Open Access
In Quebec and Canada
The FRQ and the Canadian federal funding agencies (NSERC, CIHR and SSHRC) require that publications resulting from research they have funded be published in open access according to the following terms and conditions:
| When to publish in open access? | Open access publication must be immediate. |
"Grant recipients are required to ensure that any peer-reviewed journal publications arising from Agency-supported research are freely accessible within 12 months of publication." (see the Open Access Publishing Models tab for more details.) |
| Which licenses to choose? | The publication must be licensed under a Creative Commons CC BY or CC BY-ND license (or equivalent). | No licensing requirements. |
| Are publication fees an eligible expense? | For certain journals only. Use this tool to determine the eligibility of a journal**. | Yes. |
| What types of documents does the policy apply to? | Peer-reviewed publications, dissertations and theses. | Peer-reviewed publications. |
| What types of financing does the policy apply to? | All | Grants only. Scholarships are not covered by the policy. |
| What is the policy application period? |
Since July 1, 2022. For funding obtained through a competition launched before this date and for exceptions, consult this page (in French only) at "Quelle version de la Politique faut-il appliquer?" (= Which version of the Policy should be applied?). |
It was announced that a revised policy would be published by the end of 2025***. |
* In addition, CIHR grant holders are required to archive bioinformatics, atomic and molecular data in public databases, and to retain these data for at least 5 years. Consult the Research Data guide for more information on granting agencies' requirements for data deposit or write to us.
** Eligibility criteria will change on July 1, 2025. For more details see p. 50.
*** The updated policy should include a requirement for immediate open access.
United States and Europe
If you are collaborating with authors from other countries when writing articles, you should be aware that the main American and European funding agencies have, broadly speaking, the same requirements as those in Quebec and Canada.
In the USA
Since the Holdren Memo was published by the White House in 2013, the major US federal funding agencies (NIH, NSF, NASA, etc.) have required that peer-reviewed articles arising from research they fund be published in open access no later than one year after the initial publication date.
According to the 2022 Nelson Memo, US agencies must update their open access policies by the end of 2024 to require immediate open access.
For more details, consult the 2013 & 2022 Public Access Memo Comparison and The Nelson Memo: An updated public access policy in the USA.
In Europe
The Plan S is an initiative from a consortium of mostly European granting bodies and private foundations (called cOAlition S), and supported by the European Commission and the European Research Council (ERC). Launched in September 2018, it came at a time when accessibility to the results of publicly-funded scientific research was increasingly restricted by the high subscription costs imposed by several major scientific publishers.
The FRQ is part of cOAlition S and implements the principles of Plan S.
