2025 SSHRC Aid to Scholarly Journals Grants

Eligibility

Subject matter

Most SSHRC funding is awarded through open competitions. Proposals can involve any disciplines, thematic areas, approaches or subject areas eligible for SSHRC funding. See the guidelines on subject matter eligibility for more information.

A journal is ineligible for funding under this funding opportunity if:

• its mandate and/or content is primarily focused outside of the discipline(s) within SSHRC’s mandate; and/or
• its content is primarily health-related and focused on clinical research and education, psychomotor research and kinesiology, counselling and therapy, and epidemiology.

Note: Multidisciplinary journals that publish articles outside of SSHRC’s mandate are eligible to apply for Aid to Scholarly Journals funding, provided that their mandate and publications fall primarily under SSHRC’s mandate. If a multidisciplinary journal has been deemed eligible and is successful in the Aid to Scholarly Journals competition, the level of funding awarded will be adjusted to reflect the percentage of its articles devoted to social sciences and humanities content.

If formally requested, SSHRC staff will, prior to the deadline, make every effort to offer prospective applicants advice regarding the eligibility of a journal’s subject matter. While SSHRC aims to provide the best possible advice in advance of an application, final decisions on eligibility for all applications will be made only upon receipt of the full application.

Applicants

The applicant must:

• be the editor-in-chief of the journal or, in the case of an editorial collective, one of the editors;
• be a faculty member affiliated with an eligible Canadian postsecondary institution; and
• assume responsibility for the grant.

Institutions

Grant funds can be administered only by an eligible Canadian postsecondary institution or not-for-profit organization (which, for the Aid to Scholarly Journals funding opportunity, is defined as either the journal itself, a scholarly association or a press that either administers or owns the journal). Institutions proposing to administer a grant awarded under this funding opportunity must hold or obtain institutional eligibility.

Not-for-profit organizations or journals that wish to establish or renew institutional eligibility or that have questions are strongly encouraged to contact SSHRC’s Institutional Eligibility team at least 10 business days before the application deadline.

Journals and articles

To be eligible for support, a journal must:

• meet the definition of a scholarly journal (see Definitions below);
• submit each article (see Definitions below) to a rigorous, independent peer review process;
• publish primarily in English and/or French;
• meet at least one of the two following criteria:
  1. a minimum of one third of the core editorial board is affiliated with an eligible Canadian postsecondary institution; and/or
  2. the journal title is owned by a Canadian not-for-profit organization.
• publish in immediate open access, without a subscription and without APCs (diamond open access) and under an open license (e.g., Creative Commons or equivalent);
  • exceptionally for the 2025 cycle of Aid to Scholarly Journals, established journals publishing in delayed open access with an embargo of 12 months or less or using APCs will remain eligible; however, the application must include a plan to transition to immediate open access without APCs by 2028 (plan to be included in the “Journal description and outline of future direction” section of the application);
• be indexed in the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ), or aligned with DOAJ inclusion criteria;
  • exceptionally for the 2025 cycle of Aid to Scholarly Journals, journals not included or aligned with DOAJ criteria (including the requirement to publish under an open license, Creative Commons or equivalent) will remain eligible; however, the application must include a plan to align the journal with DOAJ criteria by 2028 in the “Journal description and outline of future direction” section of the application;
• for established journals: have been founded two or more years prior to the application deadline and have published, within that timeframe, a minimum of two issues per year, each including at least three peer-reviewed articles or, for journals not publishing in issue format, at least six peer-reviewed articles per year over the two-year timeframe; and
• for emerging journals: have been founded within the two years prior to the application deadline and have published, within that timeframe, a minimum of one issue that includes at least three peer-reviewed articles or, for journals not publishing in issue format, at least three peer-reviewed articles.

Note: Journals that are published and/or distributed by a commercial organization may apply if they meet all the criteria above; however, a case will need to be made for the need for SSHRC funding.

Note: All journals will be required to publish in immediate open access without a subscription or APCs (diamond open access) and under an open license (Creative Commons or equivalent) for the 2028 Aid to Scholarly Journals competition.

Summary

Aid to Scholarly Journals grants are expected to respond to the objectives of the Insight research program. The grants support Canadian scholarly research and dissemination by offering a contribution to enable journals to defray the costs associated with publishing open access scholarly articles and digital journal dissemination.

Aid to Scholarly Journals grants are meant to:

• enable the dissemination, discoverability and mobilization of original research results in the social sciences and humanities through Canadian scholarly journals;
• increase research capacity by facilitating knowledge sharing and the development of scholarly communities, particularly in areas relevant to Canada;
• assist journals in taking advantage of developments in digital technologies and innovative practices;
• promote best practices in open access scholarly publishing; and
• encourage the transition to immediate open access publishing.

SSHRC welcomes applications involving Indigenous research, as well as those involving research-creation.

Aid to Scholarly Journals grants are valued at up to $42,400 per year over three years for emerging journals and up to $52,000 per year over three years for established journals.

The value of the grant will be calculated based on a per-article rate for each approved, peer-reviewed scholarly article (see Definitions below) to be published during each year of the grant period.

There are four per-article rates:

• $1,800 for emerging journals that are published in immediate open access without a subscription and do not use article processing charges (APCs);
• $1,000 for established journals that are published in immediate open access and use APCs (gold);
• $1,800 for established journals that are published in delayed open access with an embargo period of 12 months or less, and do not use APCs; and
• $2,000 for established journals that are published in immediate open access without a subscription and do not use APCs (diamond).

In addition, as part of the total grant value for both emerging and established journals, the applicant may request up to $10,000 per year to contribute to the costs related to the development and implementation of publishing best practices, including but not limited to technical best practices (e.g., improvement of metadata and dissemination quality, such as indexing, search functionalities, reference set, metadata standards, digital object identifiers, interoperability, referencing, harvesting, metrics); digital accessibility, diversity and inclusion best practices; and innovative dissemination practices (e.g., developing a social media strategy aimed at increasing the dissemination and impact of the journal’s articles and/or content; developing innovative layouts and structures for articles; producing high-quality graphics, videos and podcasts; offering interactivity for postpublication discussions).

In addition, SSHRC will be holding two webinars on the ASJ 2025 competition. The webinars will provide an overview of the funding opportunity, highlighting key program revisions and will include a question period. The webinars will be held via MS Teams on the following dates. Please use the links below to register.

July 16, 2025 8:00-9:30 AM (Mountain time):

French

https://events.teams.microsoft.com/event/fba510e9-51cd-4d9d-b060-b806f0abac56@fbef0798-20e3-4be7-bdc8-372032610f65

July 16, 2025 11:00AM-12:30 PM (Mountain time):

English

https://events.teams.microsoft.com/event/a0715d05-629e-449f-ab5d-408bc3f77c0d@fbef0798-20e3-4be7-bdc8-372032610f65

Submission Process

1. Complete your application in the SSHRC online system.  When it is complete, verify and submit so that it advances to the Research Services Office. ***PLEASE NOTE: The SSHRC portal redirects the application to the University of Calgary Research Services; pressing "submit" does not submit the application to SSHRC.
2. To initiate internal approvals, complete the pre-award/application record in RMS (https://research.ucalgary.ca/conduct-research/additional-resources/research-management-system-rms), and attach a download of your complete and final application from the SSHRC online portal.  Please do not attach drafts, Word documents, etc.  Also attach any other relevant documents, including letters confirming financial or in-kind support if applicable.

3. Once complete, click "Save and set status", then select "submitted for approvals", and then select "Save and progress" in order to obtain approvals from your department head and/or faculty Associate Dean (Research). 

   Important: when submitting in RMS, please ensure that you allow time for academic approvals prior to the Research Services review deadline of Friday September 5, 2025 at 12:00pm.       

4. Once these approvals are obtained, RMS will automatically forward the application record to Research Services for institutional review and approval.
5. Research Services will review and provide feedback (by email and via RMS), as necessary.
6. Once the application has undergone review and is in its final state, Research Services will obtain Institutional Approval and submit for adjudication by SSHRC through the SSHRC online system.
7. As an optional service, Research Services will perform a full detailed administrative review for any applications received by August 27, 2025 at 4:00pm.  The application must be received by RSO on both RMS and the SSHRC portal to initiate review.

Overhead

Not applicable

Application deadlines

RSO detailed review deadline

RSO final internal review deadline

Program application deadline

NOTE: Consult your Faculty Associate Dean (Research) (ADR) regarding Faculty-specific deadlines and submission processes.

Principal Investigators: Complete a Research Management System (RMS) record, including a copy of your complete application, and submit this for approvals in RMS.

Postdocs, students, and trainees: For fellowships and externally-sponsored research training awards or opportunities, you must complete the Research Funding Application Approval (RFAA) Trainee PDF form, and submit it, along with a complete copy of the application, to Research Services at rsotrainee@ucalgary.ca. Trainees should not use RMS at this time.

Approvals: The University of Calgary requires that all funding applications be approved prior to submission. Approval requires signatures via either RMS or the RFAA Trainee form, in the following order:

• Principal Investigator
• Department Head
• Faculty ADR/Dean
• Research Services (on behalf of the Vice-President Research)

Read the Meaning of Grant Signatures policy to understand what your approval means. Please see the agency guidelines for details about which signatures are required on your application, as it may differ from internal requirements.

Late submissions: Late submissions will only be accepted in cases of medical or family emergencies, or other exceptional circumstances. If you submit your RMS record to Research Services after the internal deadline has passed, you must secure additional approvals. Please read: Late Applications Process.

RESOURCES

Contact the following Research Service units for support with: 

 Projects Involving Indigenous Research: 

Support with incorporating wise practices in Indigenous research, community engagement, and Indigenous data management is available through the Indigenous Research Support Team (IRST). 

Applicants can reach out by email to IRST at IRST@ucalgary.ca in advance of the RSO internal deadline. For more information about IRST, please visit the IRST webpage. 

Knowledge Mobilization, Research Impact Assessment, DORA:  
Support for knowledge mobilization/engagement/translation, community partnerships, research impact, responsible research assessment (DORA), and open science, is available through the Knowledge to Impact team.  

Applicants can reach out by email to the KI team at knowledge.impact@ucalgary.ca.  
For more information and access to resource archives, please visit the KI team webpage. 

Research Data Management: 

For information on research data management plans, processes, or best practices for your research program, please contact research.data@ucalgary.ca.  

EDI in Research: 

RSO can provide resources and support to research teams on the integration of equitable and inclusive practices in research design and research practice.  

Contact edi.rso@ucalgary.ca for more information. 

Research Security: 

The Research Security Division is available to ensure researchers adhere to research security guidelines and policies, including the National Security Guidelines for Research Partnerships (NSGRP) and the policy on Sensitive Technology Research and Affiliations of Concern (STRAC). 

Visit the Research Security website to learn more or contact researchsecurity@ucalgary.ca.  

Pre-Award Submissions: 

RMS: Creating a Pre-Award Application