Open Access and UKRI's new OA requirements
UKRI's new Open Access requirements
REF2021 mandated an Open Access (OA) requirement on articles submitted. Authors could satisfy this requirement by depositing their author-accepted manuscripts (AAM, the version you have on acceptance, before publisher formatting/editing) in Symplectic, which took care of managing embargos and making the article OA via the green route at the appropriate time.
UKRI have decided to bring in stricter OA rules on UKRI-funded researchers. These rules apply to manuscripts submitted on or after 1 April 2022. These rules cannot be satisfied simply by acting on acceptance, i.e. depositing the AAM in Symplectic, as before: any manuscripts archived have to be available immediately under a Creative Commons CC BY license. The Bodleian OA website has a section on these new rules. Essentially, to comply, you have to do one of three things on submission:
- apply the rights retention strategy, or
- submit to a journal subject to a transformative agreement, with the right corresponding author, or
- submit to a gold open access journal and identify a funding source for the associated article processing charges, if any.
The OA requirements for eligibility for the next REF are under consultation, but there is a guarantee that anything UKRI-compliant will also be REF2029-compliant.
The simplest way of complying with these rules (and hence also with REF2029 open access rules) is to follow the so-called rights retention strategy. The basic idea is that you indicate in your manuscript on submission that you will apply a CC BY license to the AAM (assuming it is accepted). If the publisher accepts the submission, you then have the right to upload the AAM to Symplectic under the right license. This is straightforward, applies to any journal, and is where the open access strategy is heading. The Bodleian have an excellent webpage explaining how to apply the rights retention strategy.
Alternatively, if you don't want to follow the rights retention strategy, your other options are described in the flowchart below.
For accessing hyperlinks, please use the PDF version: oaflowchart.pdf.
For corrections or suggestions, please contact Patrick Farrell or the Bodleian Open Access team.
Depositing your paper in ORA using Symplectic
Once your paper has been accepted for publication, you simply follow these instructions to deposit your paper in ORA using the Symplectic system (see single-sign-on login in top-right corner).
Depositing data
The university's Policy on Research Data Management requires us to store 'information needed to support or validate a research project’s observations, findings or outputs'.
If your publications have associated research data, you can store them by uploading them to Symplectic. You can request a DOI for the data at the same time, so that you can cite it in your papers.
For more details, see the departmental webpage on research data management.
arXiv
We recommend you upload your manuscripts to arXiv at the same time as journal submission. While not mandatory, this allows for the widest dissemination of our research.
Once the article is accepted for publication in a journal, it is possible to update the arXiv record to include this information. See the arxiv help pages for more information.
Support from the Bodleian
The open access policy environment is quite complex. The Bodleian Libraries has an open access team at @email. They are keen to help with advice on OA requirements and the options available, including sources of publication funds, using rights retention, conversations with co-authors about OA costs, and on the relationship between OA and Intellectual Property.