Open Access

New UKRI open access policy (from 1 April 2022) 

The new UKRI policy applies to all research and review articles submitted on or after 1 April 2022 and to monographs, book chapters and edited collections published on or after 1 Jan 2024. 

New policy requirements

• UKRI-funded articles submitted on or after 1 April 2022 must be made open access immediately (either via the Green or Gold open access routes) with a CC BY licence and no embargo.
• A data access statement must be included (even when there is no underlying data or the data is restricted).

How do I comply?

Check if your chosen journal has a compliant open access route before you submit your paper. Contact the Open Access team for help checking journal compliance:

There are two routes to compliance:

Route 1: Gold open access  

• Publish open access in a journal or publishing platform which makes the Version of Record immediately open access with a CC BY licence.
• There are three compliant Gold open access routes available to LSE researchers:
  • Publish in a journal covered by one of LSE's transformative publishing agreements (List of eligible journals, LSE author MUST be the corresponding author).
  • Publish in a fully open access journal (indexed in Directory of Open Access Journals).
  • Publish in a JISC-Approved "Transformative Journal".
• See the Route 1 compliance flowchart for more information on checking journal compliance for Gold open access.

Route 2: Green open access  (if it is not possible to comply via Route 1)

• Publish the article in a subscription journal and deposit your Author’s Accepted Manuscript in LSE Research Online with a CC BY licence. A publisher embargo period is not permitted.  
• You MUST include a Rights Retention statement on the submitted manuscript in order to comply.
• See the Route 2 compliance flowchart for guidance on green open access and rights retention.

What else do I need to do?  

• Acknowledge your funding. Guidance on wording the statement.
• Include a data access statement. You must do this even if there is no underlying data or the data is not accessible. For help, see the Research Data Management web page. 
• Choose a CC BY licence. In exceptional circumstances you may be permitted to apply a more restrictive licence.
• MRC and BBSRC funded researchers must also deposit their papers in EuropePMC.

For monographs, book chapters and edited collections published on or after 1 Jan 2024, either the version of record or accepted manuscript must be open access within 12 months of first publication. The CC BY licence is preferred but other CC licences will be accepted.  

The following exceptions will apply: 

• Does not apply to trade books, scholarly editions, exhibition catalogues, scholarly illustrated catalogues, textbooks.
• Exceptions will be accepted where the only appropriate publisher is unable to offer open access.
• Does not apply to researchers with UKRI Studentships or Training Grants. 

This page will be updated with more information about funding and compliance routes for open access monographs. If you have questions in the meantime, please contact the Open Access team. 

UKRI open access policy and FAQ

Research articles, monographs, and associated research data, wholly or partly funded by ERC or Horizon 2020, must be made available open access within the following time frames: 

• 12 months from the date of publication (SSH subjects) 
• 6 months from the date of publication (STEM subjects and all other papers) 

How do I comply? 

• Deposit your accepted manuscript in LSE Research Online and we will make it open access in accordance with publisher permission (Green open access). 
• If the journal embargo exceeds the maximum permitted by the policy, pay an APC to publish (Gold open access). 
• If your paper is accepted in an eligible journal covered by one of our transformative publishing agreements, the paper will be published Gold open access without the payment of an APC (conditions apply). 

What else do I need to do? 

• Provide an acknowledgement of funding in the following format: "This project has received funding from the [European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme] under grant number No. [Number]."
• Deposit a copy of the article in LSE Research Online, even if the Gold route has been chosen.
• Add the paper into your final report to the European Commission 

Am I eligible for funding for Gold open access? 

• No, open access fees must be budgeted into grants as “direct eligible costs” provided they are incurred during the project. 

ERC open access policy  

Horizon 2020 open access policy 

Horizon 2020 factsheet for researcher 

Peer-reviewed research articles and monographs wholly or partly funded by Horizon Europe, must be made available open access immediately and no later than the date of publication. 

For research and review articles and conference papers: 

• Either the version of record or the author accepted manuscript must be deposited in LSE Research Online and made immediately open access.  
• No embargo will be permitted for Green open access. 
• Publication fees are only reimbursable from your Horizon Europe grant if the journal is fully open access  
• If your paper is accepted in an eligible journal covered by one of our transformative publishing agreements, the paper will be published Gold open access without the payment of an APC (conditions apply).
  
• CC-BY licence must be applied.  

For monographs, book chapters and edited collections: 

• Either the version of record or accepted manuscript must be open access immediately. 
• CC-BY licence is preferred but other CC licences accepted. 
• Costs must be budgeted into grant 
• Publication fees must be costed into your grant application. 

Research Data Management 

Grant beneficiaries must manage their research data in line with FAIR principles and do the following: 

• Write a Data Management Plan.
• Deposit the data in a trusted repository and make open access under a CC BY or equivalent licence. 
• Provide information about any research output/tools/instruments needed to reuse or validate the data. 

What else do I need to do?

• Provide an acknowledgement of funding in the following format: "This project has received funding from the [European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme] under grant number No. [Number]."
• Add the paper into your final report to the European Commission 

Am I eligible for funding for Gold open access?

• No, open access fees must be budgeted into grants as “direct eligible costs” provided they are incurred during the project.

Contact the Open Access team if you have any questions about complying with your EU funder. 

If your research funder is not listed here, please contact the Open Access team and we will advise on how to ensure your research outputs comply with any open access requirements. 

Examples of funder policies that we can help with include: 

• Wellcome 
• Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
• National Institute for Health Research 
• Other Plan S funders