CIHR Open Access Policy

Notice

Amendments were made to the CIHR Open Access Policy, formerly known as the Policy on Access to Research Outputs. As of January 1, 2013, CIHR-funded researchers will be required to make their peer-reviewed publications accessible at no cost within 12 months of publication – at the latest. While the revised Policy provides researchers with clear guidance on CIHR's minimum expectation, in the spirit of public benefits of research, CIHR continues to encourage researchers to make their publications accessible for free as soon as possible after publication. Compliance with the Open Access Policy will continue to be monitored through end of grant reporting.

Policy Summary

As of January 1, 2013, researchers awarded funding from CIHR are required to adhere with the following responsibilities:

  • ensure that all research papers generated from CIHR funded projects are freely accessible through the Publisher's website or an online repository within 12 months of publication;
  • deposit bioinformatics, atomic, and molecular coordinate data into the appropriate public database (e.g. gene sequences deposited in GenBank) immediately upon publication of research results;
  • retain original data sets for a minimum of five years (or longer if other policies apply);
  • and acknowledge CIHR support by quoting the funding reference number in journal publications.

CIHR Open Access Policy

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 new policy – Open access publications

CIHR encourages researchers to deposit all their peer-reviewed articles in PubMed Central Canada (PMC Canada)

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

  • Submit your manuscript to a journal that offers immediate open access or offers open access to the paper on its website within 12 months.
  • Submit your manuscript to a journal that does not offer open access, but will permit you to archive the peer-reviewed manuscript in a central or institutional repository within 12 months of publication.

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

Additional information and resources

CIHR has developed a suite of tools and resources that will help clarify this new policy and how it will affect grant recipients:

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

Notice

NSERC and SSHRC consult their communities about Open Access

Modeled after CIHR’s policy, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) are beginning a consultation with their communities on a Draft Tri-Agency Open Access Policy. The goal of the tri-agency policy is to have a unified approach to open access between the federal granting agencies. CIHR funded researchers are not affected by this consultation as CIHR’s Open Access Policy remains unchanged and mandatory.

For more information about the SSHRC and NSERC consultation on the Draft Tri-Agency Open Access Policy