UKRI has published updated information to support funded research organisations and researchers to be ready for UKRI’s new open access policy.
Peer-reviewed research articles that acknowledge UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) funding will need to comply with UKRI’s open access policy from 1 April 2022.
The following guidance has been updated to address frequently asked questions from stakeholders:
Further guidance
Jisc has also published further guidance on the sector’s requirements for transformative journals.
From 1 April 2022, authors and research organisations will be able to check to see whether journals offer publishing options that enable compliance with the UKRI open access policy.
They can do this via the Journal Checker Tool, which will be developed further in response to feedback from the sector.
Currently the tool is being customised in line with the UKRI policy and updated with the latest information from Jisc.
Supporting researchers and organisations
Jisc is supporting UKRI-funded researchers and research organisations to find available open access publishing options, including information on Jisc approved transformative journals and transitional agreements.
Find out more in Jisc’s latest blog.
Best practice
In preparation for the new policy UKRI has also:
- held information and best practice events for research organisations
- written to research organisations and grant holders about the upcoming changes.
Research organisations have been notified of their open access block grant allocations.
New agreement
Yesterday, UK universities and research organisations agreed a three-year open access agreement with Elsevier.
The agreement provides unlimited open access publishing, access to paywalled articles for a reduction in current spend.
UKRI welcomes this development, which will support UKRI-funded authors to publish open access in line with its new policy.
Further information
Further information and guidance is available:
- David Sweeney outlines purpose of UKRI’s new open access policy and the implications for research organisations on the UKRI blog
- information and best practice event recording: UKRI open access policy information and good practice sharing event (YouTube)
- open access policy, frequently asked questions, no-derivatives exception form and researcher guidance are available at: making your research publications open access
- information pack for research organisations
- information about implementation activities and open access funding: shaping our open access policy
- open research resources on the good research resource hub: open research resources.
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