The Tri-Agency Open Access Policy on Publications is the joint policy of Canada’s three federal research granting agencies — the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC), and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) — governing public access to peer-reviewed journal articles that result from Agency-funded research. It is a distinct instrument from the Tri-Agency Research Data Management (RDM) Policy, which governs data management plans and the deposit of underlying research data, not journal publications. The two are easy to conflate because they share a funder and a naming convention, but they impose different obligations on different outputs.
What the policy requires
Under the policy as originally issued in 2015, grant recipients funded by any of the three agencies must ensure that any peer-reviewed journal publication arising from that funding is freely accessible within 12 months of publication. Grant recipients can meet this requirement through either of two routes, commonly described as “green” and “gold” open access:
- Green route (self-archiving): deposit the final peer-reviewed manuscript into an institutional or disciplinary open-access repository, so that it is freely available no later than 12 months after publication.
- Gold route (journal-based): publish in a journal that itself offers open access immediately, or that makes articles openly accessible within 12 months (including hybrid journals with an appropriate open-access option).
Either route satisfies the requirement; agencies do not mandate one over the other, and grant recipients (and, where applicable, co-authors and institutions) are expected to choose whichever is practical for the venue and discipline.
Scope: who and what it covers
The policy applies to peer-reviewed journal articles that acknowledge support from a CIHR, NSERC, or SSHRC grant. It sits alongside, but is administratively separate from, other Tri-Agency instruments covered elsewhere on this site — see Canada’s Tri-Agency Research Funding System for how the OA Policy, the RDM Policy, the Tri-Agency Guide on Financial Administration (TAGFA), and the Tri-Council Policy Statement (TCPS2) fit together as a set of distinct, jointly administered obligations rather than a single unified rulebook.
How this differs from the Tri-Agency RDM Policy
Research administrators frequently need to explain this distinction to investigators, so it’s worth stating plainly:
- The Open Access Policy on Publications governs the peer-reviewed journal article itself — the write-up of findings.
- The RDM Policy governs the underlying digital research data, code, and metadata that support those findings, plus institutional RDM strategies and, incrementally, funding-opportunity-specific Data Management Plans.
A single funded project can trigger obligations under both policies at once — the article goes through the OA Policy’s 12-month accessibility requirement, while the dataset behind it goes through the RDM Policy’s deposit and FAIR-alignment expectations (see Data Management Plan (DMP)). They are not interchangeable and satisfying one does not satisfy the other.
Current status: a policy under revision (verify before relying on any date below)
This is an area of genuine, active change, and research administrators should treat any specific date here as provisional rather than settled — always check the Tri-Agency’s own Open Access policy page directly before advising on a specific deadline.
As of the most recent Tri-Agency update available at time of writing, the situation is:
- The original 2015 policy (the 12-month green/gold model described above) has been the operative version.
- The three agencies ran a formal review and public consultation (through March 31, 2025) on a revised policy that would move to immediate open access at the time of publication — removing the 12-month embargo option entirely — along with a rights-retention requirement (grant recipients retaining rights to disseminate their peer-reviewed manuscript regardless of publisher agreement) and a mandatory funding acknowledgment (citing the funder name and funding reference number in the published article).
- Draft materials from that consultation described the revised policy taking effect for grants and chairholder awards made on or after January 1, 2026, with the 2015 policy continuing to apply to awards made before that date.
- However, the agencies subsequently announced a delay: the finalized revised policy is “anticipated” for release in 2026, with an “adequate transition period” before new requirements take effect — language which supersedes the earlier January 1, 2026 target and leaves the exact effective date and transition length unconfirmed as of this writing.
The practical implication for grant recipients and research administrators: don’t assume immediate-OA requirements are already in force for a given award without checking the current grant terms and the agencies’ own policy page. The 12-month green/gold framework remains the safest default to plan against until a finalized revised policy with a confirmed effective date is published.
Compliance and attestation
Meeting the Open Access Policy is the grant recipient’s responsibility, but in practice it typically involves the recipient’s institution as well:
- Institutional repositories (often managed by a university library or research office) are the usual mechanism for the green route, and many institutions have standing workflows to help investigators deposit accepted manuscripts.
- Agencies may request evidence of compliance (e.g., a link to the open-access version, or confirmation of the repository deposit) as part of grant reporting.
- Funding acknowledgment in the published article — already a near-universal journal norm — becomes a more explicit, checkable requirement under the draft revised policy described above.
Practical checklist for grant recipients
- Confirm which policy version applies to your specific award (based on the award date, once a revised policy with a confirmed effective date exists).
- Before submitting to a journal, check whether it offers an open-access option that satisfies the applicable requirement, or plan to self-archive the accepted manuscript.
- If self-archiving, identify your institution’s repository and its typical turnaround time — don’t wait until close to the 12-month mark to start the deposit process.
- Acknowledge Tri-Agency funding (agency name and funding reference number/application ID) in the published article.
- Keep a record of the open-access route used for each funded publication, in case it’s requested during grant reporting or renewal.
Frequently asked questions
Is the Tri-Agency Open Access Policy the same as the Tri-Agency RDM Policy?
No. The Open Access Policy governs peer-reviewed journal articles; the RDM Policy governs research data, code, and institutional data-management practices. A funded project is typically subject to both, independently.
Does the policy require paying an article processing charge (APC)?
No. The green (self-archiving) route specifically exists as a no-APC path to compliance. Gold open-access journals may charge an APC, but choosing that route is optional, not mandated by the policy itself.
What counts as a compliant repository for the green route?
An institutional repository (typically run by the recipient’s university library) or a recognized disciplinary repository. Check with your institution’s research office or library for the specific repository it supports and its deposit process.
Has the 12-month embargo period already been eliminated?
Not confirmed as final at time of writing. A revised policy proposing immediate open access (no embargo) has been drafted and consulted on, but the agencies have stated the finalized version and its effective date were still pending as of their most recent public update. Confirm current requirements directly with the Tri-Agency before assuming immediate OA already applies to a given award.
Which agencies does this policy cover?
CIHR, NSERC, and SSHRC jointly issue and administer the policy, consistent with how the three agencies coordinate other shared instruments — see Canada’s Tri-Agency Research Funding System for the broader structure.
