The revised Tri-Agency Open Access Policy creates an institutional responsibility alongside the obligations placed on individual researchers. Each postsecondary institution and research hospital eligible to administer CIHR, NSERC or SSHRC funds must develop and publicly share an open access strategy.
The policy gives institutions 2 years from the availability of supporting resources to publish the strategy and notify the agencies. That is a different timing rule from January 1, 2027, which determines the grants and Chair awards covered by the revised publication requirements. An institutional implementation plan should track the release of those resources before assigning a final compliance date.
The agencies' guidance describes a strategy suited to the institution's own capacity. Research administration, libraries and information technology services may all need to contribute. For a governing body, the practical question is who owns the process that moves an article from an author's agreement to an accessible repository, and how unresolved obstacles reach someone able to address them.
This creates a focused need for institutional policy and responsibility reviews. A public strategy can describe an ambition while leaving deposit support, rights advice or accessibility work without an accountable owner. Mapping those responsibilities and checking the available resources would make the strategy more useful to the people expected to follow it.