UKRI (EPSRC, BBSRC, MRC, NERC, STFC, ESRC, AHRC) for articles submitted before 1 April 2022

For articles submitted on or after 1 April 2022, see UKRI - articles submitted on or after 1 April 2022.

Policy

Either publish in a journal or publishing platform that makes the published version immediately available with a CC BY license via its website, or publish in a subscription journal and make the accepted manuscript (or published version where permitted) open access with an embargo of 12 months or less (6 months or less for MRC).

RCUK policy on open access (pdf)

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Routes to meeting open access requirements

GOLD Publish in a fully open access journal, or gold open access in a hybrid journal (see 'paying for gold open access' as the Library’s UKRI fund will not usually pay for this option in hybrid journals).

OR

GREEN Publish in a subscription journal and deposit the author’s accepted manuscript (or published version where permitted by publisher) in a repository such as Spiral to be made available within 12 months of publication.

Biomedical articles acknowledging MRC or BBSRC must also be deposited in Europe PMC with an embargo of 6 months or less.

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Scope of policy

Funding

Authors with funding acknowledged in the paper from UKRI or any of the Research Councils (AHRC, BBSRC, ESRC, EPSRC, MRC, NERC and STFC), including UKRI-funded PhD students.

Article types

Peer-reviewed journal articles, non-commissioned reviews, and conference papers.

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Paying for GOLD open access

UKRI block grant held centrally in the Library. Funded author should apply for funding via Symplectic if the relevant grant is held at Imperial. For grants held elsewhere make an application to the grant-holding institution.

Covers in-scope articles in fully open access journals, and hybrid journals where no compliant GREEN (self-archiving) route is available, i.e. journals where you cannot meet the requirements via the GREEN route because the publisher requires a longer embargo than the funder permits. You can check the embargo a journal requires using Sherpa Romeo.

You can also publish GOLD open access where eligible for a transformative agreement, see publisher agreements and discounts. To have your paper included, follow the instructions for the relevant agreement. The corresponding author needs to have an Imperial College London affiliation, and other conditions may apply, as listed on the relevant page.

No cost is associated with open access via the self-archiving or GREEN route.

We cannot pay page, colour or submission charges on any route.

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Required licence

 CC BY required on GOLD route only.

For information see Creative Commons licenses or The anatomy of a Creative Commons License (SWAY).

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Other requirements

Data access statement required for papers funded by EPSRC, see how to write a data access statement.