Tri-Agency policy on Open Access
The Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC), and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) recognize the value of Open Access and require that all peer-reviewed journal articles arising from Agency-supported research be made available as Open Access within 12 months of publication.Notice: 2025 review of the Tri-Agency Open Access policy
Canada's federal research granting agencies are reviewing their Open Access policy with the goal of requiring any peer-reviewed publications arising from agency-supported research to be made available freely at the time of publication. The new policy will be released by the end of 2025.
- Policy statement
Grant recipients must ensure that their peer-reviewed journal publications from Agency-supported research are freely accessible within 12 months of publication.
- Who does this apply to?
All researchers who have received Tri-Agency grant funding are required to comply.
- How to comply with this policy
Researchers can comply by two routes:
Online Repositories: Recipients can deposit their final manuscript into an institutional or disciplinary repository, such as Scholarship at UWindsor, which will make it freely accessible within 12 months.
Journals: Recipients can publish in a journal offering immediate open access or open access on its website within 12 months. Some journals may require authors to pay article processing charges (APCs) for immediate access. These APCs are eligible expenses under grant funds.Both routes can be used together, and depositing manuscripts into online repositories is encouraged even if the article is already available on a journal's website. Note: In the case of UWindsor researchers, the Senate Policy requires Tri-Agency-funded research to be deposited in the institutional repository.
Learn more about paths to Open Access, and how Leddy Library supports researchers to do so.
University of Windsor Senate policy on Open Access
The University Senate has approved an Open Access Policy, reinforcing UWindsor's dedication to making research widely accessible. This policy requires or strongly recommends that researchers to submit their scholarly articles to the University's open digital repository, Scholarship at UWindsor.- Policy statement
All researchers are strongly encouraged to deposit digital copies of publications on which they are authors or co-authors in the Scholarship at UWindsor institutional repository.
Furthermore, researchers who receive Tri-Agency funding are required to deposit their research publications in the institutional repository.- Who does this apply to?
All UWindsor faculty and staff.
- How to comply with this policy
Once the publication has been accepted, deposit an appropriate copy of your publication in the institutional repository. You can either deposit it yourself or have us do it on your behalf.
Learn more on how to do this and how to get assistance.
Other policies
Many other Canadian funders also have open access policies, including the Canadian Cancer Society, the Fonds de la recherche en santé du Québec, and the International Development Research Centre.Internationally, funders in the United States, Europe, the United Kingdom, and Australia also have open access policies. Policies internationally tend to require open availability of research immediately at publication.
To verify whether your funding agency has an OA policy, consult the Sherpa Juliet database of research funders' open access policies.
Please do not hesitate to contact us to help you understand any OA policy requirements.