Cancer Research UK

In 2007, CRUK released an open access policy, requiring that publications are made freely available via UK PubMed Central. 

 
Guidelines on data sharing and a useful FAQ are provided to assist with implementation. 

POLICY STIPULATIONS

Time Limits

CRUK requires that researchers deposit a copy of published papers as soon as possible and no later than 6 months after publication.
 
Data must be shared in a timely and responsible manner. CRUK expects data to be released no later than the acceptance for publication of the main findings. A limited period of exclusive use of data for primary research is reasonable.
 
Data should be preserved and available for sharing for a minimum period of five years following the end of a research grant.
 

Data Plan

All applicants are required to submit a data management and sharing plan.
 
Plans should address eight points: a description of the data; standards to be used; metadata; methods of sharing; timescale for release; preservation; data sharing agreements; and restrictions on sharing.
 
Data Sharing Guidelines are also provided.
 

Access/Data Sharing

Publications are to be made freely accessible via UK PubMed Central.
 
Data should be considered for sharing and made as widely and freely accessible as possible whilst safeguarding intellectual property, the privacy of patients and confidential data.
 
In most instances, data sharing should be possible without compromising the confidentiality of participants. If data need to be restricted, this should be fully addressed in the data management and sharing plan.
 

Long-term Curation

Data should be properly curated throughout its life-cycle and released with the appropriate high-quality metadata. This is the responsibility of the data custodians, who are usually those individuals or institutes that received funding to create or collect the data.
 

Monitoring

The funding committees monitor data management and sharing plans through the committee's grant review process and the end of grant report.
 

SUPPORT SERVICES

Guidance

An explanation of how to submit publications is given in the open access policy, and an FAQ on data sharing is also provided. 
 

Repository

CRUK supports UK PubMed Central.
 

Data Centre

CRUK does not run its own data centre or prescribe where or how researchers should preserve and share data.
 

Costs

Payment of any open access fees for publications may be met from underspend on existing grants, however, no additional funds will be made available for this purpose.
 
CRUK considers timely and appropriate data management and sharing an integral component of the research process so will not provide additional funds for these activities.

The DCC is funded by

Joint Information Systems Committee