Open access a must for Wellcome Trust researchers

29 September 2005

The Wellcome Trust is to become the first scientific research funder to insist that papers emanating from its grant awards are placed in an open access repository.

From 1 October 2005 it will become a condition of funding that papers are posted on the free-to-access life sciences archive 'PubMed Central' and made accessible within six months of publication. To facilitate this, a manuscript submission system has been set up, through which papers accepted for publication in a peer-reviewed journal can be deposited in PubMed Central.

Initially, this condition applies to grants awarded after 1 October 2005. From 1 October 2006, all existing Wellcome Trust grant holders will have to deposit future papers into PubMed Central. This delay will allow existing grant holders time to adjust to the new policy and communicate any possible difficulties.

During this time, the Wellcome Trust, working in partnership with other UK life sciences funders, plans to establish a UK version of PubMed Central: UKPMC.

This latest move comes as part of a Wellcome Trust drive to push forward open access publication of scientific literature, making findings freely available to all those who want to see them.

Open access a must for Wellcome Trust researchers

See also