Requirements of research funding bodies
Many funding institutions are increasingly demanding that OA be considered in the publication of the research results they fund.
Open Access Strategy of the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF)
As of 2020, all publications resulting from SNSF-funded projects are required to be openly accessible. The current requirements of the SNSF can be found in the SNSF funding guidelines.
As a member of the cOAlition S, an international initiative of research funding bodies and research institutions with the aim of furthering Open Access, the SNSF is participating in the implementation of the so-called Plan S from January 2023 onwards. Researchers are required to immediately make their journal articles freely accessible, i.e., embargo periods will no longer be accepted.
For books and book chapters, on the other hand, a twelve-month embargo period remains permissible. Another important change concerns the introduction of the CC-BY licence as the standard for publishing articles. This licence protects the interests of researchers as authors of their works and at the same time enables the widest possible use.
From February 2024 on the SNSF is no longer funding Open Access articles in special issues. A large increase of special issues and inconsistent processes have been leading to quality concerns in the scientific community.
European research funding
Horizon Europe is one of the EU's most important research funding programmes.