Open Access

Most research funders require grant holders to make their publications Open Access. Find out more about open access requirements for externally funded research projects.

Several medical funders, including Wellcome, provide UCL with central funding to pay authors' Gold fees through the Charity Open Access Fund (COAF) partnership. UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) also funds Open Access charges for a proportion of research papers, through a central UCL grant. 

Failure to comply with funder Open Access (OA) policies, may result in funding being partially withheld, and you render the Principle Investigator (PI) ineligible for future funding from that funder.

There is an OA policy for the next Research Excellence Framework (REF). To be eligible for submission to the next REF, journal articles and conference proceedings accepted from 1 April 2016 must be deposited in an OA repository. All UCL researchers must upload their papers to UCL’s Research Publications Services (RPS).

It is important to note that funder requirements may differ from the REF OA policy.

For more information on funder OA policies, visit the UCL Library Services website.