Open access policy update and information event registration

Woman reaching for book in library

Registration is now open for an information event on UKRI’s new open access policy. We are also providing a further update on the policy.

Open access policy event for research organisations

UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) is holding a virtual information and good practice sharing event for research organisations on 24 February 2022, 09:00 to 12:30. The agenda will include:

  • an overview of the latest information and guidance on the UKRI open access policy and activities supporting its implementation
  • opportunity to raise questions and share feedback
  • the chance to hear how other research organisations are implementing UKRI’s policy and supporting increasing open access to research.

Registration is now open to staff, such as librarians and research managers, responsible for supporting open access in research organisations eligible to receive UKRI funding.

You can find further information and register interest in attending on the event registration page. Registration is open until 14 February 2022.

UKRI is organising this event in partnership with research sector bodies:

Open access block grant

UKRI is providing funding to support its new open access policy for research articles through an open access block grant. Information on the eligible costs for the new open access block grant is now available.

The open access block grant can be used to cover costs that enable research organisations to meet the aims of our open access policy.

Eligible costs include:

  • article processing charges (APCs) and charges via other types of funding models (for example, membership fees) that support publication in fully open access journals and platforms
  • publish elements of Jisc-approved transitional agreements
  • open access fees in journals approved by Jisc as meeting the research sectors requirements for transition to open access
  • costs associated with open access via ‘route two’ of the policy. For example, making the author’s accepted manuscript (or version of record, where the publisher permits) available in an institutional or subject repository at the time of final publication
  • open access costs associated with articles in scope of and compliant with the Research Councils UK (RCUK) policy. For example, submitted for publication before 1 April 2022.

The block grant does not cover:

  • the cost of hybrid open access publishing in subscription journals. Unless part of Jisc-approved transitional agreements or in journals approved by Jisc as meeting the research sectors requirements for transition to open access
  • other non-open access charges associated with publication, including page and colour charges, and non-open access publication charges and fees
  • open access fees associated with monographs, book chapters and edited collections. UKRI will be making dedicated funding available once the monographs policy is live in 2024, and before then it is permissible to include these costs in grant applications.

We have decided to lower the threshold for receipt of the open access block grant to £5,000. This means that an increased number of research organisations will receive UKRI open access funding under our new policy. We are also moving to standard financial reporting and assurance processes for this funding stream.

UKRI will notify research organisations of their block grant allocation for 2022 to 2023 shortly.

Policy exceptions for research articles

In the new UKRI open access policy there is a case-by-case exception for research articles where a no-derivatives (ND) license may be allowed.

Today we are sharing information on the approach we will put in place for this exception. This has been informed by consultation with our stakeholders and the process has been developed to be as easy as possible.

Research organisations or authors must apply to UKRI for an exception via email, providing the following information:

  • author name(s)
  • email address
  • UKRI grant number
  • title of publication
  • name of journal or publishing platform
  • why you are applying for this exception.

The decision on whether to grant an exception will be dependent on the reasons articulated to UKRI within the context of research and will be assessed on a case-by-case basis. Further details on this process will be made available in February 2022.

Further information

We will continue to provide updates on policy implementation. Further information on implementing our open access policy can be found on our shaping our open access policy page.

Top image:  Credit: demaerre, Getty Images

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