Funder policies
All research publications should include acknowledgement of the funding that supported the research, including funder name and grant numbers, and a data access statement and should be published in compliance with funder open access requirements.
Check the terms and conditions of your research grant for open access obligations. Check your funder open access policy (if applicable). SHERPA/JULIET provides an overview of funder open access policies.
You may be able to meet your funder requirements by uploading your accepted manuscript to a repository (self-archiving, or "green" open access). If the publisher-imposed embargo exceeds your funder allowed maximum, publish open access on the publisher website, there may be a fee to pay.
- European Research Council (ERC),
- FP7
- Horizon 2020 (H2020)
Policy: ERC open access guidelines, Horizon 2020 open access to scientific publications and research data
Depending on the type of grant and work programme under which it was awarded, different rules related to open access apply. View ERC open access overview for details.
ERC FAQs include a number relating to open access.
Scope: Peer-reviewed research articles, monographs and other research publications supported in whole, or in part, by ERC funding.
Maximum allowed embargo: 6 months (STEM) or 12 months (HASS)
Repository: The use of discipline-specific repositories is encouraged. A list of recommended repositories is included in ERC open access guidelines.
Paid open access licence: None specified.
Source of APC funding: Open access fees are eligible to be charged against ERC and H2020 grants, if incurred during the duration of the project. Payment administered by College finance teams.
Exeter requirements: Upload the accepted manuscript, upon acceptance, via Symplectic to ORE.
- National Institute of Health Research (NIHR)
Policy: NIHR open access policy
Scope: Peer-reviewed research articles and review articles not commissioned by publishers that are supported in whole, or in part, by NIHR funding. The policy does not cover books, critical editions, volumes, catalogues, or non-peer-reviewed material, although the NIHR encourages authors to consider making these outputs open access where possible.
The "main study findings paper" must be published in a peer-reviewed open access journal.
Licence: Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) Licence
Maximum allowed embargo: None.
Repository: PubMed Central
Paid open access licence: CC BY (only)
Source of APC funding: It is expected that award holders will make provision from the award to cover publication costs. If necessary, contact the awarding awarding NIHR coordinating centre to discuss publication and payment.
Exeter requirements: Upload the accepted manuscript, upon acceptance, via Symplectic to ORE.
Exeter requirements: Upload the accepted manuscript, upon acceptance, via Symplectic to ORE.
Source of APC funding: For papers that have no funding for open access from the funder of research, institutional open access funds are available. Submit an open access funding request upon acceptance.
Policy: Check the terms and conditions of your research grant to see if you have open access obligations and whether any open access policy applies. Links to some funder policies are included below, contact us for help discovering your funder's open access requirements, if not listed here.
Exeter requirements: Upload the accepted manuscript, upon acceptance, via Symplectic to ORE.
Source of APC funding: Open access fees may be eligible costs to be charged to your research grant, if incurred during the duration of the award. Check grant terms and conditions to confirm.
For papers that have no funding for open access from the funder of research, institutional open access funds are available. Submit an open access funding request upon submission to a fully open access journal or upon acceptance to a hybrid journal. Check the list of Transformative Agreements that we have signed up to with publishers as you may be able to publish open access at no extra cost, providing you act as corresponding author.
- Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC)
- Biotechnology and Biosciences Research Council (BBSRC)
- Economic and Social Sciences Research Council (ESRC)
- Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC)
- Medical Research Council (MRC)
- Natural Environment Research Council (NERC)
- Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC)
Policy: RCUK open access policy
Scope: Peer-reviewed research articles, review articles not commissioned by publishers and conference proceedings acknowledging funding by Research Councils UK.
Maximum allowed embargo, for accepted manuscript in a repository: when APC funds are available, max. 6 months (BBSRC, EPSRC, MRC, NERC, STFC) or 12 months (AHRC, ESRC). When APC funds are unavailable, max. 6 months (MRC), 12 months (BBSRC, EPSRC, NERC, STFC), 24 months (AHRC, ESRC).
Repository: BBSRC and MRC funded papers should be deposited in PubMed Central
Paid open access licence: CC BY (only)
Source of APC funding: UK Research Councils open access block grant, administered by Open Research Team. Submit an open access funding request upon acceptance to a "hybrid" journal; apply upon submission to a fully open access journal. Apply before the paper is published online as we cannot pay if the paper has already been published online not as open access (any version).
Author eligibility: Lead/corresponding author has a current affiliation with University of Exeter (and an active Symplectic account).
Exeter requirements: Upload the accepted manuscript, upon acceptance, via Symplectic to ORE.
Other publication charges: including page, colour and excess length charges. Please approach your publisher to request a waiver of your publication fee; opt for colour "online only", free of charge (many publishers only charge for printing colour in paper journals). If your publication charges are mandatory, you have requested a waiver and they cannot be waived you are welcome to contact us.
Peer-reviewed original research articles
Peer reviewed original research articles submitted for publication on or after 01 January 2021
Policy: Wellcome Trust open access policy 2021 requires that peer-reviewed original reseach articles acknowledging Wellcome Trust funding, wholly or in part, must made be available as open access with a Creative Commons Attribution Licence (CC BY) (only) through PubMed Central (PMC) and Europe PubMed Central (EPMC) immediately upon publication.
Grant holders should read the Wellcome Trust web page 'complying with our open access policy'.
Update to grant conditions: From 01 January 2021, all grant holders (new and current) will automatically grant a CC BY licence to all their future Author Accepted Manuscripts (AAM). Submissions of original research to peer-reviewed journals must include the statement '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.'
Data statement: All research articles must include a statement explaining how other researchers can access any data, original software or materials underpinning the research.
Pre-printing: Wellcome Trust funded researchers are strongly encouraged to post preprints of their work and to make them available with a CC BY licence via a platform that is indexed in EPMC. Pre-printing is mandated in public health emergencies.
Open access funding: Centrally administered Wellcome Trust open access funds are available to pay APCs in fully open access journals that are indexed in DOAJ, meet the technical requirements of cOAlition S and where the publisher will deposit the final published full text with CC BY (only) licence to PMC and EPMC upon publication.
Routes to open access:
- publish in a fully open access journal / platform that offers a Wellcome compliant publishing option. Contact the Open Research Team upon submission to apply for funding for your publishing fee
- publish open access in a hybrid journal that is included in a Transformative Agreement that we have signed up to with the publisher, no fee will be due at the point of publication as it has already been paid through an annual fee that we paid to the publisher
- publish not as open access in a hybrid / subscription journal that is not included in a publisher Transformative Agreement, no fee will be paid. Make your paper open access in compliance with the policy by uploading the AAM via Europe PubMed Central Plus to PMC and EPMC and make it open access there with the CC BY (only) licence immediately upon publication.
Read the Wellcome Trust Press Release (18th March 2021) on open access compliance in hybrid journals.
Peer-reviewed original research articles submitted for publication before 31st December 2020
For articles submitted for publication before 31st December 2020, we can pay an open access publishing fee using our central Wellcome Trust open access funds providing the publisher offers a compliant paid open access option i.e. with CC BY (only) licence and publisher deposit to PubMed Central (PMC). If the publisher does not offer a compliant paid open access option, comply with the policy by uploading the accepted manuscript via Europe PubMed Central Plus with maximum six months embargo.
Book chapters and monographs
Policy: Wellcome Trust open access policy
Scope: Book chapters and monographs funded by the Wellcome Trust.
Maximum allowed embargo: For accepted manuscript in PMC Bookshelf, 6 months.
Repository: All scholarly monographs and book chapters must be uploaded to PubMed Central Bookshelf either by the publisher or author using the PMC Bookshelf monograph and book chapter deposit form.
Open access licence: CC BY (only) is strongly preferred. If CC BY (only) not available, CC-BY-NC or CC-BY-NC-ND
Open access funding: Supplementation of research grant. Apply to the Wellcome Trust for OA funding.
Exeter requirements: Book chapters and monographs are not covered by the University of Exeter open access and research data management policy.