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Advancing Openly Licensed Preprints: Aligning Across a Standard Preprint Policy Framework

Open practices for preprints, including open licensing, are crucial for rapid and equitable sharing of scientific research. ASAPbio in partnership with Creative Commons has engaged with research funders, including members of the Open Research Funders Group, to further policy alignment toward a standard Preprint Policy Framework. As of June 2026, the Gates Foundation, Aligning Science Across Parkinson’s (ASAP), the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI), and the Breakthrough Discoveries for Thriving with Bipolar Disorder (BD2) endorse and identify this Preprint Policy Framework as a model framework, and are committed to promoting the use of preprints and their open licenses in policy and practice. CZI has also signaled alignment.

A total of eleven research funders and organizations—including the Astera Institute, the European Molecular Biology Laboratory, the Michael J. Fox Foundation, Research Ireland, the Simons Foundation, the Templeton World Charity Foundation, and the Wellcome Trust— have signaled their alignment across various components of the framework. Although the Astera Institute does not require preprints specifically, their policy promotes diverse outputs beyond “the mold of scholarly papers.”

Each of the six components of the Framework and information on the policy alignment of the participating research funders and organizations are detailed below.

Read more about the Preprint Policy Framework
Icon of a preprint with an open lock over the top of it

Preprint Policy Framework

The Preprint Policy Framework consists of six policy items. A list of participating funders and organizations and whether they require or recommend each item is provided below.

Preprint Requirement

Preprints are either required or strongly recommended to be submitted to a publicly accessible server that issues a Persistent Identifier (such as a DOI), and made available at no cost to the author (to post) nor to the reader (to view).

Author’s Copyright

Authors retain copyright of their preprint (unless waived through a CC0 public domain dedication or other arrangements like U.S. government work).

CC BY Licensing

A CC BY license is required or strongly recommended for preprints (unless waived through a CC0 public domain dedication).

Submission Timeline

Preprints are uploaded to a server before or by the time of submission to a peer-reviewed outlet.

Funder Acknowledgement

Institutional affiliations, funders, and/or grants are acknowledged in the preprint’s acknowledgments and/or its metadata.

Availability Statement

A key resource table and/or availability statement is required or strongly recommended – outlining where the associated data, code, software, protocols, and key materials can be accessed or are deposited (with the appropriate persistent identifiers, if available).

Funder and Organization Policies

Aligning Science Across Parkinson's

  • Preprint requirement: Yes, required
  • Author’s Copyright: Yes, required
  • CC BY Licensing: Yes, required
  • Submission timeline: Yes, required
  • Funder acknowledgement: Yes, required
  • Availability statement: Yes, statement and key resource table required

See full policy:

https://zenodo.org/records/17968591

Last updated: 2026-02-16

Astera Institute

  • Preprint requirement: NA
  • Author’s Copyright: No
  • CC BY Licensing: Yes, required
  • Submission timeline: NA
  • Funder acknowledgement: Yes, required
  • Availability statement: Yes, availability required

See full policy:

https://zenodo.org/records/17873235

Last updated: 2026-02-16

Breakthrough Discoveries for Thriving with Bipolar Disorder (BD2)

  • Preprint requirement: Yes, required
  • Author’s Copyright: No
  • CC BY Licensing: Yes, required
  • Submission timeline: Yes, required
  • Funder acknowledgement: Yes, required
  • Availability statement: Yes, statement required, availability recommended

See full policy:

https://www.bipolardiscoveries.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/BD2_open_access_policy.pdf

Last updated: 2026-06-05

European Molecular Biology Laboratory

  • Preprint requirement: Yes, required
  • Author’s Copyright: No
  • CC BY Licensing: Yes, recommended
  • Submission timeline: No
  • Funder acknowledgement: Yes, required
  • Availability statement: Yes, availability required

See full policy: https://www.embl.org/about/info/open-science/

Last updated: 2026-02-16

Gates Foundation

  • Preprint requirement: Yes, required
  • Author’s Copyright: Yes, required
  • CC BY Licensing: Yes, required
  • Submission timeline: Yes, required
  • Funder acknowledgement: Yes, required
  • Availability statement: Yes, statement required

See full policy: https://openaccess.gatesfoundation.org/open-access-policy/2025-open-access-policy/

Last updated: 2025-06-30

Howard Hughes Medical Institute

  • Preprint requirement: Yes, required
  • Author’s Copyright: Yes, required
  • CC BY Licensing: Yes, required
  • Submission timeline: Yes, strongly recommended
  • Funder acknowledgement: Yes, required
  • Availability statement: Yes, availability required

See full policy: https://hhmicdn.blob.core.windows.net/policies/Immediate-Access-to-Research.pdf

Last updated: 2026-02-16

Michael J. Fox Foundation

  • Preprint requirement: Yes, required
  • Author’s Copyright: No
  • CC BY Licensing: Yes, required
  • Submission timeline: Yes, required
  • Funder acknowledgement: Yes, required
  • Availability statement: Yes, statement required, availability recommended

See full policy: https://zenodo.org/records/18778012

Last updated: 2026-04-22

Research Ireland

  • Preprint requirement: Yes, encouraged
  • Author’s Copyright: Yes, encouraged
  • CC BY Licensing: Yes, required
  • Submission timeline: Unknown
  • Funder acknowledgement: Yes, required
  • Availability statement: Yes, statement and availability required

See full policy: https://media.researchireland.ie/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/Interim-Open-Research-Policy-v2-Jan-2026.pdf

Last updated: 2026-04-22

Simons Foundation

  • Preprint requirement: Yes, required
  • Author’s Copyright: No
  • CC BY Licensing: No
  • Submission timeline: Yes, required
  • Funder acknowledgement: Yes, required
  • Availability statement: Yes, availability and sharing plan required

See full policy: https://www.simonsfoundation.org/funding-opportunities/policies-and-procedures/

Last updated: 2025-06-30

Templeton World Charity Foundation

  • Preprint requirement: Yes, strongly encouraged
  • Author’s Copyright: No
  • CC BY Licensing: Yes, strongly encouraged
  • Submission timeline: Yes, strongly encouraged
  • Funder acknowledgement: No
  • Availability statement: No

See full policy: https://www.templetonworldcharity.org/our-policies/open-access-policy

Last updated: 2025-06-30

Wellcome Trust

  • Preprint requirement: Yes, strongly recommended
  • Author’s Copyright: Yes, required
  • CC BY Licensing: Yes, required
  • Submission timeline: Yes, required
  • Funder acknowledgement: Yes, required
  • Availability statement: Yes, statement required

See full policy: https://wellcome.org/grant-funding/guidance/open-access-guidance/open-access-policy

Last updated: 2025-06-30