RCUK, the strategic partnership of the UK’s seven Research Councils, has announced a new policy, which will apply to all qualifying publications being submitted for publication from 1 April 2013.
The policy states that peer reviewed research papers which result from research that is wholly or partially funded by the Research Councils MUST be published in journals which are compliant with Research Council policy on Open Access, and MUST include details of the funding that supported the research, and a statement on how the underlying research materials such as data, samples or models can be accessed.
The RCUK policy statement is available in Glynfo / Graduate School / Research Services / Information and Guidance http://glynfo.glyndwr.ac.uk/mod/resource/view.php?id=1478
The RCUK policy will have an impact on publishers’ income from readers and subscribers, and publishers will tend to charge authors (or their institutions) instead for publication. From April 2013,such costs can no longer be covered by Research Council grant funding.
Glyndwr University is setting up a central catalogue of research data so that the data can be accessible, and information about how to submit information for the catalogue will be circulated shortly.
Stewart Milne, Head of Research Services, Glyndŵr University