Mandating Immediate Open Access to Publicly Funded Scholarly Publications and Scientific Data
Overview
On February 16, 2024, the National Policy on Promoting Open Access to Publicly Funded Scholarly Publications and Scientific Data was formulated by the Integrated Innovation Strategy Promotion Council. In that policy, Recipients (including corporations) of competitive research funds which are subject to immediate open access for new applications starting FY2025 among public funds shall be required to publish scholarly publications and scientific data funded by the applicable competitive research funds in information infrastructures such as institutional repositories immediately after publication in academic journals. Creation of that obligation is based on the principles of broadly returning to citizens the research results that are produced from the use of public funds and leading to the development and social implementation of research.
* The term "immediate" in "immediate open access" in the above means that there is no period of prohibition (embargo) after publication in academic journals.
Reference document
Competitive Research Funding Systems Subject to Immediate Open Access
The research funds systems below that newly conduct public solicitation in or after fiscal 2025 are subject to immediate open access. Even if they are matters that are issued in or after fiscal 2025, matters for which public solicitation was conducted in or before fiscal 2024 are not subject to the obligation.
| Ministry name | Funding Agency | Name of System |
|---|---|---|
| Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology | Japan Society for the Promotion of Science | Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research |
| Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology | Japan Science and Technology Agency | Strategic Basic Research Programs |
| Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology | Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development | Strategic Basic Research Programs（Advanced Research & Development Programs for Medical Innovation） |
| Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology | Japan Science and Technology Agency | Fusion Oriented REsearch for disruptive Science and Technology |
* Excerpted from the "Measures for the Implementation of the 'National Policy on Promoting Open Access to Publicly Funded Scholarly Publications and Scientific Data'".
Research Results Subject to Immediate Open Access
The immediate open access is applied to peer-reviewed scholarly publications and scientific data.
- The peer-reviewed scholarly publications are those which published in electronic journals, including author accepted manuscript.
- The scientific data are research data that are required to be published from the viewpoint of ensuring transparency and reproducibility in the writing guidelines and publication regulations of electronic journals in which the scholarly publication is published.
Ways to Achieve Immediate Open Access
If institutional repositories are available at the institution to which the recipients of target competitive research funds (including corporations; hereinafter referred to as "RECIPIENTS") belong, RECIPIENTS shall, in principle, publish their scholarly publications and scientific data in the institutional repositories. If you belong to Meiji University, in principle, please post research results to Meiji Repository and publicly disclose such results. In addition to the above, if certain conditions are met, it is also possible to publish in information infrastructures other than the above. For details, please check the document below.