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Papers funded in whole or in part by the British Heart Foundation must meet the BHF open access requirements. Find out how to check whether your chosen journal complies, and what funding is available.
The British Heart Foundation open access policy applies to peer-reviewed primary research papers and non-commissioned review articles funded in whole or in part by BHF. These outputs must be made open access in PubMed Central within six months of publication.
Complying with the policy
Use Sherpa Fact to check whether your chosen journal offers a compliant Green or Gold option. For additional clarification, check the journal website. If you are unsure whether your journal complies, contact UCL's Open Access Team before submission.
Green open access
If you are publishing in a subscription journal, provided that the journal's embargo on Green open access is no longer than 6 months you can comply by uploading your final accepted manuscript to Europe PubMed Central, using Europe PMC plus. Papers should also be uploaded to RPS.
Gold open access
If you are publishing in a subscription journal with a Gold open access option (known as a hybrid journal), or you are publishing in a fully open access journal, Gold open access will comply provided that the paper is published with the CC BY licence and the publisher will deposit the article in PubMed Central on publication.
Is my paper eligible for funding?
If your chosen journal is included in UCL's transformative agreements, and your paper has a UCL corresponding author, your Gold open access costs can be covered by the agreement. Follow the instructions on our transformative agreements page to publish Gold open access.
If your chosen journal is not included in UCL's transformative agreements, UCL's limited BHF open access grant can currently cover open access charges once a paper is accepted if:
- your publication is a research article or uncommissioned review, and
- it is funded by a UCL-held BHF grant
and the journal is:
- fully open access and charges a mandatory fee to publish
Unless open access funding is available from another funder, BHF-funded papers should be submitted to a fully open access journal, a journal in UCL's transformative agreements, or a subscription journal that allows the accepted manuscript to be made open access in PubMed Central six months after publication.
Embargo period
Use Sherpa Fact to check your journal's embargo period. For additional clarification, check the journal website. If you need any advice about a journal's embargo period, contact UCL's Open Access Team.
Conditions of publication/payment
It is a condition of grant that grantholders acknowledge BHF support by quoting “British Heart Foundation” followed by the award reference number in the appropriate section of all publications arising from BHF-funded research.
Some journals offer a choice of open access licences. If UCL's Open Access Team confirms that your paper can be funded, you must choose the CC BY licence.