Recipient Information
Important Dates
- Interim/Progress Report is due by September 1, 2023.
- Final Report is due by March 15, 2024.
Reporting Forms
ACA Open Access Publications Policy
Alberta Conservation Association grant recipients are required to ensure that any peer-reviewed journal publications arising from ACA-supported research are freely accessible within 12 months of publication. Two options are available to recipients:
- Online Repositories
Grant recipients can deposit their final, peer-reviewed manuscript into an institutional or disciplinary repository that will make the manuscript freely accessible within 12 months of publication. It is the responsibility of the grant recipient to determine which publishers allow authors to retain copyright and/or allow authors to archive journal publications in accordance with funding agency policies. - Journals
Grant recipients can publish in a journal that offers immediate open access or that offers open access on its website within 12 months. Some journals require authors to pay article processing charges to make manuscripts freely available upon publication. The cost of publishing in open access journals is now an eligible expense under ACA granting guidelines. Up to $3,000 may be identified specifically for publication in open access journals, in any grant application. The funds identified in any successful grant application for open-access journal publication will be held by ACA for a period of five years from the date of initial grant approval. During the five-year period, the recipient may apply to ACA for release of the publication funds, once the recipient provides confirmation that the research has been accepted in an eligible journal.
Failure to comply with this requirement will disqualify researchers from eligibility to apply in subsequent years.
How to Claim Publication Fees
Contact the Grant Coordinator to process a publishing fees expense claim. You will need to submit an invoice/receipt from the publisher as proof of payment of the publishing fees expense. To qualify for reimbursement, the following conditions must be met:
- the article must be freely available to the public within 12 months of the publication date,
- ACA must be acknowledged in the article.