Changes to the NHMRC

The National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) and the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing (DHDA) are responsible for the Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF). In February 2026 they launched a joint Open Science Policy.

“[It] marks a step forward in Australia’s commitment to research that is open, rigorous, and designed to benefit everyone.”

Publications must be made immediately open access

At least one version of a research paper that is supported in whole or in part by the NHMRC and/or MRFF must be made immediately open access.

This means:

  • No embargo period, and
  • Published with a Creative Commons ‘CC BY’ licence

What is Creative Commons ‘CC BY’ licence?
A licence that allows others to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format, so long as attribution is given to the creator. The creator retains copyright for this material. Read more about the conditions of Creative Commons ‘CC BY’ licence.

It applies to:

  • Peer-reviewed articles
  • Peer-reviewed conference papers

The NHMRC encourages authors to make scholarly books and book chapters open access where possible.

Additional open science requirements

All research outputs must clearly acknowledge funder(s), include unique grant identification number(s), and be identified in final reports using appropriate persistent identifiers.

Chief Investigator A (CIA) must have a valid ORCID recorded in NHMRC’s grant system (Sapphire) to be eligible for newly-awarded NHMRC grants.

What is ORCID?
Open Researcher and Contributor ID is a unique identifier for you as a researcher. It distinguishes you from other researchers and connects you to your research outputs.

How to comply with the policy

You can comply with the revised policy through two routes:

1. Version of record

This is when your peer-reviewed article – or version of record – is published with a CC BY licence in a journal. This is the final version of the article that has been copy-edited and put into layout. It is exactly the same as what will appear in the journal. Two options are available:

  • Publish in an open access journal. This is often called a Gold Open Access Journal and may incur article processing fees.
  • Journal-based Open Access. Publish in a journal covered by our read and publish agreements and choose the open access CC BY option. This should not incur article processing fees.

2. Author Accepted Manuscript (AAM)

Upload your author accepted manuscript to a research repository. We recommend that Monash researchers use PURE, the University's research management system.

3. Preprints

A preprint is a research paper shared publicly before formal journal peer review. It can be shared at any point before your Version of Record is released.

You can publish it open access with a CC BY licence on a recognised archive or print print server that can be accessed by the public. At Monash, this includes My Research (Pure), the university-wide research management system.

This pathway does not replace traditional peer review or formal publication.

Rights retention statement

If you want to use the author-accepted manuscript option include the following statement at the same time you submit your manuscript for publication.

This is the text to include:

‘This research was funded in whole or part by [select the most appropriate]:

  • The National Health and Medical Research Council [grant number(s)]
  • The Medical Research Future Fund [grant number(s)]
  • The Medical Research Future Fund [grant number(s)] and National Health and Medical Research Council [grant number(s)].

For the purposes of open access, the author has applied a CC BY licence to any author-accepted manuscript version arising from this submission.’

Some authors add this to the ‘Acknowledgements’ in their manuscript or in the cover letter.

You can then upload your AAM in an institutional repository such as Monash’s My Research (Pure).

Working with co-authors

You may be working with co-authors who do not have NHMRC funding. However, as an NHMRC grant recipient you will still need to adhere to the open access policy, even if you are not a lead author. It will be important to discuss with them your strategy and choices and to budget accordingly.

Monash co-authors can opt for their articles to be open access in more than 8,500 journals with no article processing fees under pre-negotiated agreements with publishers.

Steps to compliance

  1. Discuss your options and compliance obligations with your co-authors
  2. Choose your open access publishing route. Depending on your options you may need to consider
    • Quality journals and those with high impact factors
    • A budget for article processing charges
    • Selecting a journal that is covered by a ‘Read and Publish’ agreement.
  3. Include a rights retention statement at the submission stage
  4. Seek help from your Faculty or the Library if you have questions