Tri-Agency Open Access Policy on Publications

Update - The presidents of Canada's federal research granting agencies announce a review of the Tri-Agency Open Access Policy on Publications

Canada’s federal research granting agencies (CIHR, NSERC and SSHRC) have announced a review of the Tri-Agency Open Access (OA) Policy on Publications, with the goal of requiring that any peer-reviewed journal publications arising from agency-supported research be freely available, without subscription or fee, at the time of publication (immediate OA). The renewed OA Policy will be released by the end of 2025. Learn more

PubMed Central Canada taken offline in February 2018

Policy Summary

Researchers awarded funding from January 1, 2008 onwards from CIHR are required to adhere with the following responsibilities:

Tri-Agency Open Access Policy on Publications

Rationale

CIHR believes that greater access to research publications and data will promote the ability of researchers in Canada and abroad to use and build on the knowledge needed to address significant health challenges. Open access enables authors to reach a much broader audience, which has the potential to increase the impact of their research. Only when research findings are widely available, enabling open scrutiny, will this evidence be translated into policies, technologies, health-related standards and practices, and new avenues of research that will benefit the health of Canadians and others. From a knowledge translation perspective, this policy will support our desire to expedite awareness of and facilitate the use of research findings by policy makers, health care administrators, clinicians, and the public, by greatly increasing ease of access to research.

Adhering with the policy – Open access publications

For journal publications, there are two ways to adhere with the policy:

The SHERPA/RoMEO database contains a searchable listing of journal publisher's copyright and self-archiving policies which will help researchers to determine journals that adhere with CIHR policy.

Additional information and resources

A suite of tools and resources were developed to help clarify the policy and how it affects grant recipients:

For further information, please contact openaccess-libreacces@cihr-irsc.gc.ca.

Jointly administered by:

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