Open Access to Research Publications
As a publicly funded organization, CIHR has a fundamental responsibility in promoting the availability of findings that result from agency-funded research, including research publications, to the widest possible audience, and at the earliest possible opportunity. Societal advancement is made 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.
Open access (OA) publishing enables researchers to make their publications freely available to other researchers and the public at large, thereby enhancing the use, application and impact of research results. CIHR's support for OA is guided by the agency's commitment to academic freedom and the right to publish; scientific openness, integrity and ethics; and to promoting research, publishing and editorial best practices and standards across disciplines.
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Statements and Policies
CIHR has developed statements and policies that guide its directions and expectations with respect to open access publishing.
Tri-Agency Open Access (OA) Policy on Publications
Launched in 2015, the Tri-Agency OA Policy requires peer-reviewed journal publications arising from CIHR-, NSERC- or SSHRC-funded research be made freely available within 12 months of publication. The objective of this Policy is to improve access to the results of agency-funded research, and to increase the dissemination and exchange of research results. All researchers, regardless of funding support, are encouraged to adhere to this Policy.In July 2023, CIHR, NSERC and SSHRC 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. The renewed OA Policy will be released by the end of 2025.
Preprints at CIHR
Preprints are scientific manuscripts that have not gone through peer review. Many preprints are deposited into secure, persistent, and freely available online platforms known as preprint servers. Manuscript submissions to preprint servers are generally undertaken in advance of, or in tandem with submissions to scientific journals and are shared before undergoing formal peer review. CIHR accepts the inclusion of preprints in grant applications as interim research outputs. Posting preprints is not a requirement of the Tri-Agency Open Access (OA) Policy on Publications. Read more about when a preprint can be considered compliant with the OA Policy.CIHR Policy Guide – Requirements for Registration and Disclosure of Results from Clinical Trials
As a signatory of the World Health Organization (WHO)'s Joint Statement on Public Disclosure of Results from Clinical Trials, CIHR implemented policy requirements to improve the timely disclosure of clinical trial (CT) results to increase value and efficiency in the use of research funds, reduce reporting biases and waste in research, and contribute to better decision-making in health. One of the policy requirements is publications describing CT results must be open access from the date of publication. -
Key Partners
National
Canadian Association of Research Libraries (CARL)
The CARL is the national association representing Canada's research library community. CARL is committed to open access as a means of broadening access to scholarly materials and has engaged in various initiatives and activities to support OA.Canadian Research Knowledge Network (CRKN)
The CRKN is a membership organization that aims to improve Canadian institutions' access to the world's research knowledge through content acquisition, supporting digital infrastructure, sustainability advocacy, collaboration, and member mobilization.Public Knowledge Project (PKP)
The PKP is a multi-university initiative developing free open source software and conducting research to improve the quality and reach of scholarly publishing.Coalition Publica
Coalition Publica is a partnership between Érudit and the Public Knowledge Project that seeks to establish a noncommercial, open source national infrastructure to advance research dissemination, digital scholarly publishing, and research in Canada.International
ASAPBIO
ASAPbio (Accelerating Science and Publication in Biology) is a scientist-driven nonprofit working to drive open and innovative communication in the life sciences. It promotes the productive use of preprints for research dissemination and transparent peer review and feedback on all research outputs.OpenAIRE
OpenAIRE's mission is to shift scholarly communication towards openness and transparency and facilitate innovative ways to communicate and monitor research. It does this by facilitating policy alignment, providing open science services, linking research, monitoring (open) science, training key partners in open science practices, building global bridges and facilitating open innovation.The Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition (SPARC)
The SPARC is a global coalition of academic and research libraries that use the resources and support provided by SPARC to actively promote open access to scholarly articles, open sharing of research data, and creation and adoption of open educational resources on their campuses. -
Resources
The resources below include directories of open access repositories and journals, information on publisher policies, and suggestions on how to promote open access.
Association science et bien commun (only in French)
Resources on how to promote open access to research results. (Available in French only.)Bielefeld Academic Search Engine (BASE)
The Bielefeld Academic Search Engine (BASE) is one of the world's most voluminous search engines, particularly for academic web resources. BASE provides more than 240 million documents from more than 8,000 content providers.Canadian Association of Research Libraries (CARL)
Canada's national research library association provides various resources and guidance on publishing open access, including a list on Canadian Institutional Repositories.Directory of Open Access Repositories (OpenDOAR)
OpenDOAR is an international database of repositories, maintained by the UK's Joint Information Systems Committee (Jisc).Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ)
This independent index contains almost 17,500 peer-reviewed, open access journals covering all areas of science, technology, medicine, social sciences, arts and humanities. Open access journals from all countries and in all languages are accepted for indexing.Érudit
The Érudit "Documents and Data Repository" offers advanced and reliable services for hosting, preserving and disseminating scholarly documents such as reports, working papers, communications, preprints, raw data or other types of scientific documents.Scholaris
Institutional repositories, and repository managers, play a vital role in the academic research environment by advancing scholarship and fostering open access to research. As a national shared repository service, Scholaris leverages local expertise to facilitate knowledge sharing, foster collaboration, and increase the discoverability and impact of Canadian research excellence.SHERPA/ROMEO
Sherpa Romeo is an online resource that aggregates and analyses publisher open access policies from around the world and provides summaries of publisher copyright and open access archiving policies on a journal-by-journal basis.
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