The Department for International Development (DFID) Research Open and Enhanced policy requires researchers to make peer reviewed journal articles open access.
If data enters the public domain ahead of publication, (e.g. as a conference or working paper), it is to be made available for DFID use. This is to counter the time lag between initial paper submission and final publication.
The policy also covers: reports and other written materials; books and book chapters; datasets; video, audio and images; websites; and computer software. For more information about compliance please check the DFID policy.
How do I comply?
You must make your work open access via publishing open access in a journal or publishing platform or self-archiving a version of the work (green open access).
- You must deposit metadata for all research outputs in Research for Development Outputs on publication or before, and include a link to an online digital version of the output or to a site from where a digital or hard copy version may be obtained.
- You are required to use the following acknowledgement with all written outputs and associated metadata: ‘This work was supported by the UK Department for International Development [insert project title and Aries number]’.
- A statement on how to access original datasets must also be added.
Publishing open access in a journal or publishing platform (gold open access)
Check the publishing open access information page to find out if you are eligible to publish OA in a journal or publishing platform (gold OA), and to make an application for funding.
If the chosen journal is not part of an institutional publisher agreement, DFID will include the cost of APCs in the overall project budget.
- DFID encourages outputs to be published with a Creative Commons Attribution Licence (CC-BY). More information on Creative Commons licences.
On publication, you are also encouraged by the University to deposit a copy of the final PDF of your 'gold' OA publication into University of Birmingham Research Archive (UBIRA), using PURE.
Self-archiving (green open access)
DFID permits self-archiving (green open access) with a six-month embargo.
Use Sherpa Romeo to check your publishers’ policy is compatible with your funders self-archiving policy.
To self-archive, deposit the Accepted Author Manuscript (AAM) of your publication using Pure immediately on acceptance. Ensure your publication is linked to the grant using the ‘Projects’ link in PURE.
- The accepted version is also known as the authors final manuscript, or post print.
- It is the version after peer review and before final publisher formatting or copy-editing.
DFID also require authors to make available in Research for Development Outputs the AAM of the research paper within six months of first publication. If your chosen publisher has an embargo longer than six months, it will have to be agreed by DFID as an exception.
More information