Open Access Policy and its accompanying guidance, Open access and retention of ownership rights (2022). The cOAlition S Rights Retention Strategy website also contains information and guidance on implementing author rights retention and having conversations with publishers.

NHMRC Scholarships

Although NHMRC Scholarship holders were exempt from the previous open access policy (2018, updated 2020), this exception does not continue in the 2022 policy. This means that researchers on scholarships awarded under Grant Opportunity Guidelines issued on or after 20 September 2022, such as the 2023 NHMRC Postgraduate Scholarships, must comply with the new policy’s open access requirements.

Researchers on NHMRC Scholarships awarded under Guidelines issued prior to 20 September 2022 are exempt from open access requirements until 1 January 2024.

2018 NHMRC Open Access Policy Summary

The November 2018 NHMRC Open Access Policy (updated April 2020) still applies to grants awarded under Grant Opportunity Guidelines issued prior to 20 September 2022 until 1 January 2024.

Diagram showing the scope of the 2018 NHMRC policy, its requirement for open access within 12 months of publication, and the need for publication details to be in Minerva Access within 3 months - as described in-text.

Scope: Peer-reviewed journal articles and peer-reviewed conference papers supported in whole or in part by the NHMRC.

Requirement: The research output must be open access within 12 months of publication.

Licence: No specific licence is mandated, although a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) licence is encouraged.

Version: The open access version must be either the final published version (Version of Record) or the Author Accepted Manuscript (AAM).

Pathways to Compliance (2018 NHMRC Policy)

There are various pathways to compliance with the 2018 NHMRC Open Access Policy:

  1. Open access publishing (Version of Record open access). There are two preferred pathways for achieving this, wherein the final published version is open access:
    1. Publish in an open access journal or venue. This may require the payment of an Article Processing Charge (APC), although many open access journals do not levy APCs. See our guidance on open access journals and publishers.
    2. Publish in a journal with which we have an open access publishing agreement. For example, publish in a journal covered by one of our Read and Publish agreements. Explore our open access publishing agreements.
  2. Repository open access (Author Accepted Manuscript open access). An embargo period of 12 months or less is permitted. If a publisher requires an embargo of longer than 12 months, consider negotiating a shorter embargo period or finding another publisher. Publishers’ default embargo periods can usually be found on their websites, in an author’s publishing agreement, or in the Sherpa Romeo policy database. Guidance on depositing research outputs in our institutional repository can be found on the Minerva Access website.

Although it is not a preferred pathway, publishing open access in a hybrid journal for which an APC is paid is compliant with this policy. However, pursuit of this pathway and the payment of APCs is not required by the NHMRC and is discouraged by the University. Researchers are instead encouraged to consider open access journals, journals with which we have open access publishing agreements, and repository open access pathways.

As the policy notes, “If authors are unable to make their publications open access within 12 months of the date of publication for any reason, this must be clearly indicated in the publication record listed in the NHMRC grants management system.”

ARC Open Access Policy

The current Australian Research Council (ARC) Open Access Policy is version 2021.1, issued September 2021. It requires research outputs to be made open access within 12 months of publication.

ARC Open Access Policy documents on the ARC website

2021 ARC Open Access Policy Summary

Diagram showing the scope of the 2021 ARC policy, its requirement for open access within 12 months of publication, and the need for publication details to be in Minerva Access within 3 months - as described in-text.

Scope: All research outputs arising from ARC Funded Research. The policy does not apply to preprints and comparable resources, or to research data and research data outputs.

Requirement: The research output must be open access within 12 months publication.

Licence: No specific licence is mandated, although a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) licence is encouraged.

Version: The open access version must be either the final published version (Version of Record) or the Author Accepted Manuscript (AAM).

Pathways to Compliance (2021 ARC Policy)

There are various pathways to compliance with the 2021 ARC Open Access Policy:

  1. Open access publishing (Version of Record open access). There are two preferred pathways for achieving this, wherein the final published version is open access:
    1. Publish in an open access journal or with an open access publisher. This may require the payment of an Article Processing Charge (APC), Book Processing Charge (BPC), or Chapter Processing Charge (CPC). However, many open access journals, and some open access book publishers, do not levy any fees for open access publishing. See our guidance on open access journals and publishers.
    2. Publish in a journal with which we have an open access publishing agreement. For example, publish in a journal covered by one of our Read and Publish agreements. Explore our open access publishing agreements.
  2. Repository open access (Author Accepted Manuscript open access). An embargo period of 12 months or less is permitted. If a publisher requires an embargo of longer than 12 months, consider negotiating a shorter embargo period or finding another publisher. Publishers’ default embargo periods can usually be found on their websites, in an author’s publishing agreement, or, for journals, the Sherpa Romeo policy database. Guidance on depositing research outputs in our institutional repository can be found on the Minerva Access website.

Although it is not a preferred pathway, publishing open access in a hybrid journal for which an APC is paid, or paying a BPC or CPC to make a book or chapter open access, is nonetheless compliant with this policy. Pursuit of this pathway and the payment of APCs/BPCs/CPCs, however, is not required by the ARC and is discouraged by the University. Researchers are instead encouraged to consider open access journals or publishers, journals with which we have open access publishing agreements, and repository open access pathways.

As the policy notes: “If a Research Output cannot, or will not, be made Openly Accessible for any reason, an explanation must be provided in the Final Report.”

Plan S and cOAlition S

The Plan S open access initiative was launched in 2018 by cOAlition S, a group of research funding organisations.

Participating funders require research outputs resulting from grant funding to be immediately open access upon publication, without embargo. The funders have all adopted open access policies that align with the ten Plan S principles.

Plan S on the cOAlition S website

Since 2018, Plan S has expanded beyond its origins in Europe to include research funders around the world, including:

  • National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC)
  • World Health Organization (WHO)
  • European Commission
  • UK Research and Innovation (UKRI)
  • Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
  • Wellcome Trust

A full list of members can be found on the cOAlition S website.

Pathways to Compliance (Plan S)

Under open access policies aligned with Plan S, research outputs must be made open access under an open licence immediately upon publication. A Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) licence is preferred.

The Plan S website encourages researchers to fulfil these obligations by either:

  • publishing in an open access journal;
  • publishing on an open access platform (such as Wellcome Open Research or Gates Open Research); or,
  • immediately sharing the AAM in an open access repository (under a CC BY licence and without embargo).

Notably, funders do not support hybrid journal publishing models, wherein subscription journals will publish open access for a fee, unless the journals have transformative arrangements in place to transition to full open access.

cOAlition S advocates for a Rights Retention Strategy wherein authors retain rights to share their peer-reviewed and revised Author Accepted Manuscripts (AAMs) under CC BY licences. This allows them to be made open access in a repository without embargo. The NHMRC adopted this strategy in their 2022 Open Access Policy, as described above.

US public access policies

In 2013, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) issued a memorandum requiring federal agencies to develop public access policies. US law now requires that research funded by federal agencies are freely available to the public within 12 months of publication.

The NIH (National Institutes of Health) Public Access Policy, for example, requires peer-reviewed journal articles arising from NIH funding to be publicly available in the PubMed Central repository within 12 months of publication. This could be either the published version (Version of Record) or Author Accepted Manuscript (AAM) of the article. Guidance can be found on the NIH Public Access website.

On 25 August 2022, the OSTP issued a new memorandum requiring federal agencies to develop new public access policies eliminating the 12-month embargo. These new policies, which will be implemented by the end of 2025, require federally funded research outputs to be publicly available immediately upon publication, without cost or embargo.

Note that unlike other open access mandates, these public access policies and policy guidelines do not require outputs to use open licences, such as Creative Commons licences.

FAQ

Definitions for key terms, including open access, Creative Commons, Author Accepted Manuscript (AAM), Version of Record (VoR), and rights retention, can be found on our Definitions page.

  • Who is responsible for ensuring compliance with funder policies?

    In most cases, including for ARC and NHMRC grants, grant-funded researchers and the University of Melbourne must work together to ensure compliance with funder open access policies.

    ARC- and NHMRC-funded researchers ensure compliance by:

    • reading this page and relevant policies, and only pursuing compliant publishing and sharing pathways;
    • consulting the Open Access Publishing page before publishing;
    • linking their ORCID to their Elements profile;
    • acknowledging their grant funder when publishing or sharing their research.

    The University ensures compliance by:

    • providing support resources for researchers who are required to publish or share their research open access;
    • working with researchers to ensure that metadata is made available in Minerva Access in a timely manner.

    Those on ARC grants should consult Section 6.6 Roles and responsibilities in the ARC Open Access Policy 2021.1 document.

  • What exactly is the ARC and NHMRC metadata requirement, and what do I need to do to comply with it?

    Both the ARC and NHMRC require that funded and in-scope research outputs have a public record in an institutional repository within 3 months of publication. This record must provide the publication’s metadata (authors, title, venue, and so on), as well as the Grant ID and authors’ ORCIDs.

    The process of creating metadata records in our institutional repository, Minerva Access, is now fully automated if you:

    1. Link your ORCID in your Elements profile. You can find detailed instructions here: Registering for an ORCID and connecting it to Elements.
    2. Acknowledge your grant funder in your publication.

    If you notice any grant-related publications have not appeared in Minerva Access, please contact our Research Outputs team at research-outputs@unimelb.edu.au

  • What about outputs not specifically in scope of my funder’s policy?

    Most funder open access policies, including the ARC and NHMRC policies, encourage that all outputs are made open access, where possible.

    For example, the 2022 NHMRC Open Access Policy, which only mandates open access for peer-reviewed journal articles and peer-reviewed conference papers, reads:

    NHMRC also encourages authors of scholarly books, scholarly book chapters and edited research books, including prestigious reference works, and producers of other forms of research outputs to make them open access where possible.

  • What about research data?

    Most funder open access policies, including the ARC and NHMRC policies, encourage that research data and datasets are made as open as possible.

    For example, the 2022 NHMRC Open Access Policy states:

    NHMRC strongly encourages researchers to consider the reuse value of their research data and to take reasonable steps to share research data and associated metadata arising from NHMRC-funded research.

    ARC and NHMRC both encourage researchers follow F.A.I.R. (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable) Principles, with the NHMRC also highlighting C.A.R.E. (Collective benefit, Authority to control, Responsibility and Ethics) Principles for Indigenous Data Governance.

    Open Data

    To find out more about making your data open, visit our Open Data page or explore the Digital Stewardship website.

  • Do I have to make my preprints open access under a CC BY licence?

    Preprints are out of scope of the ARC and NHMRC open access policies. There is no expectation that researchers share their early work as preprints or make preprints available under any specific licence.

    Policies often state in-principle support of preprints, though, such as in the 2022 NHMRC Open Access Policy:

    NHMRC welcomes the availability of preprints to facilitate early access to research outcomes and encourages the posting of preprints on preprint servers with open licensing.

  • What if my publisher does not allow the output to be made open access in the mandated timeframe?

    If you are under the NHMRC 2022 open access policy, or another Plan S aligned policy, and the publisher will not accept author rights retention for an output that will be paywalled, you will need to look for another publisher.

    If you are under the ARC 2021 or NHMRC 2018 open access policy, you are expected to take reasonable steps to make your outputs open access, such as depositing the AAM in your institutional repository. If open access is not possible without APC payment, and the publisher does not allow AAMs to be made open access in a repository, then this must be noted in your final report.

    The Library's Liaison Librarians can provide support and guidance for choosing where to publish to meet funder requirements.

    Faculty and Liaison Librarians

  • Why are the NHMRC and cOAlition S against paying to publish open access in a hybrid journals?

    As a member of cOAlition S participating in the Plan S open access initiative, the NHMRC does not support hybrid publishing models. The relevant section of the 2022 NHMRC Open Access Policy reads:

    'Hybrid' journals require the payment of an article processing charge (APC) for an individual journal article to be made open access in an otherwise subscription journal. Unless these journals are included as part of a formal agreement between an institution or group of institutions and a publisher (for example, a 'read and publish' or a transformative agreement), hybrid journals do not meet the intent of this Policy.

    This aligns with one of the ten Plan S principles:

    8. The Funders do not support the 'hybrid' model of publishing. However, as a transitional pathway towards full Open Access within a clearly defined timeframe, and only as part of transformative arrangements, Funders may contribute to financially supporting such arrangements.

    This principle reflects the need to transition away from hybrid publishing models to fully open access ones. Hybrid models mean that institutions are paying twice for content - once to publish open access and again to subscribe to the journal - and hybrid APCs are on average higher than those of open access journals. For more on this, see the cOAlition S blog post "Why hybrid journals do not lead to full and immediate Open Access" (29/4/2021).

    In a footnote in their policy, the NHMRC also notes that they are "aware of the dynamic and complex nature of arrangements involving hybrid journals in Australia" and thus they "will continue to monitor this situation and consider how it may affect implementation of this Policy."

  • My funder is not discussed above – what should I do?

    If your grant is not provided by the ARC, the NHMRC, or a cOAlition S member, there may still be a funder open access policy in play.

    Any relevant open access, sharing, or publishing policies should be available through your grant provider. If you have difficulties locating an open access policy on the funder's website, please reach out to your grant provider. Further grant support can be found on the Funding pages of the Research Gateway.

    The Sherpa Juliet website is a database of funder open access policies and can be a useful resource. However, but be sure to check the currency of records against funders' websites, as some Sherpa Juliet records are out of date.

  • The authors on my article are bound by different open access policies – what should we do?

    It is common for multi-author and cross-institutional papers to have multiple sources of funding. This means that authors may be under different obligations under funder or institutional open access policies.

    Authors should discuss their open access obligations and follow the more demanding requirements - for example, immediate open access under a Creative Commons licence. By doing so, they would in most cases also be fulfilling the less stringent open access requirements of other policies - for example, policies that permit a 12-month embargo and don't specify a licence.

    Other requirements, such as acknowledging the grant funder in the paper and making a metadata record available in a specific repository, can all be fulfilled without conflict.

  • I uploaded my PDFs to ResearchGate and Academia.edu – is that enough?

    No. Academic social networking platforms, like ResearchGate and Academia.edu, are not compliant with most funder open access policies, including the ARC and NHMRC policies. You will also need to pursue repository open access in an institutional repository, like Minerva Access, or a reputable general or subject repository.

    Furthermore, uploading published work or Author Accepted Manuscripts to these sites will likely breach publisher policies and your signed publishing agreement. You should always check publishers' sharing policies before sharing your work on academic networking sites. You can usually find these policies on publishers' websites, in your signed publishing agreement, or using services like Sherpa Romeo or How Can I Share It.

Further support

For enquiries relating to open access publishing and repositories, including how to comply with funder requirements, please contact your Faculty or Subject Liaison Librarian.

Further support for grants and funding can be found on the Funding pages of the Research Gateway. See also, on the Research Funding website, advice on ARC Schemes and NHMRC Schemes.

Page last updated 25 July 2023.

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