Open research
We want the research we fund – like publications, data, software and materials – to be open and accessible, so it can have the greatest possible impact.
We want the research we fund to be open and accessible, so it can have the greatest possible impact.
Transforming human health will take longer if research outputs – like publications, data, software and biological materials – aren’t managed, shared and used in ways that realise their full value.
We’ve been leading efforts to make research more open for over 20 years, ever since we worked to make sure the results of the Human Genome Project were released immediately into the public domain.
In recent years, the research community has made significant progress. But there are still challenges. For example, many researchers are concerned that the time and effort taken to share outputs puts them at a competitive disadvantage, without bringing enough benefits. Addressing challenges like this is at the heart of our work.
Open access to publications
We were the first research funder to introduce a mandatory open access policy. All journal articles, book chapters and monographs that present the findings of the research we fund must be made freely available. Since then, more than 150 global research funders have followed our lead.
In November 2018, following a six-month review, we announced that we're updating our open access policy to align with Plan S. The changes will apply from 1 January 2021. Read:
- the open access policy 2021
- our explainer to find out what will be different and why
- how we're addressing four key concerns about open access and Plan S
- a report we commissioned with UKRI, which looks at how learned society publishers can successfully transition to Plan S, and includes a toolkit for negotiating transformative agreements.
- our guidance for research organisations on how to implement responsible and fair approaches for research assessment.
We held a series of webinars on our new open access policy in autumn 2020 – see the slides.
We also:
- provide funding to cover our researchers’ open access publishing costs
- work in partnership with other funders to support Europe PMC (PubMed Central) – an online database offering free access to published biomedical research
- developed Wellcome Open Research and support eLife – platforms which allow our researchers to quickly publish and share their findings in a fast, open and transparent way
- allow researchers to cite preprints in their grant applications.
Data, software and material sharing
There are many challenges around sharing research outputs, from how best to use confidential patient data in research, to how to share data when under the pressure of a public health emergency like coronavirus or Ebola. Our open research team works with other teams across Wellcome and with partners to address these challenges.
Our policy and guidance on data, software and materials management and sharing sets out what we expect of our researchers.
Developing outputs management plans
From 1 October 2020 to 30 September 2021, we’re piloting an outputs management plan support service.
The service will be available to Wellcome-funded researchers whose outputs management plans have been flagged – by committee members, peer reviewers or Wellcome staff – as requiring more detail. We will contact the researchers recommended for this service at the time of award.
Through the service, the open research team, in collaboration with institutional data stewards, will provide bespoke advice to researchers to help them build on their plan. For example, how, where and when research outputs should be shared, in line with best practice.
Managing and sharing datasets
We're running a pilot with Springer Nature which offers our researchers expert support to manage and share datasets associated with publications.
Clinical trials data
Clinical trials data is a valuable resource for researchers, who can use it to advance medical science by building on previous findings and exploring new questions.
We support the sharing of this data in several ways.
- We have a clinical trials policy, which requires every clinical trial we fund to be registered and for our researchers to adopt good practice in reporting their findings. See our clinical trial policy monitoring 2018 to 2020.
- We've joined ClinicalStudyDataRequest.com, a data sharing initiative involving academic research funders and pharmaceutical companies. Find out what it means for researchers and watch a webinar to get answers to some frequently asked questions.
- We commissioned Technopolis to study the types of clinical research that use data from trials. Read the final report [PDF 4.3MB] and summary [PDF 99KB].
- Together with Cancer Research UK, the Medical Research Council and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, we ran a consultation to hear researchers’ views on current barriers and opportunities in clinical trial data sharing.
Incentives for researchers
Researchers who lead the way in making their research open aren’t always given the recognition or incentives for doing so.
To help improve this we:
- ran a survey with our researchers to find out how they practice open research and what barriers they face
- ran the Open Science Prize in partnership with the National Institutes of Health and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, to kickstart new products and services that harness the power of open data
- joined forces with a consortium of partner organisations to support the implementation of the San Franscisco Declaration on Research Assessment
- worked with the Open Research Funders Group to develop a blueprint that funders can use to incentivise and facilitate open research.
We offer a number of funding opportunities to support open research.
These include:
- the Open Research Fund to support individuals and teams anywhere in the world to carry out groundbreaking experiments in open research. Awards can be up to £50,000 and the scheme is open to applications once a year.
- the Wellcome Data Re-use Prizes to stimulate and celebrate the innovative re-use of research data. Winners receive a prize of £15,000 and the opportunity to publish their entry in Wellcome Open Research. Prizes run once or twice a year.
- small amounts of funding to help researchers and organisations host meetings, workshops and events related to open research.
For more information, please contact the team at openresearch@wellcome.org.
Transparent communication of open access publishing services and prices
Following cOAlition S' adoption of two price and service transparency frameworks, we have published a request for information to build an online service that provides access to publisher services and pricing data.
The service would provide a secure means by which:
- academic journal publishers, who publish research articles funded by cOAlition S organisations, can upload price and service data, as specified in either of the cOAlition S-approved price transparency frameworks
- approved users (for example researchers, funders, institutions, librarians and library consortia) can access this data and download or compare the prices and services provided by different journals and publishers.
The deadline to respond to this request for information is 30 November 2020, 17:00 GMT. Send your responses to info@coalition-s.org.
FAIRware: a software tool to assess the FAIRness of research outputs
We're currently looking at the scope to develop a software tool that can assess whether research outputs produced by Wellcome-funded researchers are FAIR (findable, accessible, interoperable, reusable).
We expect the project will involve the development of a:
- checklist of FAIR requirements for each output type
- software tool capable of reliably assessing the extent to which each output type meets the FAIR requirements.
We're currently reviewing the responses we received to an initial request for information [PDF 422KB], and will provide an update soon.
- Robert Kiley, Head of Open Research
- David Carr, Programme Manager
- Hannah Hope, Open Research Co-ordinator
- Sonya Towers, Programme Officer
- Georgina Humphreys, Clinical Data Sharing Officer
A full list of our published reports and data sets can be accessed on Figshare. Below are links to several key resources.
- In 2016, we commissioned a series of reviews on key challenges for open research:
- For more about open access to publications, see
- Bjork’s and Solomon’s study on Developing an effective market for open access article processing charges [PDF 1.09MB]
- Scholarly communication and peer review [PDF 487KB], a report we commissioned to look at the future of research paper peer review.
- Read a case study about the Worldwide Antimalarial Resistance Network (WWARN), a pioneering data sharing platform.
- The AllTrials campaign is calling for all past and present clinical trials to be registered.