At application stage
What Wellcome asks for in proposals
Wellcome applications submitted through the Wellcome Funding portal use a narrative CV (R4RI-aligned) for most fellowship schemes and a structured CV for project grants. The Wellcome narrative CV explicitly invites contributorship description in CRediT-aligned terms, and the foundation's in-house publishing platform - Wellcome Open Research, launched 2016 - operationalises CRediT as a structured submission field.
Where to embed a CRediT statement
In the Wellcome narrative CV, the contributions-to-knowledge module is the natural place to articulate your CRediT roles on cited works. For team-science applications (Collaborative Awards, Centres), the team-composition section invites named-role assignment in CRediT vocabulary. For Wellcome Open Research submissions, the CRediT statement is a required field captured at submission and rendered on the published article.
Sample wording
A narrative-CV entry such as "Conceptualization and Methodology lead on this multi-author paper; co-led Writing - original draft" is the recognised way to describe your contribution to a multi-author work for Wellcome reviewers.
At final-report stage
How CRediT figures in Wellcome progress and final reports
Wellcome outputs are reported through Researchfish (Wellcome's annual return uses the same platform as UKRI). Wellcome Open Research articles automatically appear in the reporting; articles published elsewhere with CC BY licences are reported via citation.
Does Wellcome ingest CRediT as structured metadata?
For Wellcome Open Research articles, CRediT is captured as structured submission metadata and rendered on the article. For Wellcome-funded articles published in third-party journals, CRediT travels via the publication layer (JATS metadata, Europe PMC ingest under the immediate-CC BY policy). Wellcome does not separately parse CRediT roles in Researchfish.
Common pitfalls
Things to avoid
- Publishing in a hybrid OA journal without simultaneous CC BY deposit in Europe PMC - this fails the Wellcome Plan S compliance test, independent of CRediT.
- Submitting to Wellcome Open Research without a complete CRediT statement; the platform enforces this at submission.
- Treating CRediT as a publication-only concern when the Wellcome narrative CV welcomes its use at application stage.
- Forgetting to link your ORCID iD to your Wellcome funding profile - required since 2015 - which affects how CRediT statements propagate downstream.
- Using the wrong Wellcome funding-acknowledgement wording; the precise format is specified in the grant agreement and varies by scheme.
Worked example
Sample CRediT statement for a Wellcome proposal
Illustrative wording (names invented) - adapt to your team and confirm the Wellcome-specific funding-acknowledgement format current at time of submission.
Frequently asked
Wellcome + CRediT - common questions
- Is CRediT required on Wellcome Open Research?
- Yes. Wellcome Open Research requires a complete CRediT statement at submission as a structured field; it is rendered on the published article and is mandatory for acceptance.
- Does Wellcome require CRediT on articles published in third-party journals?
- Strongly encouraged but not contractually mandated. In practice, most journals that Wellcome-funded researchers publish in already require CRediT, so the publication-layer expectation is consistently met.
- How does CRediT relate to Wellcome's narrative CV?
- The Wellcome narrative CV format - aligned with R4RI - invites CRediT-aligned descriptions of your contribution to prior multi-author works in the contributions-to-knowledge module.
- Does Wellcome accept hybrid OA?
- Only with simultaneous CC BY deposit in PMC or Europe PMC. Hybrid OA in subscription journals without parallel CC BY deposit fails Wellcome's Plan S compliance, regardless of CRediT.
- How is ORCID linked to CRediT in Wellcome's workflow?
- All Wellcome-funded researchers must have an ORCID iD on their funding profile (required since 2015). On Wellcome Open Research, ORCID iDs are linked to author records, and CRediT roles attach to the ORCID-identified author on each article.
Related guidance
Where to go next
- Wellcome funder mandateFull overview of Wellcome policies, OA, RDM, and submission
- Funder mandate matrixCompare CRediT, OA, and RDM positions across funders
- CRediT for authorsGeneral guidance on writing a CRediT statement at journal submission
- The 14 CRediT rolesReference definitions of every CRediT contributor role
