Background:

The UK National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) provides GBP 1.4 million a year direct funding to Cochrane Reviews through the Cochrane Programme Grants Scheme, established to provide high-quality systematic reviews of direct benefit to users of the National Health Service.

Objectives:

To comply with NIHR Open Access policy, the NIHR reached an agreement with Cochrane and Wiley in 2013 to deposit all Cochrane Reviews produced from the Cochrane Programme Grants to Europe PubMed Central (PMC) 12 months after publication.

Methods:

The submission of each Cochrane Review to Europe PMC is reviewed and approved by the Cochrane Editorial Unit, as detailed in the Cochrane Editorial and Publishing Policy Resource (EPPR).
Upon publication of a review on the Cochrane Library, Wiley supply the standard review PDF to NIHR for display on the NIHR Journals Library website. Upon expiration of the 12-month embargo, the PDF is taken down from the website, as it is free to access in The Cochrane Library from that point onwards.

Results:

All Cochrane Programme Grant Reviews published on or after 1 February 2013 meet the Wiley 'green' open access policy, and have been placed on the NIHR Journals Library website under a dedicated collection: http://www.journalslibrary.nihr.ac.uk/nihr-research/cochrane-programme-grants. After the initial 12 months they are free to access for all via the Cochrane Library, and can be included in an institutional repository or any repository mandated by the author’s funder, such as PMC, 12 months after publication.

Conclusions:

“NIHR investment in systematic reviews means our health and care services have access to the best possible evidence to inform decisions and choices” (Professor Dame Sally Davies, CMO, England). Our collaboration with Wiley has made alignment with the NIHR Open Access Policy a reality. The Department of Health and NIHR agree with the principal of Open Access to the outputs of its research, recognising it can offer both social and economic benefits, as well as aiding the development of new research and stimulating wider economic growth of the UK economy.