Our research policies

Our research policies on the use of animals in medical research, and open access publishing.

Position statement on the use of animals in medical research

Target Ovarian Cancer would like to see future advances made without research involving animals, but currently work with animals continues to be essential in some aspects of medical research. Target Ovarian Cancer therefore supports such work where no alternative exists and where it is carried out according to best practice as laid down in legislation. 

Research using animals has made an important contribution to advances in medicine and surgery, which have brought major improvements in the health of human beings and animals. 

Much basic research on physiological, pathological and therapeutic processes still requires the use of animals in experiments. Such research has provided and continues to provide the essential foundation for improvements in medical and veterinary knowledge, education and practice.

Target Ovarian Cancer will support research using animals in the UK only if:

Target Ovarian Cancer believes that a dialogue on the use of animals in research is healthy and should be supported, and that the research community should explain the methods and aims of its research.

Target Ovarian Cancer is a member of the Association of Medical Research Charities (AMRC). We support the principle of using animals in research when it is necessary to advance understanding of health and disease and to develop new treatments. This research only takes place where there is no alternative available. All AMRC member charities support this principle, as outlined in this statement

Supporting research in universities 

Target Ovarian Cancer fully endorses the AMRC position statement on supporting research in universities. We believe that a stable and sustainable university research environment is essential to all stakeholders, and that charities are a vital part of the ecosystem funding. Target Ovarian Cancer funds the directly incurred costs of research and other costs, in line with our mission and charitable objectives, but we do not cover the indirect costs of research. Partnership is required to support and incentivise charity-funded medical research in universities.

Open access research

The main output of our research is new ideas and knowledge. Target Ovarian Cancer expect our researchers to publish their work in high-quality, peer-reviewed journals.

We want the results of our funded research to be freely available to other researchers, clinicians, and the public. We therefore support open access publishing, free at the point of use. 

We encourage authors to publish their work in open access journals or to pay an open access fee in a hybrid journal, and we will consider paying or contributing towards open access fees on request. This  policy does not extend to reviews, book chapters, editorials, or conference proceedings.

It is a condition of funding that all Target Ovarian Cancer funded research is deposited in the open access repositories PubMedCentral (PMC) and its linked sister repository EuropePMC within six months of publication. PubMedCentral provide step by step guidance on depositing publications. Your chosen journal may make the deposit automatically, or you may have to submit it. We recommend looking at this guidance early in the process, and you can start making your deposit when your work is accepted for publication. 

Acknowledging funding in publications

Target Ovarian Cancer’s funding must be acknowledged in every paper published from our funded research projects, and the grant reference number must be accurately cited. This allows both the grantholder and Target Ovarian Cancer to link papers to grants in UKPMC. 

If the journal does not provide a template for this information, please use the following format: 'This work was supported by Target Ovarian Cancer [grant number x]' 

Please inform us as soon as a paper is accepted for publication.