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	Yes	Requires deposition in Open Access archives
	European Commission (FP7)	Grant funds may be used		Policy	Required, 6 months or 12 months embargo (max)
	EUR-OCEANS Consortium on Ocean Ecosystem Analysis			Yes
	European Research Council (ERC)	Grant funds may be used		Policy	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		Policy	Requested - non-deposit must be justified
	National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC)	Unknown		Policy	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	Berlin	Policy	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)		Berlin
	Fonds Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek(FWO)	Grant funds may be used	Berlin	Policy	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		Policy	Requested (6 months embargo max)
	Canadian Cancer Society (CCS)	Grant funds may be used		Yes	Researchers required to make work publicly available within 6 months of publication
	Canadian Health Services Research Foundation	Grant funds may be used		Policy	Required (6 months embargo max). Open access on publisher's site is also allowed
	Canadian Institutes of Health Research	Grant funds may be used		Policy	Required (6 months embargo max). Open access on publisher's site is also allowed
	Fonds de la recherche en sante Quebec (FRSQ)	Unknown		Yes	Funded research to be placed on open access website within six months of publication
	Genome Canada			Yes
	Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada	Funding available		Yes
	Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research (MSFHR)	Funding available		Yes
	National Cancer Institute of Canada	Grant funds may be used		Policy	Required (6 months embargo max)
	National Research Council			Policy	Required
	Ontario Institute for Cancer Research (OICR)			Yes
	Simon Fraser University	Funding available	Compact for Open-Access Publishing Equity	Unknown	Unknown
	University of Calgary	Funding available	Compact for Open-Access Publishing Equity	Yes	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	Berlin
	Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC)	Unknown	Berlin

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	Yes	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	Berlin	Policy	Encouraged
	INSERM	Grant funds may be used. Separate central fund available	Berlin	Policy	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	Berlin	Policy	Requested
	Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft	Funding available	Berlin	Yes
	Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf	Funding available	Berlin	Yes
	Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen	Funding available	Berlin	Yes	Encourages publication in Open Access journal/ deposition in repository
	Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT)	Funding available	Berlin Declaration/ Compact for Open-Access Publishing Equity	Yes	Encouraged
	Max Planck Society	Grant funds may be used. Additional funds available in some cases	Berlin	Policy	Encouraged
	University of Bielefeld	Funding available		Yes	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	Berlin

Hungary

	Funder	Article-processing charge	OA declarations	Official policy on OA	OA deposit policy †
	Hungarian Scientific Research Fund (OTKA)	Grants available	Unknown	Yes

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)			Yes
	Irish Research Council for Science, Engineering & Technology (IRCSET)			Yes
	Science Foundation Ireland (SFI)	Funding available		Yes

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	Berlin	Yes
	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	Berlin
	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		Policy	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			Yes	Self-archive research results in the Institutional Repository of the Principality of Asturias (RIA)
	University of Barcelona	Funding available		Yes

Sweden

	Funder	Article-processing charge	OA declarations	Official policy on OA	OA deposit policy †
	Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation	Funding available	Unknown	Yes
	Lund University	Funding available	Unknown	Yes	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	Berlin
	Riksbankens Jubileumsfond	Funding available	Unknown	Yes	Requires deposition in open access archives

Switzerland

	Funder	Article-processing charge	OA declarations	Official policy on OA	OA deposit policy †
	ETH Zurich	Unknown	Unknown	Yes	Requires deposition in ETH"s institutional repository
	Schweizerische Akademie der Geistes- und Sozialwissenschaften (SAGW)	Unknown	Unknown	Yes	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		Policy
	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		Yes	Requires deposition in open access archives
	Arthritis Research Campaign	Additional funds available		Policy	UKPMC Required, 6 months embargo (max)
	Bournemouth University	BU OAPF fund	Unknown	Yes	Articles must be made freely available at the time of initial publication with no embargo periods
	Breakthrough Breast Cancer	Grant funds may be used		Yes	All grant holders must deposit peer-reviewed research publication in UK PubMed Central within 6 months of publication.
	British Heart Foundation	Additional funds available		Policy	UKPMC 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			Policy	UKPMC Required, 6 months embargo (max)
	Chief Scientists Office, Scottish Executive (CSO)	Unknown		Policy	UKPMC Required, 6 months embargo (max)
	Department of Health (NHS/NIHR)	Grant funds may be used - additional funding available in some cases		Policy	UKPMC Required, 6 months embargo (max)
	Dunhill Medical Trust	Funding available		Yes	Requires deposition in open access archives
	Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council			Policy	UKPMC 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		Yes
	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.		Policy	Required. Where a publisher does not offer Gold Open Access, the journal must allow deposit of Accepted Manuscripts that include all changes resulting from peer review in other repositories, without restrictions on non-commercial re-use and within a defined period.
	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	Bethesda	Policy	UKPMC Required, 6 months embargo (max)
	University of Nottingham	Funding available		Yes

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		Yes	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		Policy	Encouraged 12 months embargo (max)
	Columbia University	Compact for Open-Access Publishing Equity		Yes	Work must be made available in open access repository
	Cornell University		Compact for Open-Access Publishing Equity	Policy
	Dartmouth College			Policy	Encouraged 12 months embargo (max)
	Department of Energy (DOE) - Office of Biological and Environmental Research	Unknown
	Duke University		Berlin	Yes
	Grand Valley State University	Funding available	Berlin		Articles must be made freely available on the web at the time of initial publication, with no embargo period.
	Harvard University		Compact for Open-Access Publishing Equity	Policy
	Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI)		Bethesda	Policy	Required, 6 months embargo (max)
	March of Dimes	Unknown
	Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)	Funding available	Compact for Open-Access Publishing Equity	Yes
	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	Bethesda	Policy	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	Yes	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	Berlin
	University of Tennessee, Knoxville	Funding available	Unknown
	University of Utah	Funding available	Berlin
	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)