Completing the ARC Final Report

This page provides guidance on completing the Part C - Research Outputs section of the ARC Final Report. This section asks grant holders to identify which research outputs have been made openly accessible within the timeframe designated by the relevant ARC Open Access policy. The information provided reflects the fields available at September 2026 and is subject to change.

What is open access?

Open access is the term applied to research outputs that have been made freely available online, including journal articles, conference papers, books, book chapters, and creative outputs. Truly open access outputs will also carry open licences (e.g., Creative Commons licences) that allow further sharing and reuse.

The University of Melbourne’s Principles for Open Access state the University’s commitment to sharing its research as widely as possible. These principles align with the ARC and NHMRC funder open access policies.

Click for more information on open access at the University of Melbourne

Identifying which open access policy applies

This page is relevant for ARC grant holders. There are two ARC Open Access Policies currently active. Your ARC grant scheme guidelines will specify which version applies to your grant. If there is no specific policy mentioned, the 2021 Open Access Policy will apply.

Open access pathways available

There are two main pathways to making outputs openly available. More information is available by clicking on the options below.



How to complete 'Part C - Research Outputs' (ARC Final Report)

The following steps are designed to assist ARC grant holders in completing their final report. If you’re at the start of your grant, or you would like to explore open access publishing and available pathways more generally, click here for more information.

In Part C – Research Outputs, each output that was produced as a result of the project needs to be listed separately, with an indication of whether it was made openly accessible. Choose the relevant option below for each output to complete this section.

Note: the guidance provided here is based on information available in September 2026 and is subject to change.

  • If you have confirmed that the output is openly accessible, you can indicate Yes to the question Has the Research Output been made Openly Accessible?

  • If the output has been published behind a password log in, or is only available after payment, then it would be considered not openly accessible. You have two pathways here:

    • Use an alternative method to make it openly available; or
    • Provide an explanation via the Final Report.

    Click for more tips on what to do when your output is 'closed'

  • It is not uncommon to not know whether a particular output is ‘open’ or ‘closed’. Here are some ways to check:

    • Search individually using Google or Google Scholar; or
    • Search in bulk via Unpaywall.

    Click for tips on how to identify the open access status of your output

Additional tips for completing the report



Provide an explanation via the Final Report

If you answer No to the question Has the Research Output been made Openly Accessible, then you will be asked to complete some additional questions. You must include:

  • an explanation as to why the output has not been made openly accessible;
  • what steps you have taken to try and make it openly available; and
  • an indication of whether it will be made available in the future, and an expected date.

Use an alternative method to make it open

You may be able to make a closed output open using one of these methods.

  • If the journal you published in is covered by an open access agreement and your article is eligible for coverage, you may be able to retrospectively make your article open, but the conditions for this will vary by publisher. Publishers will usually make this information available on their website if the option is available. Reach out to the publisher directly to explore this option.

    Click here for eligibility criteria for our open access agreements

  • A version of journal articles, conference papers, and book chapters can often be made openly available via an institutional or subject repository. The University of Melbourne’s repository is Minerva Access. An embargo period will often apply.

    Embargo periods may have an impact on compliance with this policy. The Australian Research Council (ARC) recommends considering open access publishing at the project planning stage and only publishing in venues that allow you to comply with the policy. Any outputs that do not meet the requirements of the policy need to be accompanied by a compliance statement.

    Publisher sharing policies can usually be found on their website, sometimes called ‘green open access’ or ‘self-archiving policies.’ Many publishing policies can also be found on the Open Policy Finder.

    Support is available from the Research Outputs team to deposit a version of your work in Minerva Access.

    Click here for support from the Research Outputs team

    Click here for more information on repository open access

  • If your output is not covered by an open access agreement, your publisher may suggest that you pay an Article Processing Charge (APC) or a Book Processing Charge (BPC) to make the output open. These charges can be very high. Our Principles for Open Access discourage the payment of APCs to subscription journals, preferring instead to make use of repository open access pathways where they exist.

    Note that there is no central funding available to assist with the payment of these charges.

  • Any collaborating organisation may also be obliged to comply with the ARC's Open Access Policy, depending on the terms of the agreement. If outputs have been authored by individuals at other institutions, it is likely that those institutions will support the process of making an output open. Those authors can reach out to their institution's library or scholarly publishing support team for more information on options.

Identifying the open access status of an output

If you are not sure of the status of your output, here are some ways you can check.

  • As open access outputs are freely accessible online, you can search for them individually using Google Scholar or another search engine.

    1. Make sure you’re not logged into the library systems. Your browser will keep you logged in unless you completely quit out of the program, use a different browser, or use a private browsing window.
    2. Search for the output title, DOI, or other identifiable information.
    3. Click on the output and examine the record. Some records will say Open Access at the top – this will mean it’s openly accessible.
    4. If you can’t identify the status from the record itself, see if you can read the full content of the output without logging in or paying for access. If you can, then it will be openly accessible. Doublecheck that you’re not accessing it via your library login.

  • The website Scholar Sidekick provides an Open Access Checker tool. Enter any identifier (e.g. DOI, PubMed ID, PMCID, arXiv ID, ISBN, URL) and it will check whether the paper is freely available and provide a link to the available version. This tool will indicate whether it is gold, green, hybrid, or bronze open access, or will tell you if the paper is closed. Descriptions of each of these statuses is provided.

    Click here to go to the Open Access Checker

  • Unpaywall is a service that harvests open content from journals and repositories around the world. It is a convenient way to search for multiple outputs at once, if you have the DOI for every output.

    1. Create a list of the DOIs of your outputs. A typical DOI looks like this: 10.1007/s11192-018-2980.
    2. Go to Unpaywall’s Simple Query tool. Paste your list of DOIs into the search box. Click Get Unpaywall Data.
    3. Once the report has been compiled, you will be able to download a CSV file. This will open in Microsoft Excel (or similar). The OA status column will tell you whether your output is open or closed.

    TIP: Unpaywall also provides a browser extension that will scan the page you’re visiting and tell you when it finds an open version of the content.