NIHR open access request form

This option should be used by NIHR award holders to raise requests for additional Open Access funding. Requests can only be made for publications in scope of the NIHR Open Access policy. You should read the Open Access publications funding guidance for more information on what costs NIHR will fund. 

Decisions will be made on a case-by-case basis at the NIHR's sole discretion. Where approved by the NIHR, under-spend under the contract is likely to be reallocated by the NIHR before any additional funding is made available. Please note that there is no guarantee that additional funding will be provided. It is the responsibility of the Chief Investigator/main applicant to ensure that funds are requested in good time to secure funding for Open Access publication when the open access envelope has been depleted.

Open Access funds will remain available to cover the Open Access costs of publications in scope of the policy for up to 2 years after the contract completion date. NIHR award holders can request an extension to the period of time. 

Open Access funds can be accessed for, following award closure. Requests can be made for a maximum period of 5 years post contract completion date, and will be considered on a case-by-case basis.

All articles in scope of the Open Access policy must be published under the Creative Commons attribution licence (CC BY), or Open Government Licence (OGL) when subject to Crown Copyright, to ensure maximum impact. This will permit all users of NIHR funded articles to disseminate and build upon the material for any purpose without further permission or fees being required.

These licensing requirements do not apply to any materials included within a research article that are provided by third party copyright holders, such as photographs or diagrams., The third party materials in the article can be subject to more restrictive copyright licences that outlined in the Open Access policy.

NIHR considers CC BY/OGL to be an appropriate licence in most cases. However, we recognise that some research may require a more restrictive licence, for which a Creative Commons Attribution No-derivatives licence (CC BY-ND) licence may be granted. This licence allows anyone to read and share the original material for free, with appropriate credit (like the CC BY licence), but with the additional restriction that the creation and sharing of a derivative work must be authorised by the copyright holder (this can include translations and adaptations). Creative Commons provides more information about the CC BY-ND licence.

Authors may request the use of a CC BY-ND licence for reasons within the context of the research and NIHR will make decisions on a case-by-case basis. Requests for an exception should be submitted as soon as possible, and before publication of the article.

NIHR encourages authors to give due consideration to not restrict opportunities for sharing and reuse of publicly funded research. More information about licences can be found in the NIHR Open Access publication policy guidance.

Once the award/project has ended, any remaining Open Access funds will remain available to cover the Open Access costs of publications in scope of the policy for up to 2 years after the contract completion date.

Post financial reconciliation, the award holder should notify NIHR through this form if further Open Access spend occurs to enable reimbursement to the contractor. Please note, only contracts which closed after 1 June 2022 can apply through this route, and the form is for reimbursement of remaining funds, and not a request for additional funds.