Using Your Funds

Grant Holder's Guide

Journals and Scholarly Associations

This section contains regulations that apply to the Aid to Research and Transfer Journals and the Grants to Scholarly Associations programs.

Dates to Remember
Basic Terms and Conditions
Financial Administration
After the Grant is Completed
Related SSHRC Policies
Contact Us

Dates to Remember

Journals and Scholarly Associations Dates to Remember

* This form will be sent directly to all grant recipients.

** You must also send one copy of each issue produced with the grant to: SSHRC Library, P.O. Box 1610 Ottawa, Ontario K1P 6G4

Basic Terms and Conditions

What is the period of tenure?

Aid to Research and Transfer Journals: SSHRC awards and pays out grants based on its fiscal year, but the period of tenure for the grant may follow the journal's fiscal year.

Grants to Scholarly Associations: This program is currently under review. Until the review is completed, you will be given an annual extension of your grant. Information about your 2004 extension will be sent to you directly. (No new participants will be admitted to the program until the review is completed).

What payment conditions can be attached to a grant?

Your grant may have certain conditions attached to it. For example, if you have not completed your Statement of Revenues and Expenses form or your financial report for a given year, your payments may be withheld until you have met those conditions.

Financial Administration

How are the grants paid?

Aid to Research and Transfer Journals: Grant payments will normally be made by cheque to the universities. If the journal is self-administered or administered through an association, the cheque will be sent to the permanent address of the journal.

Grants to Scholarly Associations: Grant funds are paid directly to the treasurer of the organization.

When are the grants paid?

See Journals and Scholarly Associations Dates to Remember

Who can authorize expenditures from the grant account?

The university or your organization is responsible for administering grant funds in accordance with SSHRC guidelines. Administration, personnel and accounting procedures must conform to the standards, practices and policies of your university or organization.

If you do not comply with the regulations outlined in this guide, SSHRC can freeze or close your grant account(s) or all SSHRC accounts at your university or organization. If you use your grant funds to pay expenditures contrary to SSHRC policy, you will have to repay the grant account or SSHRC. Fraudulent use of SSHRC funds will be referred to the appropriate legal authorities.

Are our grant expenditures verified by SSHRC?

Review and Investigation Officers from SSHRC's Finance Division visit universities and other organizations every year. These visits allow the team to:

• review the effectiveness of policies, controls and systems in place at the university or within your organization to ensure that SSHRC policies and regulations are followed and that funds are well managed;
• review your expenditures to ensure that these were made in accordance with the Council's policies, regulations and guidelines and for the purposes intended;
• share and disseminate information on guidelines and expectations for financial and scientific accountability and integrity.

Can we transfer funds from one fiscal year to the next?

Aid to Research and Transfer Journals: If you do not spend your entire grant in a particular year, you may transfer the balance to the next fiscal period, without SSHRC approval. However, you must record this transfer on the balance sheet part of your Statement of Revenues and Expenses. If your journal's accumulated surplus is more than a year's operating expenses, the excess may be deducted from the next grant.

Can we transfer SSHRC grant funds to another account?

You cannot transfer funds from a SSHRC grant account to any other account.

What expenses may we charge to our grant?

Aid to Research and Transfer Journals: Your grant may only be used to help defray costs associated with the preparation and publication of the journal, including administration, translation, printing, marketing and distribution costs.

Grants to Scholarly Associations: Your grant covers only the travel and subsistence costs for members to attend the annual general meetings. In allocating these funds, you are expected to give priority to your members (especially to student members) over your executive. To encourage equitable distribution, you are encouraged to support different people each year so that as many members as possible benefit from the funds.

Travel costs must be based on standard rates or policies in effect at your institution. If no guidelines for travel per diems exist at your institution, the federal government Treasury Board guidelines apply. These are available from SSHRC.

You may claim the cost of air travel, provided that you obtain the lowest fare possible and that the cost does not exceed the equivalent of full economy fare. Subsistence costs may be claimed for the additional days a traveler may be required to stay in order to take advantage of a lower fare, provided that the total cost of the fare and subsistence is less than the cost of a full economy fare. If an upgrade is necessary for medical or other reasons, you must seek reimbursement elsewhere (i.e., your health insurance plan). Rental or mileage costs are allowed only if the use of a car is essential.

What costs are ineligible?

The following expenses are ineligible:

• Child-care expenses: A member of the research team who is a nursing mother or single custodial parent can claim child care or babysitting expenses while travelling. The allowable cost for a single parent is limited to overnight child care costs incurred while travelling.
• Entertainment costs;
• Hospitality costs;
• Discretionary severance and separation packages;
• Normal commuting costs may not be paid from a SSHRC grant account.

Note: This list is not exhaustive. If you are in doubt about the eligibility of a particular expense, contact your research grant officer or your university business office for clarification. If the university is not sure about the eligibility of an expense, your research grant officer will contact SSHRC for further clarification.

After the Grant is Completed

What reports will we be required to submit?

See Journals and Scholarly Associations Dates to Remember.

Can we submit computerized statements of account?

Aid to Research and Transfer Journals: SSHRC accepts computerized statements as long as you use the categories on the Aid to Research and Transfer Journals Statement of Revenues and Expenses form 647R.

Grants to Scholarly Associations: SSHRC accepts computerized statements as long as you use the categories on the Tri-Council Statement of Account form.

Can we get additional funding?

Aid to Research and Transfer Journals: There is no commitment of support for operating expenses beyond the term of the grant.

Should I acknowledge SSHRC when communicating my research findings?

As a recipient of Canadian government funds, it is important for you to let Canadians know how their tax money is being spent. Therefore, you should acknowledge the assistance of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada in all workshop and conference materials, publications and media coverage of activities funded through SSHRC grants.

Please see the SSHRC Research Data Archiving Policy and the guidelines on the use of SSHRC's logo.

Related SSHRC Policies

Integrity in Research and Scholarship

Non-Discrimination Policy

Tri-Council Policy Statement: Ethical Conduct for Research Involving Humans

Contact Us

For grant information, contact an awards administration officer from SSHRC's Finance Division by telephone at 613-995-2694 or by E-mail at awdad@sshrc-crsh.gc.ca.

Or you can write to us at:

Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada
350 Albert Street
P.O. Box 1610
Ottawa, Ontario
K1P 6G4

Fax: (613) 996-0458