Research councils emphasise the importance of open access to research outputs
Authors should note that many funders now require that research is published through an Open Access route. This could be via an Open Access Journal or subject repository, and there are many options currently available. See the Directory of Open Access Journals DOAJ for some examples.
Authors need to check that their chosen publisher allows them to make the work Open Access, if this is one of their funder’s requirements. Some publishers have very strict copyright rules which prevent the Author allowing their work (full text) to be used as Open Access Data.
Recently Research Councils UK (RCUK) have been issuing reminders explaining the need for all funded research publications to be published as freely available documents to anyone with access to the internet. This policy was implemented for all research articles submitted for publication on or after 1 September 2011, making the matter of ensuring open access to research publications even more critical for University staff.
Note
Authors currently employed by Glyndŵr University can ensure that their work is made Open Access by adding it to the Glyndŵr University Research Online GURO, Open Access Repository following its publication.
EPSRC Introduces a New Policy
In June 2011 the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) have been the latest funder to announce that they are implementing a new policy on access to research outputs.
The policy covers the access to research publications arising from EPSRC-sponsored research, and is being introduced to ensure that these are made as widely and freely available as practicable. The policy, which recognises the need for increased availability and accessibility of publicly funded research findings, is in line with the RCUK position statement on access to research outputs (PDF 75KB)
The policy requires that all published EPSRC-funded research articles which are submitted for publication as from 1 September 2011 must be made available on an Open Access basis.
The policy is not prescriptive about how this is done: authors have the flexibility to choose an approach best suited to their field of research either by post-publication archiving in an open access repository or through publishing within an open access publication. Choosing to publish as open access could cost a fee of approx. £1,500-£3,000, which must be paid by the grant holder, but this could be included in the initial funding application.
The European Research Council (ERC) also has a ‘Green’ Open Access Self Archiving policy, which is similar:
“The ERC requires that all peer-reviewed publications from ERC-funded research projects be deposited on publication into an appropriate research repository where available, such as PubMed Central, ArXiv or an institutional repository, and subsequently made Open Access within 6 months of publication.”
The ERC Scientific Council statement on Open Access from Dec 2006 is here pdf and their guidelines for Open Access from Dec 2007 is here pdf
Checking Publishers Policies
Publishers who have open access prohibitive policies need to be identified and authors need to make an informed choice about if they can still use them. You can discover if your key journals are restrictive or permissive to open access by searching the SHERPA/RoMEO site. Increasingly major publishers, such as Springer or Elsevier, are making open access publication possible within their key titles, although a publication fee is usually charged as described above.
Checking Funders Requirements
The SHERPA/JULIET website maintains an easy to understand list of all major research funders’ policies with respect to open access availability of funded work for all major UK and international funding bodies. A few examples are given here:
• Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC)
• Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC)
• Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC)
• European Research Council (ERC)
• Medical Research Council (MRC)
• National Institute for Health Research (NIHR)
• Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC)
• Wellcome Trust (WT)
Posted by Misha Jepson, Glyndŵr University