REF and research funder open access policies

Meeting the REF and your funder's open access requirements

Compliance with REF and funder open access policies can be achieved in the majority of cases by:

• publishing immediately open access with a CC BY licence on the publisher's website; or if this is not possible by
• depositing your Author Accepted Manuscript (AAM) into White Rose Research Online via myPublications, where it will be made available with a CC BY licence under the Research Publications and Copyright Policy

See our guidance pages on making your journal articles and books/chapters open access for more information on applying for funding, accessing publisher deals and depositing your AAM.

There may be circumstances where your publication needs to be compliant with an open access policy, but the AAM is not able to be made available under the Research Publications and Copyright Policy (for example, UKRI funded book chapters). If you are not sure how to comply, please get in touch with oaenquiries@sheffield.ac.uk as early as possible in the publishing process.

Below are summaries of the open access policies for REF2029, UKRI and other major research funders. Look out for differences in the type of publications in scope of the policy, the length of embargo permitted, the licence required and whether or not there is funding available to cover open access charges.

REF2029

To be eligible for submission to REF2029, all journal articles and conference proceedings (with an ISSN) must be made open access where possible. The easiest way to do this is by depositing the Author Accepted Manuscript into White Rose Research Online (WRRO) via myPublications. This must be done as soon as possible after first online publication and must be fully processed by the Library open access team no later than three months after this date.

Full guidance available at Open access and the REF

UK Research and Innovation (UKRI)

UKRI funded research articles (and conference papers accepted for final publication in a journal, conference proceedings with an ISSN, or publishing platform) submitted on or after 1 April 2022 must be made immediately open access with a CC BY licence.

UKRI funded monographs, book chapters and edited collections published on or after 1 January 2024 must be made open access with any Creative Commons licence with an embargo of 12 months or less.

UKRI provides funding through a block grant held by the Library, and a central monographs fund, which can be used in certain circumstances.

Full guidance, including eligibility criteria, and how to apply for funding, is available on our UKRI guidance page.

Other funder open access policies (A-Z)

Arcadia Fund

Research articles funded in whole or in part by Arcadia must be made open access on publication under an open licence (preferably CC BY). Scholarly books and book chapters must be made open access no more than 12 months from the date of publication. 

Reasonable article and book processing charges can be included in the grant budget. APCs in hybrid journals are ineligible for funding.

For the full policy, see the Arcadia Fund website

Direct any enquiries to info@arcadiafund.org.uk 

Blood Cancer UK

Original research articles acknowledging funding from Blood Cancer UK must be made available through Europe PMC no more than six months after the publisher’s official date of final publication. 

Blood Cancer UK will cover open access charges up to £2000 per article, for two years after the end of the grant (for co-funded awards, the other funder(s) should contribute equitably).

For the full policy, including eligibility criteria, and how to apply for funding, see the Blood Cancer UK website.

Direct any enquiries to research@bloodcancer.org.uk 

Breast Cancer Now

All grant holders must deposit their manuscripts in Europe PMC as soon as possible, and no later than 12 months following publication.

Breast Cancer Now supports the green route to open access, but will allow underspend on a research grant to be used to pay APCs in some circumstances.

For the full policy, see the Breast Cancer Now website.

Direct any enquiries to grants_admin@breastcancernow.org

British Heart Foundation (BHF)

Peer reviewed primary research articles (including non-commissioned reviews) acknowledging funding from BHF must be made available through Europe PMC no more than six months after publication.

We hold a small block grant (covering approximately two APCs) from BHF which can be used to cover open access charges as below:

"We will, in principle, support APC fees for the publication of peer-reviewed, primary research articles and non-commissioned reviews funded wholly or in part by us, including any irrecoverable VAT on fees. We will not support APCs associated with commissioned or invited review articles, conference proceedings, editorials, letters or commentaries and any other charges associated with publication, such as page and colour charges."

Please contact oaenquiries@sheffield.ac.uk to confirm eligibility and arrange payment. Once the block grant has been spent, it will not be topped up, and authors should comply with the policy via the green route. 

For the full policy, see the British Heart Foundation website.

Cancer Research UK

Please note: CRUK's policy was updated in April 2026 to allow a 6 month embargo, and to note the removal of all financial support for open access fees

Original, primary research publications (excluding reviews and conference proceedings) acknowledging funding from CRUK must be made available through Europe PMC no later than six months after publication. The open access version of the paper must be made available with a CC BY licence, unless an exception has been agreed to use a CC BY-ND licence. The paper must include a data availability statement. 

The University of Sheffield is not a recipient of a CRUK open access block grant. However, in April 2026 CRUK announced that no further open access block grants will be provided to any institution, and from 1 October 2026, open access costs will no longer be eligible for support, including through the use of grant underspend. 

For the full, updated policy, see the Cancer Research UK website.

Direct any enquiries to grants.helpline@cancer.org.uk

Diabetes UK

Journal articles must be made open access through Europe PMC within six months of publication (exceptions allowed with prior approval).

No funding available to pay APCs, except if there is underspend on a research grant.

For the full policy, see the Diabetes UK website.

European Research Council

Research articles published by Horizon 2020 grant holders (2014-2020) during the lifetime of the project must be made open access no later than 6 months (STEM) or 12 months (AHSS) from the date of publication. Post-grant publications must also be made open access but with no restrictions on embargo length.

Research articles published by Horizon Europe grant holders (2021-2027) must be made immediately open access with a CC BY licence, and monographs must be made open access with any Creative Commons licence.

Open access charges for fully open access journals and publishing platforms, and for open access monographs, are eligible costs if incurred during the lifetime of the project.

For the full policy, including information about funding, see the ERC Open Science website.

Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (UK Government)

Original peer-reviewed journal articles resulting from FCDO funding must be available immediately on publication under a CC BY licence (or Open Government Licence if the article is subject to Crown Copyright). 

Books and book chapters must be free to view and download no more than 12 months after publication.

Recipients of FCDO funding must make use of existing arrangements and resources at the host institution in the first instance; otherwise they are permitted to use their research budget allocations to pay open access charges that are proportionate, reasonable and represent value for money.

For the full policy, see the FCDO website.

Gates Foundation

All funded manuscripts must be shared promptly in the form of a preprint under a CC BY or equivalent licence, except where the grantee determines that a preprint is not appropriate due to ethical, safety or legal concerns.

The Gates Foundation will not pay any open access charges.

For the full policy, see the Gates Foundation webpage.

Direct any enquiries to openaccess@gatesfoundation.org 

National Institute for Health Research (NIHR)

NIHR funded research articles (including non-commissioned reviews and conference papers published in a journal, proceedings with an ISSN or platform) submitted on or after 1st June 2022 must be made available through PubMed Central (PMC) and Europe PMC upon publication with a CC BY licence.

Funding for OA charges is included in NIHR awards and grantees can apply for additional funding if required.

For the full policy, including how to apply for funding, see the NIHR website.

Pancreatic Cancer UK

Journal articles must be made open access through Europe PMC within six months of publication (exceptions allowed with prior approval).

No funding available to pay APCs, except if there is underspend on a research grant.

For the full policy, see the Pancreatic Cancer UK website.

Parkinson's UK

Peer reviewed research papers (including non-commissioned reviews) acknowledging funding from Parkinson’s UK must be made available through PubMed Central and Europe PMC within 6 months of publication. Where open access charges are paid by Parkinson’s UK, a CC BY licence is required.

Grant applicants should include open access costs in the finance schedule of research grant applications. For additional APCs, authors may use unspent grant money or contact researchapplications@parkinsons.org.uk to discuss their situation.

For the full policy, see the Parkinson’s UK website. 

Versus Arthritis

Original research papers (excluding reviews) acknowledging funding from Versus Arthritis must be made available through PubMed Central and Europe PMC within 6 months of publication. Where open access charges are paid by Versus Arthritis, a CC BY licence is required.

Authors may apply for funding to cover open access charges using Grant Tracker if they are unable to source funding from their institution (please contact oaenquiries@sheffield.ac.uk to check this). 

For the full policy, see the Versus Arthritis website.

Wellcome Trust

Wellcome funded research articles (excluding review articles) submitted after 1st January 2021 must be made freely available from PubMedCentral (PMC) and Europe PMC upon publication with a CC BY licence and include a data availability statement.

Wellcome funded monographs and chapters must be made freely available within 6 months of publication with any Creative Commons licence.

Wellcome provide funding through a block grant held by the Library, and a central monographs fund, which can be used in certain circumstances.

Full guidance, including eligibility criteria, and how to apply for funding, is available on our Wellcome Trust guidance page.
 

World Health Organisation (WHO)

Articles acknowledging funding from WHO must be deposited in Europe PMC or PMC and made available by the first online date of publication under a CC BY licence.

Book chapters must be made available through a repository under a CC BY or CC BY-NC licence not more than 12 months after publication.

Applicants should include open access costs in their grant applications. WHO will only cover costs for articles published in fully open access journals and platforms indexed in DOAJ.

Full guidance available on the WHO website.

Yorkshire Cancer Research

All peer reviewed journal articles should be made open access within six months of publication, through deposit into Europe PMC

Full guidance available on the Yorkshire Cancer Research website.

Contact oaenquiries@sheffield.ac.uk with any questions about REF or funder open access policies.