Open Access Policies

Open access

Open access is a way of publishing research that makes it freely accessible online to anybody with an internet connection, regardless of their location, ability to pay for content, or institutional affiliations.

Apart from the obvious general good to society of free access to good quality information, there are many benefits to open access publication. It is fairer, as it removes the need for readers to pay to access information. It also helps to drive engagement with research, which can lead to increased citations and views of publications, as well potentially as leading to real-world impact. It also means that research funded by the public is available to the public, ensuring that people have the opportunity to benefit from research that they have contributed to.

The University of Gloucestershire expects staff who publish their research to archive either the accepted author manuscript or published version (as applicable) in the Research Repository. Please see Information for staff who publish research for more information on this.

The REF open access policy

The next Research Excellence Framework (‘REF’) will take place in 2029. Research England, who administer and oversee the REF, have recently confirmed the REF 2029 open access policy for journal articles and conference papers published in volumes with an ISSN. No other output types are currently in scope of the REF 2029 open access policy.

The new policy will come into effect on the 1^st of January 2026. Until then, the REF 2021 open access policy will continue to apply to journal articles and conference papers published in volumes with an ISSN.

‘Longform’ outputs (books; book sections; monographs; edited books) remain outside the scope of both the current and forthcoming REF open access policy. It is expected that an open access policy for longform outputs will be introduced after submission to REF 2029 – ie, for the next REF exercise.

Bear in mind that some funders may have their own open access policies, and that these may require that both short- and longform outputs are published via an open access route.

Policy changes

Many elements of the policy remain the same. The major changes are to the permitted embargo periods for the two Main Panels, and to the deposit deadline for Author Accepted Manuscripts (AAMs). Any articles published via a gold (or diamond) open access route will be considered to meet the open access criteria as set out in both the REF 2021 and REF2029 policies.

If the journal in which you publish an article has an embargo that exceeds the permitted maximum, we may be able to claim an exception to ensure REF policy compliance – please speak to the Senior Librarian (Research and Resources), Rhiannon Goodland, if this is the case.

If you wish to look up a journal’s embargo length, you can use Jisc’s Open Policy Finder tool, which will show you terms of reuse for AAMs, among other things. If your journal isn’t included in the Open Policy Finder tool, you can try looking on the publisher’s website, or contact your Unit of Assessment’s repository administrator and ask them to investigate for you.

UKRI open access policy

UKRI open access policy for articles submitted for publication on or after 1^st April 2022, and monographs, book chapters and edited collections published on or after 1^st January 2024

UKRI-funded research must be made available via an open access route (unless there is a contract signed before the policy came into effect that prevents you from following it), whether that is via a ‘green’ (self archiving of your AAM in an institutional repository) or a ‘gold’ or ‘diamond’ route (both of which make the published version freely available online at the point of publication). Note that UKRI does not allow the use of a publisher embargo for short-form publications – if your publisher mandates an embargo, you will need to contact UKRI to discuss this with them. Be aware also that UKRI requires the use of a CC BY licence or Open Government Licence, and you may need to notify your publisher of this. Some research councils also mandate that publications are deposited in subject repositories like PubMed.

To make your UKRI-funded journal articles open access, you may be able to make use of one of our read and publish deals – please contact the Senior Librarian (Research and Resources) to discuss this. You may also be eligible for money from a UKRI block grant. Please speak to the Gloucestershire Research Office if you would like to know more about this, and be aware that the block grant will only cover APCs in particular types of journals.

If your work is a longform publication, you may need to apply to UKRI for help with funding your open access costs. This is a two-stage process which is completed by your research organisation (for example, the University of Gloucestershire) with input from you. Please contact the Gloucestershire Research Office to start the process. UKRI’s guidance on this can be found here. You may also deposit your AAM in an institutional or subject repository. Longform publications must be made open access within 12 months of publication. If this will not be possible, you must contact UKRI to discuss using an exemption for your work.

You may also wish to explore using a Rights Retention statement to allow you to deposit your AAM under a CC BY licence and with no embargo. Again, please contact the Senior Librarian (Research and Resources) if you would like to discuss this.