Skip to Main Content

Research funder open access policies

Plan S Journal Checker Tool

The Plan S Journal Checker Tool created by cOAlition S, enables authors to find compliant open access routes through which to publish their articles. The researcher must be funded by an organisation supporting Plan S.

The tool can be used for research funders such as UKRI, see the full list of funders supporting Plan S.

  1. In the Journal Checker Tool  enter the name or ISSN of the journal where you wish to publish. If there are multiple matches, choose the one which is identical to the ISSN on the journal website.
  2. Enter your funder, choosing from the drop-down list. 
  3. Choose City, University of London as your institution to display the results of your search combination and follow the next steps displayed in the Journal Checker Tool.

This information will then be checked against the publisher and research funders’ open access policies and any publisher agreements. Guidance on whether there is a compliant publishing route will then be provided by the Journal Checker Tool. Some of the results given by the Journal Checker Tool are explained below: 

This is a fully open access title. Publishing in a fully open access journal is compliant with the majority of research funders providing the journal allows the correct open access licence. 

Check before submitting: 

  1. Does the journal allow the licence specified by your research funder?
  2. Are funds available to cover the Article Processing Charge (APC)?(See the research funder open access policies guide for details on available funding)

A Transitional Agreement (‘transformative agreement’ or ‘read and publish agreement’) is an agreement with the publisher where open access APCs are covered by Library Services subscriptions to their journals. 

Check before submitting: 

  1. City’s Open access agreements by publisher guide for details on eligibility and how to use the agreement.
  2. The corresponding author must be a current member of academic and research staff..

A ‘transformative journal’ is an individual title that has taken steps to be compliant with most research funder's open access policies. This result indicates the chosen journal may be a transformative journal. A list of Jisc-approved journals currently considered transformative can be found on Sherpa Romeo. 

Check before submitting: 

  1. Is the journal listed in the Plan S approved or JISC approved transformative journal list?
  2. Does the journal allow the licence specified by your research funder?
  3. Are funds available to cover the Article Processing Charge (APC)? (See the research funder open access policies guide for details on avalable funding)

A hybrid journal publishes both subscription and open access articles. It is not part of a transitional agreement, or a transformative journal. Please note, funder block grants cannot be used to cover the APCs and alternative funding must be used to pay for gold open access. 

If there are no funds to cover the APC, you can submit using the rights retention statement specified in your research funders open access policy. 

Check before submitting that the publisher will allow the rights retention statement specified by your funder.

  • If yes:
    • Include the statement in the funder acknowledgement section of the manuscript, and any covering letter accompanying the submission.    
    • On acceptance deposit your accepted manuscript on Elements to be uploaded to City Research Online.
  • If no:      
    •  You may have to consider publishing elsewhere.

For assistance with this route please contact the Publications Team.

This result means the publisher may allow you to comply with your funder's self-archiving requirements providing you have informed the publisher of your research funder's rights retention policy. Open access publishing charges do not apply with this route. 

Check before submitting that the publisher will allow the rights retention statement specified by your funder.

  1. Include the statement in the funder acknowledgement section of the manuscript, and any covering letter accompanying the situation.
  2. On acceptance deposit your accepted manuscript on Elements to be updated to City Research Online.

For assistance with this route please contact the Publications Team.

You are able to comply with your research funder's policy through Self-archiving. This result means the publisher will allow you to deposit your final accepted manuscript in an open access repository with no embargo and under a CC BY open access licence.  Open access publishing charges do not apply with this route. 

On acceptance deposit your final accepted manuscript on Elements to be uploaded to City Research Online. 

If you receive results such as those below, there may be no publishing options aligned with your institution’s open access policy, please contact the Publications Team for advice. 

  • Check with an alternative journal.
  • Check with a different funder.
  • Check with a different institution.

Further information