The NHMRC has abandoned its long-standing 12 month delay after publication for peer reviewed research it funds to be free to read 

As of this morning, research publications based on new funding awarded must be available immediately on publication.

All research published up to December 31 next year must be OA from January 1 2024.

The times is right

Council chair Anne Kelso says, “making publicly-funded research available as soon as possible supports knowledge sharing and rapid innovation. It also advances human health in Australia and globally, as witnessed during the COVID-19 pandemic.”

The NMHRC had previously proposed adopting OA on publication for 2022 but encountered ambivalence, at least, from stakeholders (CMM April 16 and November 2 2021). But the international OA impetus has increased since them  – President Biden has ordered OA on publication for all US Government funded research by end 2025 (CMM August 29).

The Council sets out publishing options

* paid open access: authors or their institutions pay a fee or “article processing charge”

* free to publish, free to read: articles are deposited in an open on-line repository, generally institutionally based or discipline linked.

However paying to publish an article in an otherwise subscription journal is not acceptable, unless such hybrid publications are part of agreement between a group of research institutions and a publisher.

The NHMRC will allow grant funds to go to article processing charges, but “notes that not all routes to open access require a payment of a fee and recommends that authors consider this factor when deciding where to publish their work.”

The Council also “strongly encourages researchers to share data and metadata arising from research it funds

Both should be deposited “in a well-curated, openly accessible data repository.”

What’s next

The NHMRC moving on OA sets a new standard for Australia – medical sciences are where the research action is. But the existing Australian Research Council policy requires OA 12 months from publication. It’s up for review next June.