Open access ensures research results are disseminated widely and in a timely manner, accelerating scientific discoveries and ultimately benefiting society. Medicine by Design strongly supports open access as a critical way to advance regenerative medicine research and the clinical translation of resulting therapies.

As recipients of funds from the Canada First Research Excellence Fund, Medicine by Design-funded principal investigators are governed by the Tri-Agency Open Access Policy on Publications. That policy requires that β€œany peer-reviewed journal publications arising from Agency-supported research are freely accessible within 12 months of publication.”

As the pace of breakthroughs in regenerative medicine increases, Medicine by Design also encourages funded principal investigators and their trainees to make their research available on pre-print repositories such as bioRxiv prior to publishing in peer-reviewed journals. Pre-prints augment open access by enabling researchers to communicate early results to broad audiences as quickly as possible and receive feedback on their work. They can also help establish priority of discoveries.

Medicine by Design continues to affirm the importance of the peer-review process in upholding the highest scientific and ethical standards in research.