ERC grant holders funded under a Horizon Europe ERC Work Programme, have to ensure open access to peer-reviewed scientific publications relating to the results of their ERC-funded project.
At the latest, at the time of publication, a machine-readable electronic copy of the published version (VoR), or the final peer-reviewed manuscript accepted for publication (AAM), must be deposited in a trusted repository for scientific publications.
Plan S is an initiative for Open Access publishing that was launched in September 2018. The plan is supported by cOAlition S, an international consortium of research funding and performing organisations.
Plan S requires that, from 2021*, all scholarly publications on the results from research funded by public or private grants provided by national, regional and international research councils and funding bodies, must be published in Open Access Journals, on Open Access Platforms, or made immediately available through Open Access Repositories without embargo.”
The Plan S Toolkit provides advice on how to meet your Open Access obligations of many funders.
*For funders agreeing after January 2020 to implement Plan S in their policies, the start date will be one year from that agreement
Research Ireland’s new Open Research Policy will take effect from 7 th April 2025 and will apply to all research publications submitted for publication on or after this date. This policy represents an interim position that is broadly aligned with the two legacy agencies' Open Access policies.
Open Access Requirements
The following requirements apply to all peer-reviewed research publications (excluding long-form publications, book chapters, and review articles) arising in whole or in part from Research Ireland-funded research.
1. Either the Version of Record (VoR) or the Author Accepted Manuscript (AAM) must be immediately available from the date of publication.
2. Either the VoR or the AAM must be deposited in an open repository. Research publications published in open access venues must also be deposited in a repository.
3. Research publications must be made available under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) licence2 .
4. Authors are encouraged to retain copyright of their research outputs. Grant holders may use one of the following Rights Retention statements when submitting their work for publication:
‘This publication has emanated from research conducted with the financial support of Research Ireland under Grant number [XX]. For the purpose of open access, the author has applied a CC BY public copyright licence to any Author Accepted Manuscript version arising from this submission’.
OR
‘This publication has emanated from research supported in part by a grant from Research Ireland under Grant number [XX]. For the purpose of open access, the author has applied a CC BY public copyright licence to any Author Accepted Manuscript version arising from this submission’.
5. Research Ireland grant funds may be used as a contribution to costs associated with Article Processing Charges (APCs) when publishing in open access journals. Research Ireland grant funds may not be used to support publication in hybrid journals or any costs associate with non-OA publishing.
6. Research articles must include a statement explaining how related data, original software, or materials underpinning the research can be accessed.
7. All publications should be accompanied by appropriate metadata in line with national and international standards for harvesting and interoperability.
At a minimum, this must include full bibliographic data, persistent identifiers (e.g., digital object identified (DOI); ORCID), funder information (“Research Ireland under Grant number [XX]”), and licence information.)
More information available here.
Under Horizon 2020, each beneficiary must ensure open access to all peer-reviewed scientific publications relating to its results.
Beneficiaries can freely choose between the most appropriate route towards open access for them:
Self-archiving (also referred to as 'green' open access) means that a published article or the final peer-reviewed manuscript is archived (deposited) in an online repository before, alongside or after its publication. Repository software usually allows authors to delay access to the article ('embargo period') If this route is chosen beneficiaries must ensure open access to the publication within a maximum of six months (twelve months for publications in the social sciences and humanities).
Open access publishing (also referred to as 'gold' open access) means that an article is immediately provided in open access mode (on the publisher/journal website). Publishers sometimes charge so called Article Processing Charges (or APCs) to make articles open. Such costs are eligible for reimbursement during the duration of the project as part of the overall project budget.
In the case of gold open access publishing, open access must be granted at the latest on the date of publication and you also have to deposit a copy in a repository.
All projects funded by the EPA Research Programme are required to ensure open access to all peer-reviewed publications resulting from EPA funding. This must be done by depositing your peer reviewed manuscript in an open access repository as agreed with the EPA. You are also encouraged to publish in reputable open access journals. Please note however, the communications budget may only be used for Gold Open Access in exceptional circumstances, subject to prior approval by the EPA. Expenditure on Gold Open Access that has not had the prior approval of the EPA will be deemed ineligible.
The overarching aim of Welcome's Open Access (OA) policy is to make sure that knowledge and discoveries resulting from our funding are shared and used in a way that maximises their benefit to health.
CORA is University College Cork's online, open access institutional repository, established by UCC Library to collect, store and disseminate the digital research output of the UCC scholarly community. CORA gives you free open access to University College Cork's scholarly and scientific research publications and theses
Sherpa Romeo is an online resource that aggregates and analyses publisher open access policies from around the world and provides summaries of publisher copyright and open access archiving policies on a journal-by-journal basis.
Sherpa Juliet - Research Funders' Open Access Policies
Sherpa Juliet is a searchable database and single focal point of up-to-date information concerning funders' policies and their requirements on open access, publication and data archiving.
OpenDOAR is the quality-assured, global Directory of Open Access Repositories. You can search and browse through thousands of registered repositories based on a range of features, such as location, software or type of material held.
Open Research Europe - The EU open access publishing platform
Open Research Europe is the open access publishing venue set up for Horizon Europe and Horizon 2020 beneficiaries. Open Research Europe will give everyone, researchers and citizens alike, immediate open access to your latest scientific discoveries. And at no cost.
