All peer reviewed journal articles and conference proceedings arising from research funded wholly or partially by the UK Research Councils (AHRC, BBSRC, EPSRC, ESRC, IUK, MRC, NERC, RE and STFC) must be made open access.

Our UKRI Open Access Policy Flowchart (PDF, 69kB) should help you follow the policy. The requirements are also set out below:

• The article must be available immediately on publication
• The article must have a CC-BY license (Unless you have secured special permission for a CC-BY-ND license from UKRI)
• The article must Include a statement explaining how people can access the data your paper is based on.

Gold Open Access 

If your journal is a fully gold open access journal and requires an Article Processing Charge to be paid then you must fill out an Open Access Claim form to arrange payment. A good way to check if your journal is a fully gold open access journal is to see if it is listed in the Directory of Open Access Journals.

Read and Publish Deals

We have deals with most other journals that will enable you to publish compliantly. Please see if your journal is part of one of the deals we have signed up to by checking our list of Read and Publish deals.

Green Open Access

Most publications will come under the above two routes. For those that don't, you may be able to make your route compliant by uploading a copy to Pure. However, many publishers require an embargo or will not allow you to use a CC-BY license and so won't be compliant with the policy. As such, we advise that you contact the library's research support team for advice. You may be asked to do one or more of the following:

• Upload your accepted manuscript to Pure
• Use a Rights Retention Statement
• Request a waiver from the publisher

In extreme cases where there is no alternative you may need to select another venue for publication.

Full Policy

You can read the full policy and FAQs on the UKRI policy webpage.

All "Original peer reviewed research" must be made immediately open access. Commentary, debate, etc. are exempt. There is a separate policy for Monographs and Book Chapters.

The Wellcome trust prefer Gold Open Access, but Green Open Access is also acceptable.

Our Wellcome Trust Open Access Policy Flowchart (PDF, 74kB) should help you follow the policy. The requrements are also set out below:

In all submissions

• You must include the following rights statement in all submissions to jo‌urnals, cover letters, and the Funding Acknowledgement section of your research:

'This 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.'

• You must include a Data Access Statement in any article you publish. The library’s Research Data Service has some advice for writing a Data Management Plan, which will help with this.
• Articles must be published with a CC-BY Licence. (Permission for a CC-BY-ND licence may be granted by the Wellcome Trust)
• Whenever an article is accepted for publication, a copy must be uploaded to PubMed Central and Europe PMC before the final version is published online. Your publisher may do this on your behalf.

Gold (Paid) Open Access

• The Wellcome Trust provides the library with funding to pay the Article Processing Charges (APCs) for certain journals:
  •  Gold Open Access Journals, as listed in the Directory of Open Access Journals
  • Journals the University of Bristol Has signed a Transformative Agreement with. You can use the Journal Checker Tool to check if one applies.
• This money cannot pay for Publication Charges, Page Charges or Colour Charges. You must either secure a waiver for these from the publisher, revise your publication so that the fees no longer apply or select another publication to publish in.

Green (Self-Archiving) Open Access

• Any journal is acceptable.
• Ensure a copy of your Author Accepted Manuscript is deposited in Pure, PubMed Central and Europe PMC
• It must be made available with a CC-BY licence (Unless you have arranged a CC-BY-ND licence with Wellcome)
• It must be made available immediately upon publication. This will be possible regardless of publisher policy, because of the rights statement included in your submission.

Horizon Europe

Horizon Europe require you to make your peer-reviewed publications open access by the time they are published, either by arranging for gold (paid) open access or by green (self-archiving) open access.

Our Horizon Europe Open Access Policy Flowchart (PDF, 117kB) should help you follow the policy. The requirements are set out below.

In All Submissions

• As a condition of funding, you must include the following rights statement in all submissions to journals, cover letters, and the Funding Acknowledgement section of your research:

“This research was funded, in whole or in part, by Horizon Europe [Grant number]. A CC BY or equivalent licence is applied to the AAM arising from this submission, in accordance with the grant’s open access conditions’."

• Articles must be published with a CC-BY Licence.

Gold (Paid) Open Access

• You should pay for gold open access as you would for any other grant expense. Horizon Europe do not provide the library with any funds for gold open access publishing
• The Library has signed up to transformative agreements which allow University of Bristol authors to publish gold open access at no additional cost. Check to see if your journal is included using the list of publishers we have transformative deals with.
• Horizon Europe will only pay for Publication fees. They will not pay page or clour charges. You must either secure a waiver from the publisher, revise your publication so the fees no longer apply or select another publication to publish in

Green (Self Archiving) Open Access

• Any journal is acceptable, providing they allow the Rights Retention Statement
• Ensure a copy of your Author's Accepted Manuscript is deposited in Pure
• The Rights Retention Statment allows you to make it available immediately on publication.

Horizon 2020

Horizon 2020 research can be made open access using the Green (self-archiving) Route, by uploading a copy of the Author’s Accepted Manuscript to Pure. This can only be done if the journal offers a 6 month embargo (12 months for social sciences and humanities). Horizon 2020 provide an amendment to publishing agreements that authors and publishers can sign to ensure authors have the rights they need to comply.

The Gold (paid) route is also acceptable. Article Processing Charges can be reimbursed by Horizon 2020 if they occur during the duration of the grant. The article must still be uploaded to Pure.

CRUK Policy Flowchart

You may find our Cancer Research UK Open Access Policy Flowchart (PDF, 99kB) ‌useful for navigating the CRUK policy. You can also read more details of the policy below.

CRUK Policy Details

Gold (Paid) Open Access

CRUK provide a limited block grant to the University to pay for Article Processing Charges (APCs). We have deals with some publishers to cover these costs, please see our publisher deals page to see if your publisher is included. If not, our Open Access Funding page will show you how to apply for this block grant. 

You must ensure that the publisher puts a CC-BY license on the final document. You must also ensure an electronic version is uploaded to Europe PMC. Your publisher may upload to Europe PMC on your behalf, but if not then you can use the Europe PMC Plus to deposit. Please also deposit a copy in Pure. 

You must acknowledge Cancer Research UK funding in the funding acknowledgement section of the paper, using your grant reference number.

Green (self-archiving) Open Access

You must ensure that a copy of your Author's Accepted Manuscript is available on Europe PMC with no embargo with a Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) License. 

Your publisher may upload to Europe PMC on your behalf, but if not then you can use the Europe PMC Plus to deposit. Please also deposit a copy in Pure.

You must acknowledge Cancer Research UK funding in the funding acknowledgement section of the paper, using your grant reference number.

Full Policy

You can read the full policy on the CRUK Open Access Policy Webpage.

Green (self-archiving) Open Access

You must ensure that a copy of your Author's Accepted Manuscript is available on Europe PMC with no more than a 6 month embargo.

Your publisher may upload to Europe PMC on your behalf, but if not then you can use the Europe PMC Plus to deposit. Please also deposit a copy in Pure.

Gold (Paid) Open Access

BHF provide a limited block grant to the University to pay for Article Processing Charges (APCs). Our Open Access Funding page will show you how to apply for this block grant.

Full Policy

You can read the full policy on the BHF Open Access Policy webpage.

NIHR Policy Details (for articles submitted from 1/6/22)

Peer reviewed research articles (including review articles not commissioned by publishers and conference papers), which are supported in whole or in part by NIHR funding, should be published Open Access under a CC-BY license, without embargo.

NIHR will pay reasonable open access fees. You may also be able to take advantage of the library’s open access deals.

Your publisher must have an agreement with the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to deposit the Version of Record in PMC and allow that content to be shared with Europe PMC at the time of publication. This will usually be the case, but you should check.

Your article must include A data sharing statement describing how the underpinning research data can be accessed.

You must acknowledge the NIHR funding using the grant number

Full Policy

You can read the full policy on the NIHR Open Access Policy webpage.

Other funders, such as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Leverhulme Trust, also have requirements around open access publication of the research they fund.

For information on some common funders' Open Access policies, please see this collection of ‌Additional Funder Open Access Polices (PDF, 203kB). Please note that this is not an exhaustive list. Always check with your funder to ensure you are compliant with their policies.

For further advice on meeting your funder’s requirements, please contact your Research Support Librarian.