Why Open Research?

Funders worldwide are requiring research outputs, including articles and data, to be openly available. Data from the Registry of Open Access Mandates and Policies (ROARMAP) shows the steady increase in policies over the last decade.

You can search the ROARMAP database by country, policymaker type, and policy details, such as the time period in which research outputs must be shared or if a specific license is required. The database also allows authors to search for funders and institutions with policies that provide funding for open publishing.

You can also search for funder policies on article and data sharing via SHERPA/JULIET. For example, a search for 'United States' retrieves 12 funders requiring open publishing or archiving of articles and 9 funders requiring open archiving of data.

In 2013, John Holdren, director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, issued a memo requiring U.S. government agencies to increase access to federally funded research [pdf]. You can find more information on agency policies here, or check out this great summary graphic.

Find information specifically on U.K. funders' data sharing policies through the Digital Curation Centre.

For a more international perspective, see this great round-up by the Australasian Open Access Support Group of open access statements and policies from funders and governments around the world.

All publications shall be available immediately upon their publication, without any embargo period...The foundation will require that data underlying the published research results be immediately accessible and open.

Investigators are expected to share with other researchers...the primary data, samples, physical collections and other supporting materials created or gathered in the course of work under NSF grants.

NIH expects the timely release and sharing of data to be no later than the acceptance for publication of the main findings from the final dataset.

All projects receiving Horizon 2020 funding will have the obligation to make sure any peer reviewed journal article they publish is openly accessible, free of charge.

The Wellcome Trust expects Trust funded researchers to select publishing routes that ensure the work is available immediately on publication

The Shuttleworth Foundation offers fellowships to individuals to implement their innovative idea for social change. We are most interested in exceptional ideas at the intersection between technology, knowledge and learning, with openness being the key requirement.

We're looking for researchers with a passion for open source and data sharing, already working to shift research practice to be more collaborative, iterative and open.

The Open Science Prize is a partnership between the Wellcome Trust, the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute to unleash the power of open content and data to advance biomedical research and its application for health benefit.