Guidelines for open publishing
WUT Policy
In accordance with Order No. 89/2025 of the Rector of Warsaw University of Technology, an Open Access Policy for scientific publications, doctoral dissertations and research data at Warsaw University of Technology was introduced on 1 January 2026.
- The policy covers scientific publications and doctoral dissertations affiliated with Warsaw University of Technology (in particular those financed from public funds) and related research data created after the policy came into force, i.e. from 1 January 2026.
- The Policy applies to all employees, doctoral students, students and persons cooperating with WUT under contracts for scientific and research activities.
Guidelines for scientific publications
Authors of scientific publications affiliated with WUT strive to ensure open access to their content under a Creative Commons licence by:
- publishing in open access, peer-reviewed scientific journals and scholarly books;
- placing them in the WUT Base of Knowledge immediately after publication, preferably in the final published version or another version consistent with the publisher's policy.
Exclusions from open access include:
- doctoral dissertations covered by classified information or in other particularly justified cases;
- research data protected by law, security or ethical principles, as well as data constituting trade secrets of companies cooperating in the research process.
Guidelines for doctoral dissertations
Authors of doctoral dissertations strive to ensure open access to their content by submitting a statement granting a licence to publish their doctoral dissertation in the WUT Base of Knowledge.
Guidelines for research data
Creators of research data associated with scientific publications strive to ensure open access to research data and related metadata by:
- defining the data collected and the procedures for archiving and sharing it;
- depositing data in the WUT Base of Knowledge or another publicly accessible repository;
- making data available in accordance with FAIR principles, together with the granting of appropriate licences;
- using a persistent electronic document identifier to enable data retrieval and reuse;
- concluding appropriate agreements with data co-creators;
- making metadata available openly, without any restrictions;
- making data available at the latest at the time of publication on the publisher's website.
Plan S
Plan S is an initiative of cOAlition S, an international consortium of agencies and foundations funding scientific research, launched in 2018. The National Science Centre is also among the signatories of cOAlition S.
Purpose and scope of Plan S
According to Plan S, scientific publications resulting from research funded by cOAlition S members under competitions announced after 1 January 2021 must be published:
- in open access journals,
- on open publishing platforms,
- or made immediately available in open repositories – without an embargo period.
The open access publishing obligation applies to all types of scientific publications based on research results funded in whole or in part by cOAlition S members. However, it is understood that achieving open access to monographs and book chapters may require more time and a separate process. In 2021, cOAlition S published a statement on Open Access for academic books.
cOAlition S strongly encourages the sharing of research data and other research outputs in accordance with the principle of ‘as open as possible, as closed as necessary’, as well as the sharing of research results at an early stage through the publication of preprints.
Main assumptions of Plan S
- Authors or their institutions retain the economic rights to their publications.
- Regardless of the open access option chosen, the publication should be made available immediately under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) licence, unless the funding institution has allowed an exception.
- If open access publication involves fees, these should be covered by the home institution or funding agency, not by individual researchers. It is recognised that every researcher should have the opportunity to publish their work in open access.
- Funding institutions call upon governments, universities, research organisations, libraries, academies and scientific societies to develop common strategies, policies and practices, in particular to ensure transparency of processes.
- Institutions do not support the hybrid publishing model.
- The use of ORCID identifiers by all participants in the publishing process is recommended.
Types of publications
Plan S distinguishes between two main types of publication versions that can be made available:
- postprint (Author Accepted Manuscript, AAM) – a version of a scientific article that has been accepted for publication after the review process, but does not yet contain the graphic identification and editorial format specified for a given journal;
- final published version (Version of Record, VoR) – the version of the publication made available on the publisher's website, containing the graphic identification and editorial format specific to the journal.
It is also recommended to make preprints (Author's Original Manuscript, AOM – the version of a scientific article before the review process and editorial work, most often a manuscript sent to a journal) openly available, although their publication alone is not sufficient to meet the requirements of Plan S.
NCN
The NCN (Narodowe Centrum Nauki/National Science Centre) policy, effective from 26 June 2025, increases freedom in choosing the publication model and in sharing research data. Reports may include both articles published in the open access model and those in the traditional, so-called closed model.. The changes apply to competitions announced from September 2025 and to projects already in progress.
The NCN's policy on open access to publications includes the sharing of:
- preprints – versions of scientific articles prior to the review and editing process, most often in the form of manuscripts submitted to journals.
- AAM (Author Accepted Manuscript) – the final, author's version of the manuscript, containing all changes made after the review process and accepted for publication by the journal; most often, this is still a version without full bibliographic data and without the journal's layout. Other name: postprint.
- VoR (Version of Record) – the final version of the article in the journal after review and editorial composition by the publisher; it differs from the author's version of the manuscript, i.e. AAM (Author Accepted Manuscript). Other names: published version, publisher's pdf.
Publication routes recognised by the NCN for open access articles
| Route 1 | Route 2 | Route 3 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Type of journal | Journals registered or with pending registration in DOAJ; the journal’s DOAJ status at the time of manuscript submission is decisive | Subscription / hybrid journals | Journals covered by an open access licence under so-called transformative agreements |
| Type of manuscript made available | Final published version (VoR) made available on the publisher's website | Final published version (VoR) available on the publisher's website; in the case of closed-model publications on the publisher's website, it is recommended to make the preprint or postprint (AAM) version of the publication available in an open repository registered in OpenDOAR* | Final published version (VoR) available on the publisher's website |
| Required licences | Any Creative Commons licence or other open licence; the use of the CC BY 4.0 licence is recommended | ||
| Eligible publishing costs | Article Processing Charges (APC)** | ||
* Failure to make a preprint or postprint (AAM) available does not affect the eligibility of project costs or their settlement
** in Route 2, i.e. in works published in subscription or hybrid journals, where the preprint or postprint version (AAM) can be made available free of charge in a repository, it is not recommended to incur APC costs
Publication routes recognised by the NCN in the case of books, chapters and peer-reviewed collected works published in Open Access
In the case of monographs, monograph chapters and peer-reviewed collected works in Open Access, two models are recommended:
- Gold Open Access model – the work is immediately and freely available online to users;
- Green Open Access model – the author makes a selected version of the work available in an open repository (e.g. preprint or AAM).
The costs of publishing a monograph in open access, known as Book Processing Charges (BPC), may be accounted for as direct costs after receiving a positive assessment from the National Science Centre (NCN). Since the SONATA BIS 14 and MAESTRO 16 calls (launched on 17 June 2024), BPCs have been deemed ineligible.
Research data
Basic research data sets that must be linked to publications (both in the open and closed models) must be:
- reliably documented in accordance with FAIR principles;
- made available in an open repository in accordance with the terms of theCC0, CC BY 4.0 or licence.
For more information on research data, see the Data Management Plans tab.
Additional information
- The Open Access Publishing Policy for Research Results Generated by Research Projects, Fellowships, Scholarships, Research Activities and Research Components (NCN Director’s Order No 39/2025 of 26 June 2025) and a letter extending the new rules to ongoing projects (NCN Director’s letter of 26 June 2025).
- Journal Checker Tool – an online tool for testing the compliance of a selected journal with the requirements of the NCN Open Access Policy.
- License Chooser – an online tool for selecting a Creative Commons licence for a selected scientific work.