Wellcome Trust open access policy and funding

Outputs funded in whole or in part by the Wellcome Trust must meet the Wellcome's open access requirements. Find out how to check whether your chosen journal complies, and what funding is available.

The Wellcome Trust's new open access policy applies to all journal articles that report original, peer-reviewed research funded in whole or in part by the Wellcome Trust that are submitted from 1 January 2021. They must be made open access in PubMed by the official date of publication, and be published with the CC BY licence unless the Wellcome Trust has agreed, as an exception, to allow publication under CC BY-ND.

Complying with the policy

You can comply with the policy by publishing in:

1. fully open access journals or platforms (such as Wellcome Open Research) that meet the Wellcome Trust's requirements (the Wellcome Trust will pay fair and reasonable open access costs);
2. subscription journals with a Gold open access option (known as hybrid journals) that (a) are included in UCL's transformative agreements; or (b) have transformative journal status (the Wellcome Trust will pay fair and reasonable open access costs);
3. subscription journals that allow you to make your final accepted manuscript open access in Europe PubMed Central at the time of publication under the CC BY licence;
4. and all other subscription journals, because the Wellcome has implemented the Plan S Rights Retention Strategy. The Wellcome's grant conditions now state that all grantholders automatically grant a CC BY licence to all future accepted manuscripts. This, along with a mandatory statement for all submissions (see below), allows you to publish in any journal (provided it accepts that accepted manuscripts arising from submissions from Wellcome-funded researchers will already be licensed under a prior CC BY licence).

Gold open access in subscription journals (hybrid open access) will not be funded unless the journal is in UCL's transformative agreements or has transformative journal status.

There is more information about these routes in the Wellcome Trust's guide to complying with the policy. A journal checker tool is being developed and tested, but you are advised to contact UCL's Open Access Team if you have any queries about specific journals.

The Wellcome Trust does not support publication charges (for instance page and colour charges): these costs may not be included in new Wellcome Trust research grant applications, and no central UCL funds are available for them.

Mandatory statement in submissions

Grantholders must include the following statement on all submissions of original research to peer-reviewed journals:

Wellcome Trust policy for journal articles submitted BEFORE 1 January 2021

The Wellcome Trust's previous open access policy applies to research articles funded in whole or in part by the Wellcome Trust that were submitted before 1 January 2021. These outputs must be made open access in PubMed Central within six months of the official date of publication. The policy does not apply to editorials, letters, correspondence, conference proceedings, review articles or study protocols.

Complying with the policy

Check the journal website to make sure your journal offers a compliant Gold or Green option (see below). If you are unsure whether your journal complies, contact UCL's Open Access Team before submission.

Gold open access

Gold open access is the Wellcome Trust's preferred option. Funds are available for papers in fully open access journals, and for papers in subscription journals with a Gold open access option (known as hybrid journals) submitted before 1 January 2021. A journal's Gold open access option complies with the requirements provided that:

1. the paper is published with the CC BY licence and
2. the publisher will deposit the published version of your article in PubMed Central on publication.

Green open access

You can publish in a subscription journal that does not offer Gold open access provided the publisher allows you to make your final accepted manuscript open access in Europe PubMed Central six months after publication (Green open access). You should deposit your manuscript using Europe PMC plus, specifying a six-month embargo, unless you have opted in to a deposit service provided by your publisher.

Wellcome Trust policy for monographs and book chapters

The Wellcome Trust's policy for monographs and book chapters applies to all original scholarly monographs and book chapters authored or co-authored by Wellcome Trust grantholders as part of their grant-funded research. The Wellcome Trust itself manages the process of making these outputs open access. They must be made open access in NCBI Bookshelf and Europe PubMed Central within six months of the official date of publication. The policy does not apply to textbooks, ‘trade’ books, general reference works or works of fiction, or to collections edited, but not authored, by Wellcome Trust grantholders.

Complying with the policy

If your publisher has a compliant Gold open access option for monographs, the Wellcome Trust will be able to provide you with open access funding directly.

If your publisher does not have a compliant Gold option, but allows you to make your accepted manuscript open access in PubMed Central six months after publication, you should deposit to NCBI Bookshelf and Europe PubMed Central, using the Wellcome Trust's deposit form.

There is more information about complying with the policy in the Wellcome Trust's guide to compliance for compliance for monographs and book chapters.

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 Wellcome Trust open access grant will cover your open access charges once your paper is accepted if all of the following apply:

1. your publication is a research article
2. it was funded by a UCL-held Wellcome Trust grant
3. the journal complies with the Wellcome Trust's open access policy (contact UCL's Open Access Team before submission if you are unsure)

This applies to articles in fully open access journals, articles in transformative journals - and charges for Gold open access in subscription journals (known as hybrid journals) where the paper was submitted before 1 January 2021. Uncommissioned reviews and study protocols may be funded on request; editorials, letters, conference proceedings and commissioned reviews will not be funded.

Articles submitted from 1 January 2021 will only be eligible for Wellcome Trust funding if the journal is fully open access, is included in UCL's transformative agreements or is a transformative journal. See the policy section above for information about which types of journal will meet the new Wellcome Trust requirements.

If you think that your paper is eligible for funding, complete this form before submission (for fully open access journals) or on acceptance (for subscription journals). UCL's Open Access Team will reply with a summary of your options and, if your paper is eligible for funding, details of payment procedures. If you cannot complete the form, submit your request to UCL's Open Access Team by email. 

Conditions of publication/payment

Grantholders must include the following statement on all submissions of original research to peer-reviewed journals:

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.