Competition

* Unless explicitly noted, all times indicated for deadlines are for the appropriate NL timezone (NST or NDT)

Date announced: 2025-102-28 - Important update for Aid to Scholarly Journals competition, see: https://www.sshrc-crsh.gc.ca/news_room-salle_de_presse/latest_news-nouvelles_recentes/2025/update_scholarly_journals_grants-subvention_revues_savantes-eng.aspx

The Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council’s (SSHRC) 2025 Aid to Scholarly Journals (ASJ) funding opportunity is transitioning to support journals that will offer free and immediate access to content (immediate open access [OA]). This change aligns with the current review of the Tri-Agency Open Access Policy on Publications. The updated policy will require that any peer-reviewed journal publications arising from agency-supported research be freely available at the time of publication. The transition of the ASJ will help support free and fast access to digitally published Canadian social sciences and humanities research results for readers throughout Canada and around the world.

Over the course of the past 20 years, SSHRC support via the ASJ funding opportunity has enabled greater discoverability and dissemination of original research results in the social sciences and humanities, first by encouraging Canadian scholarly journals to transition from print-only publications to digital publishing, and subsequently by enabling journals’ transition to OA.

In December 2023, SSHRC announced a one-year delay for the next ASJ competition, pushing its launch to June 2025. This delay allowed time for engagement with the research community—including journal editors, librarians, scholarly publishing experts and other stakeholders—to ensure an effective, sustainable and equitable transition of the ASJ funding opportunity to immediate OA.

The transition takes an iterative approach, with changes being implemented gradually over the course of the 2025 and 2028 cycles. Key updates to the ASJ funding opportunity include:

• Increasing available funding The ASJ competition budget will see a significant increase in 2025. The annual maximum funding will be increasing to $52,000 for established journals operating in immediate OA without article processing charges (APCs).

• Moving from delayed to immediate OA The 2025 cycle will serve as a transition period for journals operating in delayed OA or charging APCs. Future ASJ funding cycles will only support journals that operate in immediate OA without APCs.

• Promoting digital publishing best practices To further advance publishing best practices and innovation, the ASJ funding opportunity will introduce adjustments to the merit review criteria, and increase the maximum supplement for innovation (towards costs related to developing and implementing innovative practices) to $10,000 annually.

• Enhancing flexibility for distribution platform hosting fees The targeted supplement for hosting on a not-for-profit platform will be eliminated. Journals will continue to be able to use their ASJ funding for distribution platform hosting fees, as per regulations set out in the Tri-agency Guide on Financial Administration.

• Supporting emerging journals A new funding stream will be created for emerging journals operating with immediate OA without APCs.

Quick facts

• The ASJ funding opportunity supports Canadian scholarly research and dissemination by offering a contribution to enable journals to defray the costs associated with publishing OA scholarly articles and digital journal dissemination.

• The draft, revised Tri-Agency Open Access Policy on Publications was released February 25, 2025. Feedback from the community is invited until March 31, 2025.

• The next ASJ competition will be launched in June 2025, with the deadline to submit applications in September 2025. Results from the 2025 ASJ competition will be announced in March 2026.

For more information Email : scholarlyjournals@sshrc-crsh.gc.ca

Date modified: 2025-02-28

In addition to the external funding agency’s submission procedures, this opportunity must also be submitted for Departmental, HSS Faculty, and Research Initiatives and Services (RIS) institutional reviews and approvals via Memorial's Researcher Portal (RP). In order to facilitate the HSS Faculty’s administrative review, please ensure "Heather C. O'Brien (Grants Facilitator)" and “Matthew Milner (Grants Facilitator)” are added as "Team Members" on your RP file. 

In accordance with University-wide approval protocols, all tabs of the RP file must be completed, the completed application must be uploaded to the “Attachments” tab, all supporting documentation including support for cash and in-kind commitments and/or letters of support must also be uploaded, and “Submit” must be pressed prior to the HSS internal deadline listed below. HSS cannot guarantee completion of an administrative review for application files that are incomplete and/or are submitted after the HSS deadline. For more detailed submission instructions and information, please consult the HSS Research Support Services website.

If you plan to apply to this competition or other research funding opportunities (as either PI or CI), e-mail an HSS Grants Facilitator, Heather C. O’Brien (HSSResearchAdmin@mun.ca or 864-8603) or Matthew Milner (HSSResearchGrants@mun.ca or 864-8050), to notify the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences of your intent to apply. E-mailing the intent to apply as early as possible will help to facilitate an efficient review. A Grants Facilitator can answer any questions you may have about internal or external submission procedures and may also be able to help with proposal development.