Plan S, UKRI and Wellcome policies, and beyond: The past, present and future of open research funding.

In September 2018, a group of national research funding organisations announced the launch of cOAlition S. The resulting Plan S requirements aim to make full and immediate Open Access to research publications a reality, with a target date of the end of 2024. The overarching principle is: “…all scholarly publications on the results from research funded by public or private grants provided by national, regional and international research councils and funding bodies, must be published in Open Access Journals, on Open Access Platforms, or made immediately available through Open Access Repositories without embargo.” As a result, some publishers are adapting their business models, offering transitional arrangements as they shift from read to publish; researchers are encouraged to use new and diverse routes to open access; and libraries are managing budgets and publishing services in new and different ways. This conversational session, chaired by Professor Patrick Grant (Pro-Vice-Chancellor, Research) will focus on the Wellcome (January 2021) and UKRI (April 2022) open access policies, examining how it is going so far, what is coming, and what the future holds for research funding for open publications.