The Australian Research Council (ARC) Open Access Policy (Version 2026.1) takes effect on 1 July 2026. The policy aims to ensure that research funded by the ARC is made openly available to the public.

Outputs must be openly accessible

While the timeframes vary by output type, the ARC requires all research outputs arising from their grants to be made openly accessible. This means the public can freely access, read, download, copy, distribute, print, search and reuse the research outputs.

In some cases, open access may not be possible due to legal or contractual obligations. In those cases, the reasons must be included in the final grant report to the ARC.

Key requirements

• Journal articles and conference papers must be made openly accessible immediately upon publication under a CC BY licence
• Monographs, edited volumes, book chapters, and research reports must be made openly accessible as soon as possible and within 12 months of publication with a CC licence (CC BY preferred)
• Creative works are strongly encouraged to be made openly accessible where it is possible to do so
• A Digital Object Identifier (DOI) must be provided for all outputs, including creative works.
• All outputs must have a metadata entry made publicly available in an institutional repository within three months of publication or public release of the work

Acknowledging ARC funding

Research outputs arising from ARC-funded research must acknowledge ARC funding and include relevant identifiers. Required identifiers include:

• the ARC grant identification number
• the grant DOI assigned by the ARC
• the ARC Research Organisation Registry (ROR) identifier.

Research outputs covered by the policy

The policy applies to all research supported under ARC grant schemes that open after 1 July 2026. It includes all products of an ARC-funded project that meets the definition of research:

• Peer-reviewed journal articles
• Peer-reviewed conference papers
• Monographs, edited volumes, book chapters, and research reports
• Creative works that have undergone an external review at the same standard as academic peer review.

The policy does not apply to:

• Preprints or non peer reviewed outputs
• Research data

Research data is addressed under the ARC’s data management requirements.

How to comply with the policy

There are two pathways for researchers to comply with the Policy requirements for research outputs.

Rights retention statement

If you are publishing in a closed journal, include a rights retention statement with your submission. This will enable you to deposit your author accepted manuscript (AAM) in your Pure profile.

You can add the following wording to the 'Funding' or ‘Acknowledgements’ section in your manuscript:

Make your non-traditional research outputs (NTROs) available

The policy requires a meaningful and enduring digital representation of your outputs be made openly available. This can be through acceptable platforms such as:

• An institutional repository – at Monash, these are Pure and Bridges
  • Pure allows Monash to report on compliance and ensures the correct metadata is applied.
  • Bridges can be used for data and NTROs.
• A publisher’s website – as long as there are no restrictions
• Public archive that is openly accessible. This includes PubMed Central® (PMC), Zenodo or OAlster.

If you want to track the reach and engagement of your NTRO, upload first to Bridges. This will give you a DOI which you can then add in Pure.

Understand copyright requirements

The ARC requires journal articles and conference papers to be published under a Creative Commons Attribution licence (CC BY). This is the most open of the internationally recognised Creative Commons licences. The ARC also strongly recommends CC BY for other research output types, even where other Creative Commons licence options are permitted.

If a publisher does not offer a suitable CC BY licence, you will need to retain your copyright by including a rights retention statement in your manuscript when submitting it for publication.

Indigenous Cultural and Intellectual Property rights

Additional requirements for research involving Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and communities is required. Researchers should respect Indigenous Cultural and Intellectual Property (ICIP) rights and consider Indigenous Data Governance and Indigenous Data Sovereignty when planning, managing and sharing research outputs.

The policy also recognises that a more restrictive Creative Commons licence (such as CC BY-ND) may be appropriate to protect Indigenous Cultural and Intellectual Property rights. Please refer to the ARC Open Access Policy for the full requirements.