UKRI open access rules for books, book chapters, monographs

UKRI is introducing new rules about open access books, book chapters, and research monographs, starting 1 January 2024. These formats are collectively called long-form publications. If research that was supported by a UKRI grant is published in a long-form publication, then from this date you must make the long-form publication open access within 12 months of publication.

These rules do not apply to long-form publications where UKRI is not to be acknowledged (i.e. the research was not supported by UKRI, or by time bought out on grants).

The new rules also mandate the kind of license under which the publication must be available. They must be one of the Creative Commons licenses, with CC-BY preferred. (There is one exception: if your work is subject to Crown Copyright, then the Open Government License is permitted.)

There are some exemptions:

• if there is only one appropriate publisher, and that publisher does not permit open access publication;
• if your book contains third party materials that cannot be released as open access;
• if your book contract was signed before 1 January 2024 and does not permit open access publication.

You do not need approval from UKRI for these exemptions; applying the exemptions is self-managed and trust-based.

UKRI has announced a fund of £3.5m per year for supporting open access for long-form outputs. The University will apply to UKRI for this money in a two-stage process. The funding is paid to the University in arrears, after the publication is made open access. Details of this process will be announced in summer 2023.

For more details, see UKRI's guidance on its open access policies.