Tri-Agency Open Access Policy on Publications (2026)

The Tri-Agency (Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), and/or the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC)) have revised their 2026 Open Access Policy, which applies to “all peer-reviewed research articles resulting from the Agencies' grants and Chair awards awarded as of January 1, 2027, including grants and awards administered by the Tri-agency Institutional Programs Secretariat (TIPS), regardless of whether the publication also features research supported by other funders.” (Guidance and FAQ for 2026 Tri-Agency OA Policy).

 

To comply with the policy:

  • The author(s) must acknowledge agency contributions in the article,
  • The article’s copyright must be published under open license (such as Creative Commons (CC)), and the author must retain sufficient rights,
  • The publisher must be informed of the author(s)’s rights at the time of submission, and
  • When published, the article (either the accepted manuscript, or version of record) must be immediately and freely available (meaning no embargo, and under an open license) through a Canadian institutional repository (like IslandScholar) or a trusted Canadian platform. Note: preprints do not fall under the definition of an accepted manuscript of a version of record.

Questions and clarifications:

Do I have to upload every article I publish to IslandScholar or a trusted Canadian platform if I received tri-agency funding for the research?

  • Any peer-reviewed article partially or fully funded by a Tri-Agency grant or chair award after January 1st, 2027 is required to comply with this policy.
  • If you received funding prior to January 1st, 2027, you are required to comply with the previous policy.

Do I have to submit my article to IslandScholar even if it is published openly and immediately accessible?

  • Yes, or a trusted Canadian platform. The policy states that the article must be “immediately and freely available in a Canadian institutional repository or made available through a trusted Canadian platform at the time of publication, even where the article is freely available on the publisher’s website.” (Tri-Agency Open Access Policy on Publications (2026))

What version of my article should I upload to IslandScholar?

  • You are required to upload either the accepted manuscript or version of record.

What is an accepted manuscript or version of record?

  • An accepted manuscript is the accepted version of the article after review, but prior to publishing.
  • The version of record, is the final published version of the article made available on the publisher’s site.

Note: preprints are not considered an accepted manuscript or a version of record. If a publisher has concerns over allowing the accepted manuscript or version of record to be freely and openly available at the time of publication, the policy recommends contacting the granting agency.

Where can I deposit my work?

How can I find other repositories?

  • The Canadian Association of Research Libraries (CARL) maintains a list of Canadian repositories, including institutional repositories. Most institutional repositories only post content from affliaited scholars, but there are also more general or subject-focused repositories on the list as well. Contact your subject librarian if you need support on which subject-specific repository to submit your article to.

What is an open license and Creative Commons licenses?

  • An open license refers to the copyright license for the work, being openly/freely accessible and available. Creative commons licenses are the typical open licenses used for this purpose. You can learn about the six different Creative Commons licenses here. If you have questions about Creative Commons, reach out to the Scholarly Communications Librarian, Keri McCaffrey.

I am a graduate student/postdoc with a tri-agency award, does this policy apply to me?

  • While the policy does not apply to student awards/funding, you may still be required to follow the policy if your supervisor has a tri-agency grant that is used to fund you or your project.

Why is the tri-agency implementing a policy like this? Why is open access(OA) important?

  • According to the tri-agency, "[they] have a fundamental interest in ensuring that the findings resulting from publicly funded research are available to the widest audience at the earliest opportunity. Open access to peer-reviewed research articles enables public, private and not-for-profit sectors, as well as the general public, to use and build upon research findings, ultimately maximizing the impacts of research investments."(Tri-agency, Open Access) 
  • The more openly available research is, the better the "conversation" of academia can be conducted, helping the advancement of research. In fact, according to a 2021 systematic review in PLoS ONE, the plurality (47.8%) of studies reviewed confirmed the existence of an open access citation advantage, which is the increased citation of articles made available open access.

Author processing charges(APCs) are expensive for OA journals. Do we have deals?

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