Today, many national and international funders (including the European Commission, government agencies and private foundations) have open access policies and mandates. These require grant recipients to provide open access to the published results of funded research. In some cases, funders have specific requirements for immediate open access publishing, licensing, and copyright retention.

Broadly speaking, if a journal publishes under the Diamond or Gold model (see What is an open access journal?) and meets minimum technical requirements (e.g. as required by cOAlition S in Europe), then it is likely to be compliant with funder requirements for open access publication. Hybrid journals, or journals transitioning to open access, may need to seek further guidance on compliant publishing routes, particularly as open access is becoming a standard expectation. Some funders are moving to support green open access, too.

Navigating funder requirements around the world

Open access requirements set by research funders vary around the world. However, most public research funders expect grant holders to publish outputs arising from funded research in venues that offer immediate open access publication. Alternatively, grant holders may be able to self-archive publications in an institutional open access repository, potentially allowing an embargo period (Green open access – see Glossary).

Research funders often specify licence options, too, meaning that open access journals should ensure the set of licences available to authors–the grant holders–aligns with expectations. Offering Creative Commons licences is the easiest way to comply with the most widespread funder requirements. We recommend that journals avoid crafting custom licensing options or offering less common licences (unless there is a clear rationale for doing so).

Where a journal does not offer compliant publishing options for a funded author, the author may be unwilling or unable to publish in that journal. It is therefore essential to identify key funders for the subject area(s) served by the journal and to keep up to date with changes in their policy requirements. Some databases and tools can help to find up-to-date information on funder requirements relating to open access:

• Sherpa Juliet, part of Open Policy Finder, is a searchable database and single focal point of up-to-date information concerning international funders policies and their requirements on open access, publication and data archiving.
• ROARMAP is the Registry of Open Access Repository Mandates and Policies. It is a database of international funder and institutional open access policies.
• cOAlition S Journal Checker Tool allows authors funded by the funders belonging to cOAlition S to determine whether they may publish in a given journal.