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Open Access

Tri-Agency Open Access Policy onPublications
1. Preamble
The Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), the Natural Sciencesand Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) and the Social
Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) ("theAgencies") are federal granting agencies that promote and support
research, research training and innovation within Canada. As publicly
funded organizations, the Agencies have a fundamental interest inpromoting the availability of findings that result from the research theyfund, including research publications and data, to the widest possible
audience, and at the earliest possible opportunity. Societal advancement ismade possible through widespread and barrier-free access to cutting-edge
research and knowledge, enabling researchers, scholars, clinicians,
policymakers, private sector and not-for-profit organizations and the public
to use and build on this knowledge.
Information and communications technology, and in particular the adventof the internet, has transformed the way that science and scholarly
research is conducted and communicated. Indicative of this changing
landscape has been the steady growth in open access publishing andarchiving, which facilitates widespread dissemination of research results.
Open access enables researchers to make their publications freely available

to the domestic and international research community and to the public atlarge, thereby enhancing the use, application and impact of research
results.
Momentum for open access has been growing as numerous funding
agencies and institutions worldwide implement open access policies. The
Agencies strongly support open access to research results which promotes
the principle of knowledge sharing and mobilization - an essential objectiveof academia. As research and scholarship become increasingly multidisciplinary and collaborative, both domestically and internationally, theAgencies are working to facilitate research partnerships by harmonizing
domestic policies and aligning with the global movement to open access.
The following principles guide the Agencies in their approach to promoting
open access to research publications:
Committing to academic freedom, and the right to publish;
Recognizing the critical importance of peer review to the scholarly
communication ecosystem;
Maintaining the high standards and quality of research by committing
to academic openness and responsible conduct of research;
Promoting recognized research best practices and standards acrossdisciplines, and embracing and sharing emerging practices andstandards;
Advancing academic research, science and innovation;
Effective dissemination of research results; andAligning activities and policies between Canadian and international
research funding agencies.

2. Policy Objective

The objective of this policy is to improve access to the results of Agencyfunded research, and to increase the dissemination and exchange ofresearch results. All researchers, regardless of funding support, areencouraged to adhere to this policy.

3. Policy Statement
3.1 Peer-reviewed Journal Publications
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. Recipients can do this through one of thefollowing routes:
a. Online Repositories
Grant recipients can deposit their final, peer-reviewed manuscript into
an institutional or disciplinary repository that will make the manuscript
freely accessible within 12 months of publication. It is the responsibilityof the grant recipient to determine which publishers allow authors toretain copyright and/or allow authors to archive journal publications inaccordance with funding agency policies.
b. Journals
Grant recipients can publish in a journal that offers immediate open
access or that offers open access on its website within 12 months.
Some journals require authors to pay article processing charges (APCs)
to make manuscripts freely available upon publication. The cost of
publishing in open access journals is an eligible expense under the Useof Grant Funds.

These routes to open access are not mutually exclusive. Researchers arestrongly encouraged to deposit a copy of the final, peer-reviewed
manuscript into an accessible online repository immediately upon
publication, even if the article is freely available on the journal's website.
Grant recipients must acknowledge Agency contributions in all peerreviewed publications, quoting the funding reference number (e.g. FRN,
Application ID).

3.2 Publication-related Research Data
CIHR only
Recipients of CIHR funding are required to adhere with the following
responsibilities:
Deposit bioinformatics, atomic, and molecular coordinate data into theappropriate public database (e.g. gene sequences deposited inGenBank) immediately upon publication of research results. Pleaserefer to the Annex for examples of research outputs and thecorresponding publicly accessible repository or database.
Retain original data sets for a minimum of five years after the end of
the grant (or longer if other policies apply).This applies to all data,
whether published or not. The grant recipient's institution andresearch ethics board may have additional policies and practices
regarding the preservation, retention, and protection of research datathat must be respected.

4. Implementation DateCIHR

For research funded in whole or in part by CIHR, this policy applies to allgrants awarded January 1, 2008 and onward. While not required,researchers holding grants that were awarded prior to January 1, 2008 areencouraged to adhere to the requirements of this policy.
NSERC and SSHRC
For research funded in whole or in part by NSERC or SSHRC, this policy
applies to all grants awarded May 1, 2015 and onward. While not required,researchers holding grants that were awarded prior to May 1, 2015 areencouraged to adhere to the requirements of this policy.

5. Compliance with the Policy
Grant recipients are reminded that by accepting Agency funds they haveaccepted the terms and conditions of the grant or award as set out in theAgencies' policies and guidelines. In the event of an alleged breach ofAgency policy, the Agency may take steps outlined in accordance with theTri-Agency Framework: Responsible Conduct of Research to deal with theallegation. For research funded by the Agencies, the Institution shall enable
researchers to comply with the Tri-Agency Open Access Publication Policy,
as amended from time to time.

6. Policy Review
The Agencies will review and adapt this policy as appropriate.

7. Additional Information
A) Various resources to assist researchers in complying with this policy canbe found in the Toolbox.

B) Further information regarding how to comply with the open accesspolicy can be found in the Frequently Asked Questions.

Date modified:
2016-12-21