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Our Open Access publishing policy

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1.    Overview

We support basic and translational research aimed at improving the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of all cancers. The formal dissemination of results to the research community is an integral part of the research process that can be achieved through publication in scientific journals, as well as by sharing scientific manuscripts enroute to publication in established preprint services. We believe that it is only by sharing new scientific insights widely and promptly that improvements to the lives of people affected by cancer can be made as quickly as possible.

However, the traditional model of scientific publication has, for years, locked research data away in subscription journals, allowing access only in return for payment. This may not present a problem to scientists working in well-funded research institutions, but it can prevent those working in developing countries or at less affluent institutes from accessing the latest research findings in their field.

As a charity funded solely by public donations, we also subscribe to the principle that the findings of research supported by our charitable donations ought to be freely available to the public that funded it.

2.    Scope

We have a policy that all peer-reviewed articles describing original research that was fully or partially funded by Worldwide Cancer Research must be published in open access form. This policy does not apply to reviews, book chapters and preprints. 

3.    Compliance

The publication of peer-reviewed articles in open access form is a mandatory part of our terms and conditions for our grant awards. Failure to comply with this policy may ultimately affect the likelihood of being awarded any future grants.

There are two different routes you can follow to comply with this policy: 

Route 1. Publish the research article in a fully open access journal where the publisher makes the Version of Record (VOR) freely available immediately on publication via its website. It is the grantholder’s responsibility to ensure that the VOR is archived into the digital repositories Europe PMC , PubMed Central or other linked PubMed repository. This is our preferred route. 

Route 2. Publish in any subscription journal that allows researchers to self-deposit the Accepted Author Manuscript (AAM) or VOR in Europe PMC, PubMed Central or other repository at time of publication or within 6 months of publication. 


Worldwide Cancer Research should be acknowledged in all submissions using the format: “This work was supported by Worldwide Cancer Research (grant reference number xx-xxxx)”.

4.    Licence

The published and deposited versions must have a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) licence, so they may be freely copied and re-used.    

5.    Funding

All past and present grantholders are eligible to apply for funding to cover any fair and reasonable open access fees to publish findings from research that was wholly or substantially supported by Worldwide Cancer Research. 

  1. Funding will only be awarded if the authors do not have access to other funding sources. 
  2. Where a publication has arisen from research funded by more than one funder, the associated open access fees should be proportionally allocated. 
  3. Worldwide Cancer Research funding is only provided for publishing in fully open access journals or subscription journals that are part of a transformative arrangement showing they are actively committed to transitioning all its research content to open access. It will not be possible to use open access funding for publication in transformative journals after 31 December 2024.
  4. All funding requests must be made prior to publication by contacting the Research Team via [email protected] and completing the application form. Decisions will be made within 2 weeks following receipt of an application.
  5. The maximum contribution Worldwide Cancer Research will make to open access publishing fees is £2,000. A separate payment will be made to reimburse costs. Costs must not be charged to individual grants.

6.    Enquiries

Worldwide Cancer Research reserves the right to amend this policy as appropriate. For any questions about this policy please contact [email protected].

 

[1] Worldwide Cancer Research is a member of the Europe PMC funding group to support its grantholders to make their research findings freely available.

 

Updated 05/03/24