Scholarly publications made subject to mandatory immediate open access

As far as new applications for publicly solicited research funds from fiscal 2025 onward are concerned, publicly funded scholarly publications and scientific data are subject to mandatory immediate open access.
Information on this is provided below.

National Policy on Promoting Open Access to Publicly Funded Scholarly Publications and Scientific Data

In October 2023, a panel of executive members of the Council for Science, Technology and Innovation published the Basic Concepts for Promoting Open Access to Publicly Funded Scholarly Publications and Scientific Data. This resulted in the publication in February 2024 of the following two documents: the National Policy and the Measures.

The National Policy on Promoting Open Access to Publicly Funded Scholarly Publications and Scientific Data: released on February 16, 2024 by the Integrated Innovation Strategy Promotion Council of the Cabinet Office
Measures for the Implementation of National Policy on Promoting Open Access to Publicly Funded Scholarly Publications and Scientific Data (decided by the Integrated Innovation Strategy Promotion Council on February 16, 2024), a set of agreements of the relevant ministries and agencies that was first concluded on February 21, 2024 and then revised on October 8, 2024: The Measures have been amended.
FAQ on the National Policy on Promoting Open Access to Publicly Funded Scholarly Publications and Scientific Data and the Measures for the Implementation of National Policy on Promoting Open Access to Publicly Funded Scholarly Publications and Scientific Data, updated on October 8, 2024 (in Japanese): The FAQ has been updated.

Additional information:

Publicly funded programs subject to mandatory open access

Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research (KAKENHI)
Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST) Strategic Basic Research Programs (with some exceptions)
Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development (AMED) Strategic Basic Research Program (Advanced Research & Development Programs for Medical Innovation)
Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST) Fusion Oriented Research for Disruptive Science and Technology

*Applicable to programs for which a new public call for applications is made in fiscal 2025 or thereafter. Subject to change in the future.

Publicly funded scholarly publications and scientific data subject to mandatory open access

Scholarly publications: Peer-reviewed studies published in electronic journals, including author accepted manuscripts

Scientific data: Research data that are required to be published from the viewpoint of ensuring transparency and reproducibility in the writing guidelines and publication regulations of electronic journals in which a scholarly publication is published (Data for publication, including supplemental data)

How to allow open access to scholarly publications and scientific data

Open access refers to the state in which anyone can freely utilize scholarly publications and scientific data.
There are several ways to allow open access to publish scholarly publications and scientific data. These include publishing scholarly publications and scientific data in institutional repositories (self-archiving) and paying APC to allow open access in electronic journals.

HUSCAP, the institutional repository of Hokkaido University: If you are a researcher belonging to Hokkaido University, you can meet the mandatory open access requirement by publishing your scholarly publications and scientific data in HUSCAP.
You can publish a publishable version of your academic paper in HUSCAP after the embargo, a period during which publication is prohibited.
HU Library will check copyright provisions of publishers for you regarding publication.

What is immediate open access?

According to the Measures, this is open access with no period of prohibition (embargo) after the publication of an academic paper in an academic journal.
As a rule of thumb, an academic paper should be published in an institutional repository within three months after it is published in an academic journal in electronic format.
If the publisher has an embargo, you can postpone the publication.

Do I have to pay an article processing charge (APC) to meet the mandatory open access requirement?

Paying an APC is not the only way to allow immediate open access.
The National Policy states that it is an acceptable way to pay an APC to allow open access in the electronic journal of an academic publisher or the like. However, it assumes that publication in an institutional repository is a standard way to allow open access.

Support for contributing open access papers

Be aware of “Predatory Journals”: Caveats when contributing open access papers

Support for submitting open access papers: Hokkaido University helps you with APC.

For further information, contact: Academic Information Support Division, HU Library (jsa [at] lib.hokudai.ac.jp）