Open access funding

These organisations have a block award to cover open access publishing costs.

Each organisation has its own guide which can be accessed from the links below.

• Aberdeen University
• Babraham Institute
• Birmingham University
• Birkbeck College, University of London
• Bristol University
• Cambridge University
• Cardiff University
• Crick Institute
• Dundee University
• Durham University
• East Anglia University
• Edinburgh University
• Exeter University
• Glasgow University
• Institute of Cancer Research
• Imperial College London
• Keele University
• King’s College London
• Leeds University
• Leicester University
• Liverpool University
• Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine
• London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
• Manchester University
• Newcastle University
• University of Nottingham
• Oxford University
• Pirbright Institute
• Queen Mary College, University of London
• Queen’s University of Belfast
• Sheffield University
• Southampton University
• St Andrews University
• Strathclyde University
• Sussex University
• University College London
• Warwick University
• York University.

The funding may be used to cover:

• Article Processing Charges (APCs) for original research articles published in fully open access journals or platforms.
• APCs for Transformative Journals.
• From January 2021 to December 2024, to contribute towards the publishing element of Transformative 'read and publish' Agreements, such as Springer Compact, Microbiology Society or Wiley.
  Read Wellcome's support for Transformative Arrangements [PDF 192KB] for more information.
• APCs for articles reporting original research submitted to subscription journals before 1 January 2021, where the publisher provides a compliant paid open access option.
• Research /study protocols, systemic reviews, scoping reviews and meta-analyses. These are not included in our open access policy, but the funds can be used to cover APCs for these article types if they are:
  • authored by Wellcome-funded researchers, and
  • published in fully OA journals or platforms.

Note: where appropriate, eligible APCs costs should be split with other research funders, in line with the funders' relative contributions.

The block grant doesn't cover:

• other charges associated with publication, for example page and colour charges and non-open access publication fees
• open access fees associated with publishing book chapters and monographs.

Every year, we ask all organisations in receipt of an open access block grant to provide details about their open access publications and their associated article processing charges.

• Wellcome open access spend analysis 2018 to 2019
• Spending reviews for 2014 to 2018 on Figshare.

If you’re at an organisation that doesn’t receive open access funding, please email the following details to openaccess@wellcome.org:

• your current employing organisation
• title of the paper
• Wellcome grant reference number
• journal title
• proposed date of publication
• cost of the open access fee.

Email the following details to openaccess@wellcome.org:

• your current employing organisation
• title of the monograph or book chapter
• Wellcome grant reference number
• publisher name
• proposed date of publication
• cost of the open access fee.

We will supplement your research grant and your organisation will be able to claim reimbursement for these additional costs in the usual way.

We will also provide open access funding when a research grant has ended.

You can’t use this funding to cover any non-open access publication costs, including page and/or colour charges.

The open access publication costs should be split proportionately in line with the funders’ relative contributions, where the research reported is:

• funded by more than one funding agency that mandates open access

and

• the funding agency provides funding for open access.

Organisations should charge the proportional costs to the appropriate funder.

If research funders don’t mandate open access, or if Wellcome is the lead funder on a piece of research, we’re willing to meet the full open access fee.