Most research funders require you to make your research data open access. This means your research data must be freely available online. Publishing your data:
- increases the visibility and reach of your work
- supports collaboration and innovation
- ensures that publicly funded research is available to the public
Most major funders – including UKRI, Wellcome Trust, Cancer Research UK and the European Commission – support open data for these reasons.
You must follow your funder’s open data policy
If your funder requires you to publish the data that supports your publication, it will be part of your grant terms and conditions. Your funder will have an open data policy that you must follow. If you do not follow the policy:
- your funder may withhold part of your grant
- you may not be eligible for future funding.
Many funders require Data Management Plans that ask you to consider and plan for all aspects of your data management throughout the project lifecycle and beyond.
Use the JISC tool to find your funder’s policy
You can search for your funder’s open data policy using the Jisc open access policy finder. This tool includes policies for major UK and European research funders. It is your responsibility to understand your funder’s open access requirements and how to meet them.
To use this tool, search by Funder name. There will be information for open data archiving which provides information on:
- the types of data covered
- when to archive your data
- where to archive your data
- any named repository for your data
- any data access cost
- special conditions including Data Access Statement and Data Management Plan requirements
- link(s) to the funder open data policy
Further help and support
If you have questions, or need help finding your funder's policy, please contact the Research Data team.