Like other funding agencies worldwide, the Australian Research Council (ARC) and National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) are committed to ensuring the discoveries made via publicly-funded research are available to all members of the research community and the wider community. To this end, both agencies have introduced Open Access policies.
The policies of both agencies share a similar purpose and possess a number of shared requirements:
The two policies, whilst sharing the aspects in common outlined above, also possess a number of differences. These include:
For more information, please see the overviews of the respective policies below.
The ARC Open Access Policy applies to all recipients of grants under funding rules from 2013 onwards.
Unlike the NHMRC Policy, the ARC OA Policy applies to all research outputs stemming from a grant. Journal articles, books and book chapters, conference papers, reports, theses, and creative works are all considered within scope of the policy.
The policy also applies to graduate researchers whose scholarships are funded in part or full by ARC funds.
The ARC policy only applies to 'research outputs' - the finished 'product' of research - it does not apply to research data or patents.
The current version of the policy (updated June 2017) can be accessed in full here via the ARC's website.
For assistance understanding the policy or for help complying with the policy, please contact the Minerva Access Team.
The NHMRC Open Access Policy possesses a different scope and commencement date to the ARC Policy.
The policy applies only to peer-reviewed journal articles and conference papers. Specifically, all journal articles published since July 1, 2012 and all conference papers published since January 15, 2018.
The policy, unlike the ARC Policy, does not apply to graduate researchers whose scholarships are funded by the NHMRC.
The recently revised NHMRC policy has also been extended beyond research outputs to cover research data and patents. Unlike research outputs, however, compliance for research data is 'strongly encouraged' rather than compulsory at this stage.
The current version of the policy (updated November 2018) can be accessed in full here via the NHMRC's website.
For assistance understanding the policy or for help complying with the policy, please contact the Minerva Access Team.