Funders' requirements for Open Access

Both on institutional, national and international levels, the requirements for Open Access (OA) are increasing. Nord University’s Open Access policy establishes the local guidelines for OA publishing at Nord University.

The Norwegian government has also developed national goals and guidelines for Open Access (OA). The OA policy and the national guidelines ​apply to all researchers at Nord University.

In addition require funders like the Norwegian Research Council (RCN), EU – e.g. through the European Open Access initiative Plan S – and Northern Norway Regional Health Authority (Helse Nord) that all scholarly publications they fund must be published Open Access.​

For an overview of requirements and recommendations on Open Access by other research funders, check the database Sherpa Juliet.

Open Access p​​olicy for Nord University

Summary of Nord University's OA policy:

National ​goals and guidelines for Open Access to research articles

The aim of the Norwegian Government is that all publicly funded Norwegian research articles shall be openly accessible within 2024. The Government has therefore established guidelines and measures for Open Access to research articles.

    • Researchers must publish in Open Access journals as long as this is academically justifiable
    • Only in special cases may articles based on public funding be published in journals that do not allow articles to be made accessible in open repositories
    • All publicly funded research articles must be deposited in a suitable repository no later than at the time of publication
    • Institutions that finance research projects shall contribute to covering the costs of Open Access publication​s

​The Research Council of Norway (RCN)

If your project is funded by the Research Council of Norway (RCN), different regulations ​concerning Open Access apply depending on the time of the call.​

    • The Research Council of Norway requires Open Access to all scholarly articles resulting from research that is fully or partly funded by the Research Council
    • In addition, all scholarly journal articles that result from RCN projects must be deposited in an open repository
    • If articles result from projects that are fully or partly funded by the Research Council are not self-archived according to principles of Open Access, the Research Council may withhold funding (according to RCN's principles for Open Access (2014, PDF)). 
    • If the project owner has not fulfilled the obligations relating to reporting and archiving, RCN can cancel the contract. If the Research Council cancels the contract, it also has the right to claim reimbursement for disbursed allocations.
    • Researchers applying for RCN projects from 2021 onwards, should include costs for Open Access articles in the indirect costs of the project
    • Open Science practices in the project are one of the evaluation criteria for calls from RCN
    • For calls from 2023 onwards, also OA books and book chapters shall be published Open Access; publication costs for OA books and book chapters should be included in the direct costs of the project. This is only valid for books that are published OA immediately; books with an embargo period cannot be funded through project costs
    • When submitting your manuscript to a scholarly journal, you have to inform the publisher through the following statement that Plan S requirements apply to the article:

      This research was funded, in whole or in part, by The Research Council of Norway [6​-digit project number]. A CC BY or equivalent licence is applied to any Author Accepted Manuscript (AAM) version arising from this submission, in accordance with the grant’s open access conditions.
    • RCN’s support of Plan S entails requirements for immediate self-archiving and use of licences​
    • Scholarly articles shall be made available with a CC BY licence (alternatively CC BY-SA or CC0); CC BY-ND can ​be arranged with the funder if scientific reasons require this
    • Scholarly books shall be made available with a CC BY, CC BY-ND or CC BY-NC licence. RCN recommends immediate OA publishing, but accepts an embargo period of max. 12 months
    • If the realisation of the project deviates from the contract, RCN can stop further payments to the project
    • In case of deviations from and/or breaches of the contract, the RCN will demand repayment of the disbursed allocations from the project owner
    • RCN may cancel the contract when the project owner has violated their obligations to archive publications
    • RCN's general terms as of 1 January 2021 (PDF)​​ - see no.s 10, 17 & 18
    • See also RCN's requirements on Open Access to publications​ (calls from 2021 onwards) and RCN's guidelines for Open Access to academic books (calls from 2023 onwards, PDF)
    • Read more about RCN and Plan S on RCN'​s websites​

EU

If your project is funded by ​the EU, regulations ​concerning Open Access vary according to  the EU programme in question.

    • A machine-readable electronic version of the publishers PDF or final manuscript version (postprint) must be deposited to a suitable repository, e.g. Nord Open Research Archive. The article must be archived as soon as possible, and no later than at the time of publication. Please note: This also applies if you have published your article Open Access (gold or hybrid OA)
    • Once your publication has been ​​deposited, Open Access shall be ensured via the chosen repository. The maximum embargo period is 6 months for articles in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) journals and 12 months for SSH (Social Sciences and Humanities) journals.
    • Metadata on the publication is made openly accessible immediately, without embargo, so that the publication becomes searchable and findable in the archive

    • Costs for Open Access publishing can be included in the project application
    • Open Science is one of the evaluation criteria for calls for Horizon Europe projects. How Open Science practices shall be implemented in the project, must be described in the application
    • Scholarly peer-reviewed publications must be made immediately Open Access at the time of publication, under an open license (like Creative Commons)
    • The required licences are as follows: CC BY for articles and book chapters in edited books, and CC BY, CC BY-NC, CC BY-ND, CC BY-NC-ND or equivalent for long-text formats (e.g. monographs) - read more about rights and licences
    • All peer-reviewed publications of a project must be made openly available through a repository at the time of publication.​
    • To facilitate compliance with Open Access obligations, Horizon Europe encourages you to notify publishers of your grant agreement obligations (including the licensing requirements) when submitting your manuscript, e.g. by adding the following statement to your manuscript:

    ​This work was funded by the Εuropean Union under the Horizon Europe grant [grant number]. As set out in the Grant Agreement, beneficiaries must ensure that at the latest at the time of publication, ope​n access is provided via a trusted repository to the published version or the final peer-reviewed manuscript accepted for publication under the latest available version of the Creative Commons Attribution International Public Licence (CC BY) or a licence with equivalent rights. CC BY-NC, CC BY-ND, CC BY-NC-ND or equivalent licenses could be applied to long-text formats.

Northern Norway Regional Health Authority (Helse Nord)

If your project is funded by Northern Norway Regional Health Authority (Helse Nord), you are obliged to publish your scholarly articles Open Access.

    • Scholarly articles must be published Open Access. Primarily, open journals/platforms shall be used
    • Publication costs in pure/gold OA journals are not covered by individual projects, but can be covered after application to Helse Nord's publishing Fund (in Norwegian)
    • Research funding cannot be used to pay for Open Access publication of an individual article in an otherwise subscription-based journal (hybrid OA)
    • Authors must self-archive their scholarly publications (both OA articles and articles in subscription-based journals) in an open repository
    • When publishing in subscription-based journals (not Open Access), the accepted manuscript version must be made available in an open repository at the time of publication
    • Helse Nord requires researchers to inform the publisher on their requirements for Open Access when submitting a manuscript:
      This research was funded in whole or in part by Northern Norway Regional Health Authority (prosjektnummer). For the purpose of Open Access, the author has applied a CC BY public copyright licence to any Author Accepted Manuscript (AAM) version arising from this submission.
    • See Open Access requirements in Helse Nord's announcement of research funding for 2024 (in Norwegian)
OA policy for Nord University (PDF)
National goals and guidelines
Guidelines RCN (2021)
Assessment of open science in grant applications RCN (2023)
Guidelines EU (Horizon 2020, PDF)
Guidelines EU (Horizon Europe 2021 - 2027, PDF)
Plan S
Northern Norway Regional Health Authority (Helse Nord; funding announcement 2024, PDF)
Sherpa Juliet

Contact person