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UKRI/Wellcome: What do I need to do? (Research papers)

The steps on this page apply to peer-reviewed research articles acknowledging UKRI and Wellcome funding, and reviews and proceedings acknowledging UKRI funding.

Guidance for UKRI funded papers submitted before 1 April 2022

This advice is for research articles funded by Wellcome; and research, review and conference papers with UKRI funding submitted from 1 April 2022. Research articles funded by CRUK and Wellcome/UKRI should follow CRUK's policy.

What to include in your paper 

  • Acknowledge your funding by naming your funder in full and providing the grant number.
  • You should also include a data access statement in your article: this explains how to access your paper's underlying materials (e.g. data, software). Example statements can be found on UKRI's Open Research webpage (in the 'External Guidance' section). For information on open data requirements, see our research data policies webpage.
  • Include the UKRI/Wellcome wording in all submissions, covering letters and funding acknowledgements.

Pre-submission open access checks

Before submitting, check that your chosen journal or proceeding is either:

  1. A fully open access journal listed on DOAJ (Wellcome and UKRI funded papers), OR
  2. A subscription (hybrid OA) journal included in UCL’s transformative agreements, OR

  3. A Wellcome/Plan S compliant transformative journal (Wellcome papers only). If so, your article will comply with the Wellcome and UKRI open access policies and you can proceed with submission. 

  4. Fill in this form to request funding (1, 3), or follow the instructions by publisher on the transformative agreements page (2). If this does not apply to your publication, either contact the OA Team for advice or continue as below:

  5. Check the journal’s open access policy in Sherpa Romeo. Does it allow CC BY with zero embargo for the accepted manuscript? (An annotated screenshot of a compliant journal's entry in Sherpa Romeo is provided below.)

An annotated screenshot from Sherpa Romeo explaining how to recognise a UKRI compliant journal.
If so, proceed with publication and upload in RPS (and Europe PMC if BBSRC and MRC funded) on or before the first online publication date. Journal embargo periods are not permitted. If the journal does not allow CC BY with zero embargo:     
           
  1. Consider publishing elsewhere. Is there a suitable alternative suitable journal of types 1-4 above? If not:   
  2. Make sure that you have included the UKRI/Wellcome wording in all submissions, covering letters and funding acknowledgements.
  3. Before submission, ask the editorial office whether the publishing agreement allows immediate OA to the accepted manuscript under CC BY. The Open Access Team can provide wording for pre-submission enquiries.
  4. If CC BY with zero embargo is not permitted, then either:
    1. Ask for Gold OA with a waiver of the charges, OR
    2. Negotiate amendments to the agreement then proceed with publication and upload in RPS (and Europe PMC if BBSRC and MRC funded) on or before the first online publication date. Contact the Open Access Team after uploading your manuscript, in order to make it open access immediately upon publication. 
  5. For Wellcome papers, if the journal refuses both options, contact Wellcome for advice: openaccess@wellcome.org.

Do not sign a contract that:

  • applies an embargo period to the self-archiving of the AAM post publication, and
  • does not allow the AAM to be made freely available under a CC BY licence.

If you are unsure or need assistance in negotiations with publishers, contact the Open Access Team for advice before submitting to the journal or conference.