Since 2015 research funders NWO, ZonMw and the EU require Open Access publishing to obtain funding. Over the years, the conditions for funding have become stricter. What the options are for meeting these requirements and at what cost, depends on the journal in which the research is published. Below you can find routes to compliance with Open Access policies that apply to calls announced in 2021 and later. Did you receive your grant before 2021? To determine route to compliance with the Open Access policy, follow the chart.
Journal articles
1. Gold Open Access route
Publish in a full gold Open Access journal or Open Access platform which meets cOAlition S’ requirements. Use the Journal Checker Tool to determine if the journal of your choice is Plan S compliant.
Funders will financially support Open Access costs for this route, the costs must be budgeted in the grant proposal. Learn more about specific funding conditions for Open Access here.
2. Transformative agreements route
Publish in a subscription-based journal that is part of a transformative Read and Publish agreement. Use the Journal Browser to find out whether the journal of your choice is part of such agreement. Learn more about the terms and conditions of current deals with publishers.
Open Access costs of eligible publications in journals that are part of a transformative agreement are free of charge for the author.
3. Repository route (self-archiving)
Publish in a traditional subscription-based or hybrid journal and make either an accepted (AAM) or a final version (VoR) immediately available through a compliant repository, for instance the TU/e repository, and under a CC-BY 4.0 license by using rights retention strategy.
Read more about this route and the rights retention strategy.
Funders will not financially support Open Access fees for publishing in hybrid journals.
NB. Please note that for publications reporting research funded by EC, ERC, ZonMw or NWO before 2021, less strict requirements apply to the repository route. Read here about the specific requirements for such grants.
How to check whether a journal of your choice is Plan S compliant?
cOAlition S has introduced the Journal Checker Tool (in beta) to enable researchers to quickly identify journals or platforms that provide routes to compliance with Plan S. To use the tool, the researcher has to supply the following information: the funder, the name or ISSN of a journal/platform and the name of affiliated institution. The Journal Checker Tool provides a result that informs the user about a compliant with Plan S route: via fully Open Access journals and platforms, through self-archiving (either via publishers’ own policy or the Rights Retention Strategy) or through Transformative Arrangements.
Conference proceedings
Peer-reviewed conference proceedings that are part of a series identified by ISSN also fall under Plan S requirements and must be made Open Access immediately upon publication. Researchers have the option to follow rights retention strategy and make the Author Accepted Manuscript Open Access with CC-BY in an Open Access repository.
Read more about this route and the rights retention strategy.
TU/e has a R&P agreement with ACM that allows TU/e corresponding authors to publish Open Access articles and conference proceedings for free.
Books, chapters and edited collections
Long-text formats fall under Plan S requirements as well. For long-text formats, the license may exclude commercial uses and derivative works (e.g., CC BY-NC, CC BY-ND). There are two possible routes to compliance:
1) Publish in Gold Open Access. Some funders (e.g. NWO) can financially support publishing costs. These costs must be planned in the grant budget. Learn more about specific funding conditions for Open Access books, chapters and edited collections here.
2) Make an author accepted version of the manuscript Open Access via an Open Access repository (such as TU/e repository) or via the OAPEN Library.
- European Commission requires immediate Open Access to long-text formats.
- NWO allows embargo up to 12 months.
- ZonMw encourages but does not require Open Access to publications other than journal articles.