Funder policies
To assist potential authors, BioMed Central has collated the following information from major funders of biomedical research as to whether:
- They explicitly allow payment of article-processing charges for open access publication (either from grants or from a separate fund)
- They have signed one of the major declarations in support of open access (Berlin, Bethesda or Budapest)
- They have published an official policy statement encouraging open access
- Their open access policy encourages or requires deposit of research articles in an open access repository
This information was pooled from a BioMed Central survey carried out in late 2005 as well as publicly available information. 35 of the 79 funders listed below offered information on their open access policies.
- 38 funders have confirmed that they are willing to fund article-processing charges
- 16 funders are signatories of one of the major international declarations in support of open access
- 34 funders have an official policy in support of open access
- 31 of these funder policies request or in some cases require funding recipients to deposit resulting research articles in an open access repository
If you can offer any missing information in the below table, please send details to info@biomedcentral.com.
Not all funders have yet provided information about their open access policy, and so gaps remain in the information below. If you can help fill those gaps, or if your funder is not listed, please let us know.
Send details of any additions or corrections to: info@biomedcentral.com
Last update: June 2012
International
| Funder | Article-processing charge | OA declarations | Official policy on OA | OA deposit policy † | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| British Council | Unknown |
|||||
| Caribbean Health Research Council (CHRC) | Unknown |
|||||
| CERN (Conseil Européen pour la Recherche Nucléaire) (European Organization for Nuclear Research) | Compact for Open-Access Publishing Equity |
Requires deposition in Open Access archives |
||||
| European Commission (FP7) | Grant funds may be used |
Required, 6 months or 12 months embargo (max) |
||||
| EUR-OCEANS Consortium on Ocean Ecosystem Analysis | ||||||
| European Research Council (ERC) | Grant funds may be used |
Required, 6 embargo (max) |
||||
| Human Frontier Science Program (HFSP) | Grant funds may be used |
|||||
| TWAS: The Academy of Sciences for the Developing World | Unknown |
|||||
Argentina
| Funder | Article-processing charge | OA declarations | Official policy on OA | OA deposit policy † | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET) | Unknown |
|||||
| Fundacion ANTORCHAS | Unknown |
|||||
Australia
| Funder | Article-processing charge | OA declarations | Official policy on OA | OA deposit policy † | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Australian Research Council (ARC) | Unknown |
Requested - non-deposit must be justified |
||||
| National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) | Unknown |
Requested - non-deposit must be justified |
||||
Austria
| Funder | Article-processing charge | OA declarations | Official policy on OA | OA deposit policy † | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fonds zur Förderung der wissenschaftlichen Forschung (FWF) | Additional funds available |
Required - 6 months embargo (max) |
||||
Belgium
| Funder | Article-processing charge | OA declarations | Official policy on OA | OA deposit policy † | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fonds National de la Recherche Scientifique (FNRS) | ||||||
| Fonds Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek(FWO) | Grant funds may be used |
Required, 12 months embargo (max) |
||||
Brazil
| Funder | Article-processing charge | OA declarations | Official policy on OA | OA deposit policy † | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq) | Unknown |
|||||
| FAPESP | Separate central fund available for in-house research |
|||||
Canada
| Funder | Article-processing charge | OA declarations | Official policy on OA | OA deposit policy † | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Canadian Breast Cancer Research Alliance (CBCRA) | Grant funds may be used |
Requested (6 months embargo max) |
||||
| Canadian Cancer Society (CCS) | Grant funds may be used |
Researchers required to make work publicly available within 6 months of publication |
||||
| Canadian Health Services Research Foundation | Grant funds may be used |
Required (6 months embargo max). Open access on publisher's site is also allowed |
||||
| Canadian Institutes of Health Research | Grant funds may be used |
Required (6 months embargo max). Open access on publisher's site is also allowed |
||||
| Fonds de la recherche en sante Quebec (FRSQ) | Unknown |
Funded research to be placed on open access website within six months of publication |
||||
| Genome Canada | ||||||
| Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada | Funding available |
|||||
| Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research (MSFHR) | Funding available |
|||||
| National Cancer Institute of Canada | Grant funds may be used |
Required (6 months embargo max) |
||||
| National Research Council | Required |
|||||
| Ontario Institute for Cancer Research (OICR) | ||||||
| Simon Fraser University | Funding available |
Compact for Open-Access Publishing Equity |
Unknown |
Unknown |
||
| University of Calgary | Funding available |
Compact for Open-Access Publishing Equity |
Scholarly output to be deposited in the University of Calgary’s open access scholarly repository. |
|||
| University of Ottawa | Funding available |
Compact for Open-Access Publishing Equity |
Encouraged to deposit research in University of Ottawa's repository |
|||
Chile
| Funder | Article-processing charge | OA declarations | Official policy on OA | OA deposit policy † | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fondo Nacional De Desarrollo Cientifico Y Tecnologico (FONDECYT) | Unknown |
|||||
| Iniciativa Cientifica Milenio | Unknown |
|||||
China
| Funder | Article-processing charge | OA declarations | Official policy on OA | OA deposit policy † | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) | Unknown |
|||||
| Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) | Unknown |
|||||
Denmark
| Funder | Article-processing charge | OA declarations | Official policy on OA | OA deposit policy † | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Danish National Research Council | Grant funds may be used |
|||||
Finland
| Funder | Article-processing charge | OA declarations | Official policy on OA | OA deposit policy † | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Academy of Finland | Additional funds available to cover APC payments |
|||||
| University of Helsinki | Funding available |
Unknown |
Researchers required to self-archive their research articles in the University’s open repository. |
|||
France
| Funder | Article-processing charge | OA declarations | Official policy on OA | OA deposit policy † | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Agence Nationale de la Recherche | Unknown |
Unknown |
Unknown |
All scientific outputs produced under funded research in open access (deposited in HAL) |
||
| Centre national de la recherche scientifique (CNRS) | Additional funds available to cover APC payments |
Encouraged |
||||
| INSERM | Grant funds may be used. Separate central fund available |
Encouraged |
||||
| Institut Pasteur | Unknown |
|||||
Germany
| Funder | Article-processing charge | OA declarations | Official policy on OA | OA deposit policy † | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft | Grant funds may be used |
Requested |
||||
| Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft | Funding available |
|||||
| Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf | Funding available |
|||||
| Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen | Funding available |
Encourages publication in Open Access journal/ deposition in repository |
||||
| Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) | Funding available |
Berlin Declaration/ Compact for Open-Access Publishing Equity |
Encouraged |
|||
| Max Planck Society | Grant funds may be used. Additional funds available in some cases |
Encouraged |
||||
| University of Bielefeld | Funding available |
Researchers to place publications in Bielefeld"s repository |
||||
| University of Regensburg | Funding available |
Unknown |
Unknown |
Unknown |
||
Greece
| Funder | Article-processing charge | OA declarations | Official policy on OA | OA deposit policy † | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| National Hellenic Research Foundation | Unknown |
|||||
Hungary
| Funder | Article-processing charge | OA declarations | Official policy on OA | OA deposit policy † | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hungarian Scientific Research Fund (OTKA) | Grants available |
Unknown |
||||
India
| Funder | Article-processing charge | OA declarations | Official policy on OA | OA deposit policy † | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Indian Council of Medical Research | Grant funds may be used |
|||||
Ireland
| Funder | Article-processing charge | OA declarations | Official policy on OA | OA deposit policy † | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Health Research Board | Grant funds may be used |
|||||
| Irish Higher Education Authority (HEA) | ||||||
| Irish Research Council for Science, Engineering & Technology (IRCSET) | ||||||
| Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) | Funding available |
|||||
Israel
| Funder | Article-processing charge | OA declarations | Official policy on OA | OA deposit policy † | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Israel Science Foundation | Grant funds may be used |
|||||
Italy
| Funder | Article-processing charge | OA declarations | Official policy on OA | OA deposit policy † | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR) | Additional funds available |
|||||
| Istituto Superiore di Sanita (ISS) | Unknown |
|||||
| Telethon | Grant funds may be used |
|||||
Jamaica
| Funder | Article-processing charge | OA declarations | Official policy on OA | OA deposit policy † | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Scientific Research Council | Unknown |
|||||
Japan
| Funder | Article-processing charge | OA declarations | Official policy on OA | OA deposit policy † | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Japanese Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) | Unknown |
|||||
Lebanon
| Funder | Article-processing charge | OA declarations | Official policy on OA | OA deposit policy † | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| National Council for Scientific Research Lebanon (CNRS) | Unknown |
|||||
Lithuania
| Funder | Article-processing charge | OA declarations | Official policy on OA | OA deposit policy † | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lithuanian Science Council | Unknown |
|||||
Malaysia
| Funder | Article-processing charge | OA declarations | Official policy on OA | OA deposit policy † | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Academy of Sciences Malaysia | Unknown |
|||||
Mexico
| Funder | Article-processing charge | OA declarations | Official policy on OA | OA deposit policy † | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| National Council of Science and Technology (CONACYT) | Unknown |
|||||
Netherlands
| Funder | Article-processing charge | OA declarations | Official policy on OA | OA deposit policy † | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Delft University of Technology | Funding available |
|||||
| Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek (NWO) | Grant funds may be used |
|||||
| Tilburg University | Funding available |
Unknown |
Unknown |
Unknown |
||
New Zealand
| Funder | Article-processing charge | OA declarations | Official policy on OA | OA deposit policy † | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Health Research Council of New Zealand | Unknown |
|||||
Norway
| Funder | Article-processing charge | OA declarations | Official policy on OA | OA deposit policy † | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Research Council of Norway | Unknown |
Required (in compliance with publisher-specified embargo, if any) |
||||
Poland
| Funder | Article-processing charge | OA declarations | Official policy on OA | OA deposit policy † | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| State Committee for Scientific Research (KBN) | Unknown |
|||||
Portugal
| Funder | Article-processing charge | OA declarations | Official policy on OA | OA deposit policy † | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT) | Unknown |
|||||
Russia
| Funder | Article-processing charge | OA declarations | Official policy on OA | OA deposit policy † | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Russian Foundation for Basic Research | Unknown |
|||||
| Russian Human Science Fund | Unknown |
|||||
Singapore
| Funder | Article-processing charge | OA declarations | Official policy on OA | OA deposit policy † | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Agency for Science Technology and Research (A*STAR) | Unknown |
|||||
South Africa
| Funder | Article-processing charge | OA declarations | Official policy on OA | OA deposit policy † | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| National Research Foundation | Grant funds may be used |
|||||
| South African Medical Research Council | Grant funds may be used |
|||||
Spain
| Funder | Article-processing charge | OA declarations | Official policy on OA | OA deposit policy † | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Comunidad de Madrid | Requires deposition in Open Access archives |
|||||
| Consejo Superior de Invesigaciones Científicas (CSIC) | Separate central fund available |
|||||
| Congreso de los Diputados | Unknown |
Unknown |
Unknown |
Unknown |
||
| Government of the Principality of Asturias | Self-archive research results in the Institutional Repository of the Principality of Asturias (RIA) |
|||||
| University of Barcelona | Funding available |
|||||
Sweden
| Funder | Article-processing charge | OA declarations | Official policy on OA | OA deposit policy † | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation | Funding available |
Unknown |
||||
| Lund University | Funding available |
Unknown |
Researchers at Lund University, if possible, publish in journals with open access. |
|||
| Swedish Foundation for Strategic Research | Grant funds may be used |
|||||
| Swedish Research Council | Grant funds may be used |
|||||
| Riksbankens Jubileumsfond | Funding available |
Unknown |
Requires deposition in open access archives |
|||
Switzerland
| Funder | Article-processing charge | OA declarations | Official policy on OA | OA deposit policy † | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ETH Zurich | Unknown |
Unknown |
Requires deposition in ETH"s institutional repository |
|||
| Schweizerische Akademie der Geistes- und Sozialwissenschaften (SAGW) | Unknown |
Unknown |
Encourages deposition in Open Access archives |
|||
| Swiss National Science Foundation (SNF) | Separate central fund available |
Required | ||||
Thailand
| Funder | Article-processing charge | OA declarations | Official policy on OA | OA deposit policy † | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BIOTEC | Grant funds may be used. Separate fund also available |
|||||
| National Research Council of Thailand | Unknown |
|||||
| National Science and Technology Development Agency (NSTDA) | Unknown |
|||||
| Thailand Research Fund (TRF) | Unknown |
|||||
Turkey
| Funder | Article-processing charge | OA declarations | Official policy on OA | OA deposit policy † | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey | Unknown |
|||||
UK
The Research Information Network (RIN) has produced a useful guidance document for UK researchers with advice on payment of open access publication charges.
| Funder | Article-processing charge | OA declarations | Official policy on OA | OA deposit policy † | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Action on Hearing Loss | Unknown |
Requires deposition in open access archives |
||||
| Arthritis Research Campaign | Additional funds available |
Required, 6 months embargo (max) |
||||
| Bournemouth University | BU OAPF fund |
Unknown |
Articles must be made freely available at the time of initial publication with no embargo periods |
|||
| Breakthrough Breast Cancer | Grant funds may be used |
All grant holders must deposit peer-reviewed research publication in UK PubMed Central within 6 months of publication. |
||||
| British Heart Foundation | Additional funds available |
Required, 6 months embargo (max) |
||||
| Brunel University | OA Publishing Fund |
Unknown |
Articles that have been supported by the fund are available on BURA, Brunel’s institutional repository. |
|||
| Cancer Research UK | Required, 6 months embargo (max) |
|||||
| Chief Scientists Office, Scottish Executive (CSO) | Unknown |
Required, 6 months embargo (max) |
||||
| Department of Health (NHS/NIHR) | Grant funds may be used - additional funding available in some cases |
Required, 6 months embargo (max) |
||||
| Dunhill Medical Trust | Funding available |
Requires deposition in open access archives |
||||
| Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council | Required |
|||||
| JISC (Joint Information Systems Committee) | Unknown |
Unknown |
Unknown |
Encourages authors to publish in open access journals, self-archive their articles in repositories, or both. |
||
| Nuffield Foundation | Requires data deposition in Open Access archives |
|||||
| Parkinson's UK | Funding available |
|||||
| Research Council UK (RCUK) RCUK is a strategic partnership of the UK Research Councils, which include the Medical Research Council, the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, and the Natural Environment Research Council. | RCUK will provide block grants to UK Higher Education Institutions, approved independent research organisations and Research Council Institutes to cover payment of APCs. |
|||||
| Samantha Dickson Brain Tumour Trust | Unknown |
Unknown |
Unknown |
Encourages deposition in Open Access archives |
||
| Stroke Association | An allowance of up to £2000 may be used. |
|||||
| Wellcome Trust | Additional funds available |
Required, 6 months embargo (max) |
||||
| University of Nottingham | Funding available |
|||||
USA
| Funder | Article-processing charge | OA declarations | Official policy on OA | OA deposit policy † | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| American Association for Cancer Research | Unknown |
|||||
| American Heart Association | Unknown |
|||||
| Autism Speaks | Unknown |
Autism Speaks funded research to be placed in PubMed within 12 months of publication |
||||
| Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation | Unknown |
Unknown AIDS grants require open data sharing |
||||
| California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) | Additional funds available |
Encouraged 12 months embargo (max) |
||||
| Columbia University | Compact for Open-Access Publishing Equity |
Work must be made available in open access repository |
||||
| Cornell University | ||||||
| Dartmouth College | Encouraged 12 months embargo (max) |
|||||
| Department of Energy (DOE) - Office of Biological and Environmental Research | Unknown |
|||||
| Duke University | ||||||
| Grand Valley State University | Funding available |
Articles must be made freely available on the web at the time of initial publication, with no embargo period. |
||||
| Harvard University | ||||||
| Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) | Required, 6 months embargo (max) |
|||||
| March of Dimes | Unknown |
|||||
| Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) | Funding available |
Compact for Open-Access Publishing Equity |
||||
| Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center | Cover reasonable costs |
Compact for Open-Access Publishing Equity |
Freely available through either the publisher"s website or an online repository within 6 months of publication. |
|||
| National Science Foundation (NSF) | Unknown |
|||||
| National Institutes of Health (NIH) | Grant funds may be used |
Scientists to submit final peer-reviewed journal manuscripts that arise from NIH funds to the digital archive PubMed Central upon acceptance for publication. |
||||
| Rockefeller Foundation | Grant funds may be used |
|||||
| University of California, Berkeley | Funding available |
Compact for Open-Access Publishing Equity |
||||
| University of California, San Francisco | Funding available |
Unknown |
UCSF faculty to make each of their articles freely available immediately through an open-access repository |
|||
| University of Florida | Funding available |
|||||
| University of Michigan | Funding available |
Compact for Open-Access Publishing Equity |
||||
| University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill | Funding available |
|||||
| University of Oregon | Funding available |
|||||
| University of Tennessee, Knoxville | Funding available |
Unknown |
||||
| University of Utah | Funding available |
|||||
| University of Wisconsin-Madison | Part funding available |
|||||
*Research Councils UK has a new Open Access policy, which harmonises and makes significant changes to existing Research Councils’ Open Access policies.
† For a list of open access deposit policies, including both funder policies and institutional policies, see the Registry of Open Access Repository Material Archiving Policies (ROARMAP)

