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UCL has central funds to make certain publications open access on the publisher's website under a Creative Commons licence. Find out whether Gold funds are available for your publication.
If your publication acknowledges funding from a research funder, you will need to meet the requirements of the funder's open access policy. These requirements, along with where you choose to publish, will determine whether Gold open access charges need to be paid, and whether funding is available for them, or whether you should instead make your paper Green open access.
UCL's Open Access Team administers several central open access funds. Funding may be available to cover Gold open access fees if your publication is:
- being submitted to a journal that is included in UCL's transformative agreements;
- funded by the Wellcome Trust; UKRI, Cancer Research UK or the British Heart Foundation
Funding is not normally available for papers in subscription (hybrid) journals except where the journal is included in UCL's transformative agreements or is funded by Cancer Research UK.
Before requesting funding from UCL's Open Access Team, follow the steps below to find out whether your publication may be eligible. Make sure that you obtain confirmation from UCL's Open Access Team before placing any order for open access or submitting to a fully open access journal. Payments for open access cannot be made after publication.
- Non-open access publication (page and colour) charges
Non-open access changes, such as page or colour charges, cannot be covered. Authors are advised to ask their journal's editorial office, before submission, whether any non-open access publication charges apply, and, if so, request a waiver.
Is open access funding available?
Follow the steps below to find out whether open access funding is available through UCL's Open Access Team.
Step 1: Check for a transformative agreement
See whether UCL has a transformative agreement with your publisher. Check the relevant publisher terms and instructions carefully to find out whether your paper is eligible and how to take advantage of the agreement. If UCL does NOT have a transformative agreement, or your paper is not eligible, go to step 2.
Transformative agreements are sometimes confused with prepayment/deposit arrangements, which are are a method of paying for open access at a discount. UCL's normal eligibility criteria for open access funding apply to these arrangements, including with BioMed Central, Elsevier, Frontiers and Taylor & Francis/Routledge.
- How to use UCL's transformative agreements
- When you submit, ensure that you are listed, with your UCL affiliation and UCL email address, as the corresponding author. This will enable the publisher to identify your paper as eligible to be published open access.
- Most agreements publish open access under the CC BY licence. However, if you are offered a choice and your paper is funded by the Wellcome Trust, UKRI, Cancer Research UK or British Heart Foundation or any other funder that requires it, you’ll need to sign a CC BY licence as per their requirements.
- Please check our transformative agreements page for specfic instructions. Since some publishers do not allow co-corresponding authors to use their agreement, it is recommended that only one author, affiliated with UCL, acts as corresponding author. Contact UCL's Open Access Team if you have any questions.
Step 2: Check whether funding is available for Gold open access
- Wellcome-funded papers
UCL has central funding to pay open access charges for research articles in fully open access journals/platforms listed in the Directory of Open Access Journals, funded by a UCL-held Wellcome Trust grant. For information about which journals and papers are eligible, and how to request funding, go to our Wellcome Trust page.
- UK Research Council (UKRI)-funded papers
UCL has central funding to pay open access charges for research articles, uncommissioned reviews and conference proceedings in fully open access journals funded by a UCL-held grant from the UK Research Councils (AHRC, BBSRC, EPSRC, ESRC, MRC, NERC, STFC), Innovate UK, and Research England (funding leading directly to particular research outputs only). For information about which journals and papers are eligible, and how to request funding, go to our UKRI page.
- Cancer Research UK-funded papers
UCL has central funding to pay open access charges for research articles in fully open access journals, and in hybrid (subscription) journals that cannot comply with the CRUK policy through Green open access, funded by a CRUK grant held at UCL. For information about which journals and papers are eligible, and how to request funding, go to our CRUK page.
- British Heart Foundation-funded papers
- UCL has central funding to pay open access charges for research articles in fully open access journals funded by a BHF grant held at UCL. For information about which journals and papers are eligible, and how to request funding, go to our BHF page.
- Other funders
Some funders provide open access funding directly to researchers on application to the funder (e.g. Versus Arthritis) or as part of research grants (e.g. Blood Cancer UK, ERC, Horizon 2020, NIHR and Parkinson's UK). Follow the links to your funder below. If your funder is not listed, you can check your funder's policy in Sherpa Juliet, and funding arrangements in your grant conditions.
If your funder does not provide open access funding, UCL is only able to pay your open access charges if the paper:
- has a UCL corresponding author and the journal is included in UCL's transformative agreements,
- is eligible for funding from UCL's Wellcome Trust, UKRI, Cancer Research UK and/or British Heart Foundation funds, or
- is eligible for funding from UCL's institutional open access fund (see below).
- Unfunded publications
During the financial year August 2024-July 2025, UCL Library Services is able to pay open access charges for journals included in UCL's transformative agreements with publishers, and for unfunded research articles (not reviews) in most fully open access journals indexed in the Directory of Open Access Journals.* Papers are only eligible for funding if the corresponding author is a full member of staff (not honorary or visiting) or student when the paper is accepted. Funds are available on a first-come, first-served basis.
* Fully open access journals whose scope and editorial board mirror that of a subscription journal (so-called 'mirror journals') are not eligible for funding.
Contact UCL's Open Access Team before you submit, to check whether your paper is eligible.
If you are submitting to a fully open access journal and your paper is not eligible for UCL funding, you could pay your Article Processing Charge from alternative funds, ask your department whether any funding is available, or consider submitting elsewhere (including to journals in our transformative agreements). If no funds are available, you could request a waiver of the fees.
Step 3: If funding is not available, choose Green open access
- If you are publishing in a subscription journal, choose the standard publication route rather than Gold open access. Upload your final accepted manuscript to RPS (and to Europe PubMed Central if your funder requires it). It will be made (Green) open access in UCL Discovery after the journal's embargo period.
- If you are submitting to a fully open access journal, there will be no Green open access option. You will need to arrange funding from an alternative source or request a waiver when you submit.