First book published under the UKRI open access policy

We are very excited to share that ‘Pushing the Paradigm of Global Water Security’, co-edited by Victoria Anker, Rachael Maysels and Maria Valasia Peppa, from the Newcastle University School of Engineering, has been published open access (OA), by IWA Publishing. https://doi.org/10.2166/9781789062540

This book brings together early career researchers, non-governmental organisations and industry practitioners, indigenous and local communities, and government agency workers to interrogate the concept of water security. Most notably, the authors push for the radical acceptance of the indivisibility of environmental conservation, social stability, and economic vitality. Essential reading for water practitioners, policy makers, and multilateral organisations in the development sector, it is also a must-read for doctoral and master’s students working at intersections of water, and undergraduates who want to challenge their subject-specific perspectives on water and push disciplinary boundaries.

This is the first book published at Newcastle as a result of the UKRI open access policy for long-form publications, with open access costs covered by UKRI funding.

Open publishing of research increases the visibility and accessibility of the research, increasing the potential reach of the work to audiences online anywhere in the world, without the need to pay to read. Books published open access receive more views, with OA books considered to have ten times more downloads than non-OA books and more than double the number of citations [1]. They also have a higher geographic diversity of usage and reach more countries [1]. Research has also shown that OA publication has the potential to increase digital and print revenue, depending on the sales models used [2].

Comments from Victoria Anker (editor):

In the current academic climate, there is an expectation that our outputs will be made open access – and this should be standard for any research funded by the UK government. This book represents a new way of thinking about water security, which is designed to be useful to people outside of the academic sphere. These sorts of organisations don’t usually have access to traditional academic journals. As such, we are particularly grateful to Newcastle University for enabling open access through [the UKRI open access fund], which may not otherwise have been possible. 

Comments from Wegayehy Asfaw (contributor):

This achievement means a lot to us, and I want to extend my heartfelt congratulations to all the editors and contributors who have worked tirelessly to bring this project to fruition.

The contribution from the Early Career Network is truly remarkable, and I believe it will have a significant impact across disciplines and around the globe. Together, we are addressing critical challenges and proposing innovative solutions for water security.

In summing up this achievement, Wegayehy Asfaw said

Thank you all for your hard work and dedication. Let’s celebrate this milestone and continue making a difference!

Comments from Catherine Flynn (ESRC)

The Early Career Network brings hope for a bright future, not only in water security, but in international development and international partnerships.

The UKRI open access policy aims to ensure that findings from research funded by the public through UKRI can be freely accessed, used and built upon. The policy was updated at the beginning of 2024 from previously focusing on peer-reviewed research articles to now include long-form outputs, namely book chapters, monographs and edited collections.

Full details of the UKRI open access policy and how we in Library Research Services can support you to publish open access can be found on our UKRI Policy for long-form publications page.

If you have any questions or concerns about the policy, and how this might affect any current or future publications, please contact openaccess@ncl.ac.uk.  

[1] Neylon C, Ozaygen A, Montgomery L, Huang C-K (Karl), Pyne R, Lucraft M & Emery C 2021 More readers in more places: the benefits of open access for scholarly books Insights: the UKSG journal 34 (1) p 27 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1629/uksg.558

[2] Brown L, Dayan M, McLaughlin B, Schonfeld R C, Sherer J & van Rijn E 2023 Print Revenue and Open Access Monographs: A University Press Study Ithaka S+R DOI: https://doi.org/10.18665/sr.319642

Open Access Support Sessions Return

Following the success of our Open Access Support Sessions earlier in the year, our monthly informal sessions will be returning from September.

Are you looking for advice and information on open access or managing publications? Come to one of our monthly drop-in sessions and meet members of the Library Research Services team, who will be happy to answer questions on:

  • Publishing open access
  • Understanding research funder policy requirements
  • Copyright and licencing issues relating to your publications
  • Uploading your publications to MyImpact

Whether you’re a seasoned researcher, student or simply keen to explore the possibilities within open access, these sessions offer a welcoming space to ask questions, gain insights and delve deeper into the realm of open access.

Each session will focus on a specific area and how this relates to open access:

19th Sept 2024 Introduction to Library Research Services 13.00-13.45

17th Oct 2024 Research Data and Publications 13.00-13.45

15th Nov 2024 The benefits of ORCiD 13.00-13.45

18th Dec 2024 Licencing for OA funder compliance 13.00-13.45

All are welcome!

These are informal sessions, however, registration is required for you to receive the online teams link. 

Open Access Fund Pilot 2023/24 – A review

In April 2023, the Library was awarded a small grant after applying to the QR Enhancing Research Culture (ERC) Project fund. This project application aimed to address a gap in University support for open access publishing. The funds requested were used to pay article processing charges (APCs) for papers published in fully open access journals. Relevant articles were either the outcome of non-funded research activity (i.e. research that has not been funded through research council, industry or charity funding assigned to a specific project) or those that did not receive financial support for open access publishing from their associated funder (e.g. where there is no dedicated policy or funds for publishing open access). The aim was to remove a financial barrier to publishing research, giving authors more choice in where to publish their work while retaining their copyright.

Open publishing of research outputs increases visibility and accessibility of the research, which in turn can foster wider collaboration as more researchers are able to connect with each other’s work. Additionally, the wider public also gains access to the work, which is particularly significant for publicly funded activity. This forms part of the University’s approach to Open Research, encouraging researchers to incorporate open research practices into their work to make their processes and outputs more transparent and reproducible where possible. Open Research is a Top Priority Project in Newcastle’s Research Culture Programme and you can find out more about the broader open research activities by visiting the Library’s Open Research pages.

Currently, Newcastle University supports the publication of open access research by covering publishing costs through several publisher agreements and block grant funding received from UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), Wellcome Trust, Cancer Research UK (CRUK) and the British Heart Foundation (BHF) (specifically for papers acknowledging these funders). Other funders, such as National Institute for Health Research (NIHR), allow open access costs to be charged direct to the grant or by applying to the funder for associated costs. The Newcastle University Research Publications and Copyright Policy also enables immediate, at no cost, open access of the author accepted manuscript (the version post peer-review but before final publication) for articles published in hybrid (subscription) journals, where readers pay a fee to view the non-open access published content. However, publishing for non-funded research in fully open access journals currently sits outside of these routes. Non-funded research makes up a relatively small portion of our publications, however, periodically the Open Access team within Library Research Services are approached by authors in need of such provision. After consultation with authors that the team have previously been unable to assist, we proposed the pilot scheme to trial a possible solution to this publishing barrier.

The Open Access Funding for Non-funded Research (Pilot) went live in April 2023 and was advertised University wide. Applications were received from across all faculties and reviewed by faculty representatives, with subsequent publication payments organised by the Library. Applications closed in June 2023, which was earlier than expected as ERC project funds were rapidly allocated. In the 3-month application period, the Library received 14 applications (Table 1), 10 of which were eligible for funding, with 9 being accepted. Applications not approved for this scheme were eligible for open access publication via publisher agreements, block grants or faculty funding. All 9 accepted articles were peer-reviewed, and published, in a range of journals from BMJ, Elsevier, JMIR, MDPI, Society of Neuroscience and Springer Nature (see the list at the end).

Applications TotalBy Faculty
 Medical ScienceHumanities and Social SciencesScience, Agriculture & Engineering
Number of applications14734
Applications awarded open access funding9423
Table 1. Open Access funding application numbers by faculty

The pilot scheme was successful in demonstrating the need for financial support for some open access publications as these publications may not have been possible in the chosen journals without such provision. Feedback on the scheme (received July 2024) from the successful applicants to the fund was positive, see what they had to say below.

Open Access funding recipient 1:

“The OA process was extremely straight forward with timely communication and information to provide was not too onerous.

The funding allowed us to publish in a highly relevant Open journal in very good time from conducting the work. We have had much correspondence about our article since and shared this internationally. Our work is in medical education research and as such we don’t often have large pots of money that we can use to allow us to publish OA so this fund was crucial to us being able to do that.

I envisage a great need for this funding and if a similar fund was continued that would be highly important to driving our publication presence forward particularly in areas of education and also public/patient/community involvement in research where OA is essential.”

Open Access funding recipient 2:

“The funding and the way it was managed was very helpful and meant we were able to publish in a high profile journal […].

I know a few people in my networks have let me know they read it partly because it was in that particular journal and downloaded the open source data attached to it so far, and again because of the journal being known, it was identified and quoted in [an] online news site […].

Overall I’d say being able to publish it using the open access fund has increased its impact and been very positive! It would certainly be very useful for future publications too.”

Open Access funding recipient 3:

“Open Access funding enabled me to publish my study in a good quality journal. Since it is fully open access, I have got reasonable number of citations within the first year after publication. My study is being recognised by many researchers all around the world and they even contribute to their own research. I would not have done it without the support of this fund by the University. I appreciate this support and want this chance to continue in the future because it is really important for a researcher that their research reaches out to everyone without any restriction.”

In 2018 an Open Access publishing initiative ‘Plan S’ was launched, supported by an international consortium of research funding and performing organisations (cOAlition S). According to the Plan S principles of transformative arrangements (TAs) “all scholarly publications on the results from research funded by public or private grants provided by national, regional and international research councils and funding bodies, must be published in Open Access Journals, on Open Access Platforms, or made immediately available through Open Access Repositories without embargo”. With hybrid titles moving to fully open access, the removal of financial support for TAs from 2025 and uncertainties in funding in general, we predict that interest in a central fund to support the publication of non-funded research will continue.

One learning outcome from the scheme was the acknowledgement that the QR ERC Project fund is not appropriate for this type of support due to the nature of publications. The time lag between paper acceptance, publication and invoicing can vary massively (the average time from OA funding application to publication invoice for the pilot project was 107 days) and, in many cases, does not fit within the financial time restrictions of this annual funding. The Library continues to review how we can financially support our non-funded authors, in conjunction with all authors, to be able to publish in their journals of choice and share our research more widely. 

Al-Aali et al. 2023 Radix-2^2 algorithm for odd new Mersenne number transform (ONMNT) MDPI Engineering 4 746 https://doi.org/10.3390/signals4040041
Benthem de Grave et al. 2023 Smartphone apps for food purchase choices: scoping review of designs, opportunities, and challenges Journal of Medical Internet Research 26 e45904 https://doi.org/10.2196/45904
Brown et al. 2023 Genetic analysis of blood molecular phenotypes reveals common properties in the regulatory networks affecting complex traits Nature Communications 14 5062 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-40569-3
Cayci et al. 2023 Practices and perceptions of community pharmacists in the management of atopic dermatitis: systematic review and thematic synthesis MDPI Healthcare 11 2159 https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare11152159
Germann & Baker 2023 Testing a novel wearable device for motor recovery of the elbow extensor triceps brachii in chronic spinal cord injury eNeuro 10 ENEURO.0077-23.2023 https://doi.org/10.1523/ENEURO.0077-23.2023
Law et al. 2024 The development and productivity of a measure for identifying low language abilities in children aged 24–36 months BMC Pediatrics 23 495 https://doi.org/10.1186/s12887-023-04079-x
Rayne et al. 2023 Detecting desertification in the ancient oases of southern Morocco Scientific Reports 13 19424 https://doi.org/10.1038/S41598-023-46319-1
Tullo et al. 2023 Lost in translation: how can education about dementia be effectively integrated into medical school contexts? A realist synthesis BMJ Open 13 e077028 https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2023-077028
Yadav et al. 2023 Effective battery charging system using step voltage and step duty sizebased MPPT controller for solar PV system Energy Reports 10 744 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.egyr.2023.07.033
List of articles published as a result of the QR ERC Project fund

UKRI Open Access Policy for long-form publications – August 2024 update

The UKRI open access policy for long-form publications has been in effect since 1st January 2024 (see our previous post for further details). Our dedicated UKRI Policy for long-form publications page contains a summary of the policy and how the Library Research Services (LRS) team can support with publishing open access.

Since the launch of this addition of the open access policy, LRS have been on hand to answer queries about publishing monographs, edited collections and chapters open access, in particular relating to UKRI funded works, advising on publishing routes and how to comply with policy, where appropriate.

Throughout the first half of the 2024, we have visited three schools, hosted five drop-in support sessions, and presented an in-depth webinar to share the UKRI policy and the support we offer. We will continue to share details of our services in future workshops and presentations, and we are always available for 1-2-1 sessions for anyone who would like to know further details.

Following the policy update, we have received numerous queries about publishing books open access, from across all the faculties. They have covered a range of book types and publishers, including Bloomsbury, Boydell and Brewer, Bristol University Press, IWA Publishing, Manchester University Press, and Routledge. Where appropriate, we have advised on the different open access options available, such as publishing the final output open access or self-archiving the accepted manuscript.

Of the six applications received that acknowledge UKRI funding, are within the scope of the policy, and require funding to cover a book processing charge, all have been awarded funding from UKRI to cover the open access publishing costs. The funding is reserved until the books are published, at which time UKRI release the funds and complete the process.  

We expect the first of the UKRI funded outputs to be published by September 2024, details of which will follow once available.

If you have any questions or concerns about the policy, and how this might affect any current or future publications, please contact openaccess@ncl.ac.uk. 

How does having an ORCiD contribute to open research?

Who are ORCiD?

ORCiD, which stands for Open Researcher and Contributor ID, is a global, not-for-profit organization sustained by fees from member organizations. They are community-built and governed by a Board of Directors representative of membership with wide stakeholder representation. ORCiD is supported by a dedicated and knowledgeable professional staff.

Established in 2012 their mission is:

To enable transparent and trustworthy connections between researchers, their contributions, and their affiliations by providing a unique, persistent identifier for individuals to use as they engage in research, scholarship, and innovation activities.

What is an ORCiD ID?

It is a free, unique, persistent identifier (PID) for individuals to use as they engage in research, scholarship, and innovation activities.

An ORCiD has 16 digits e.g. 0000-0002-1825-0097

Why get an ORCiD?

Researchers can benefit from having an up-to-date ORCiD in many ways. It reduces admin burden, allowing more time for research. It ensures your work is correctly attributed to you by attaching it via your unique identifier not just your name, which may be the same or similar to another researcher. It also tracks your work throughout your career even if you change name or institution. Many publishers and funders now ask for your ORCiD.

How does ORCiD contribute to open research?

If you choose to have your privacy settings set to everyone, it makes your work more discoverable, not just publications but also your employment history, education, funding record and peer reviews. When depositing work to our data repository, it ensures it is correctly attributed. The more accurate we can make the data, the more accessible it is.

ORCiD collaborates with other scholarly PID services, providing transparent reporting of research activities. This fosters global collaboration in research.

For more information on how to link your ORCiD to MyImpact click here. For more information on the benefits of ORCiD for researchers click here.

Stacey Wagstaff – Research Integrity Project Officer, Newcastle University

UKRI Open Access Policy for long-form publications – March 2024 update

The updated guidance around the UKRI open access policy for long-form publications is now available, and the Library Research Services team are here to provide support with the policy and publishing open access.   

As detailed in our previous post, the UKRI policy update applies to monographs, book chapters and edited collections that acknowledge UKRI funding, and are published on or after 1 January 2024, where: 

  • The final Version of Record or Author’s Accepted Manuscript must be free to view and download via an online publication platform, publisher’s website, or institutional or subject repository within a maximum of 12 months of publication.  
  • Images, illustrations, tables and other supporting content should be included in the open access version, where possible.  
  • The open access version of the publication must have a Creative Commons licence, with a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) licence preferred. An Open Government Licence is also permitted. (This requirement does not apply to third party materials included in the publication). 

UKRI expects publications acknowledging their funding to be made open access, although they do allow some exemptions, which we are happy to discuss.  

UKRI have a dedicated fund to support open access costs for long-form publications within scope of the policy, where publication via a green, free, route to open access is not an eligible option for authors. Applications for this fund are made via the library.   

Our UKRI Policy for long-form publications page includes a summary of the policy, how grant holders can comply, details of exemptions and what funds are available to support open access publication. The page also has a link to the form we require to submit an application to UKRI on your behalf or if you want to discuss your options.  

Library Research Services will be attending some faculty meetings, throughout March to May, to discuss what the policy means for authors, and how the library and UKRI will be supporting this. Alongside this, we will be holding a couple of webinars focused on the policy, along with general Open Access Support sessions for any open access queries. We are also available for 1-2-1 sessions as required.   

If you have any questions or concerns about the policy, and how this might affect any current or future publications, please contact openaccess@ncl.ac.uk.  

Dates for your diary: 

20 March 2024: UKRI Policy for Long-form Publications 13.00-13.45 

22 May 2024: UKRI Policy for Long-form Publications 13.00-13.45 

18 July 2024: Open Access Support session: focus on UKRI Policy for Long-form Publications 13.00-13.45

Open Access Support Sessions

Are you looking for advice and information on open access or managing publications? Come to one of our monthly drop-in sessions and meet members of the Library Research Services team, who will be happy to answer questions on:

  • Publishing open access
  • Understanding research funder policy requirements
  • Copyright and licencing issues relating to your publications
  • Uploading your publications to MyImpact.

Whether you’re a seasoned researcher, student or simply keen to explore the possibilities within open access, this session offers a welcoming space to ask questions, gain insights and delve deeper into the realm of open access.

Each session will focus on a specific area of open access including an overview of library research services. These sessions are as follows:

14th March 2024  Publisher Agreements 13.00-13.45

18th April 2024 Funder Policies 13.00-13.45

16th May 2024 MyImpact & ePrints Repository 13.00-13.45

20th June 2024 Copyright & Licencing Open Access Publications 13.00-13.45

18th July 2024 UKRI Policy for Long-Form Publications 13.00-13.45

All are welcome!

This is an informal session, however, registration is required for you to receive the online teams link. 

Research Publications and Copyright Policy: An update on progress 9 months in

Since beginning implementation of Newcastle University’s Research Publications and Copyright Policy in January 2023, the open research landscape has continued to transform. Library Research Services have been integrating our RPCP policy into open research publishing practices across the university. We have been doing this by supporting researchers and professional services staff while monitoring the uptake using our research support systems. Before we dive into the progress made over the past 9 months, we would first like to extend a thank you to our staff and students for recognising the benefits of the new policy and embracing change, and retaining their rights to publish their work where they see fit.

We have made 1,533* articles open access via the gold (paid) route and 388* available using the green (free) route. 238* of the publications made available through green open access were because of our policy with more research articles being accepted for publication containing the statement.

Implementing the policy required extensive planning and coordination. We developed a communications plan outlining the various media and methods we could use including channels, time frames and promotional material to convey the policy clearly and effectively. We added a web page within Library Research Services detailing the policy, a step-by-step guide for researchers and professional services staff and a list of FAQs to pre-empt and answer any questions or concerns they may have.

We are grateful to be part of the N8 Research Partnership which has allowed us to work together while launching similar policies around rights retention. The partnership enabled us to anticipate and tackle the issues we faced as a collective while allowing us to benchmark our progress with other research-intensive universities across the North of England. We liaised with our colleagues in Research, Strategy and Development to discuss how our policy aligned with our Ownership, Protection and Exploitation of Intellectual Property for Employees and the Open Access Policy Statement.

The first practical steps we took towards implementation was to contact over 150 publishers informing them of our policy. The publishers were based on a list from Edinburgh University and adapted to include those our researchers publish with. Once we were in possession of our letter, written and signed by Legal Services and N8 Rights Retention statement, we began contacting publishers as a courtesy.

The next stage involved informing our authors, we contacted each school asking to come along and present the policy to interested parties and we received a very welcoming response. The information was then fed through to various teams within the university by Professional Services staff. By speaking to staff directly, we were able to field questions and concerns to make incorporating the new policy as seamless as possible in the attempt to minimise the impact this would have on our academic’s workload. We set up Open Access Zoom Drop-In sessions to give the opportunity for researchers and members of staff to ask questions surrounding the policy, ask general open access queries and offer advice on good research practice.

As we develop and support open research while continuing to advocate for our research publications policy, the N8 have proposed a webinar for 23rd October 2023 at 10.15am (BST) to give the opportunity for those universities who launched their policies to present on their experience, the barriers they faced and offering advice to other institutions wishing to embark on their own rights retention journey. Details of how to sign up are posted in our Library Calendar.

*Figures taken from CRIS (MyImpact) (Jan 2023-Sep 2023)

UKRI Open Access Policy – May 2023 update

UKRI have updated their 2022 open access policy with guidance on open access requirements for long-form publications. The requirements apply to monographs, book chapters or edited collections published on or after 1 January 2024, that acknowledge funding from UKRI.

A summary of the requirements are:

  • The final Version of Record or Author’s Accepted Manuscript must be free to view and download via an online publication platform, publisher’s website, or institutional or subject repository within a maximum of 12 months of publication. 
  • Images, illustrations, tables and other supporting content should be included in the open access version, where possible 
  • The open access version of the publication must have a Creative Commons licence, with a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) licence preferred. An Open Government Licence is also permitted. (This requirement does not apply to third party materials included in the publication). 

UKRI expect publications acknowledging their funding are made open access. However they are allowing exceptions in the following circumstances:

  • A contract was signed with a publisher before 1 January 2024, which doesn’t enable open access in compliance with UKRI’s policy 
  • The only appropriate publisher is unable to offer an open access option that complies with UKRI’s policy 
  • The monograph, book chapter or edited collection is the outcome of a UKRI training grant (open access is encouraged but not required) 
  • Reuse permissions for third-party materials cannot be obtained and there is no suitable alternative to enable open access publication (practical guidance will be issued in August 2023)  

UKRI will be making funds available to support the costs associated with open access publishing if the Green, free, route to open access is not an eligible option for authors. Further guidance will be issued in autumn 2023 and the Open Access web pages will be updated. If you have any questions about how the policy could apply to you contact openaccess@ncl.ac.uk.

Springer Nature and Jisc negotiations reach agreement – May ’23

Following a year-long negotiation led by Jisc, UK universities have agreed a new, three-year read and publish open access (OA) deal with Springer Nature.

Image: Megapixl

https://www.jisc.ac.uk/news/uk-universities-agree-open-access-publishing-deal-with-springer-nature-03-may-2023#

The agreement meets the majority of the sector’s original requirements – it has reduced costs and delivered open access using a reduced baseline of subscription spend.  The deal is the first major agreement to formally acknowledge the retention of intellectual property rights by institutions and authors via rights retention policies by providing a bespoke licence to publish.

Whilst the agreement has reduced spend and will open up access to UK research, concerns remain on the high costs of open access publishing in Nature Research journals outside the agreement as well as Springer Nature’s strong resistance to rights retention and OA publishing via the deposit route. Their insistence on a high APC, high growth gold only approach is likely to prevent authors from institutions and countries with less research funding to publish openly.

Over the last 18 months the sector has gained a greater understanding of different publisher’s strategies and approaches to open access. By challenging publishers directly, institutions have seen how publishers manage questions about transparency, the conversion of their subscription titles to full open access and global engagement. This has led to increased skepticism about some publishers’ commitment to a full and sustainable global transition to open access and highlighted the need for the sector to set its requirements for an open research future.

The sector needs to look forward and agree how we want to address these issues, how we want scholarly communications to develop and how we will work with commercial publishers in the future.

SCONUL and RLUK have issued a joint press release emphasizing the need for academic colleagues to work with libraries to deliver the change we all want to see: https://www.sconul.ac.uk/news/libraries-call-on-academic-colleagues-to-help-shift-to-full-open-academic-publishing

We will continue to cover these developments in scholarly communications in future Opening Research blog posts.

Jisc and Springer Nature are working on implemention of the agreement – expected by 7th June and after which we will update our guidance for authors. Any questions can be directed to openaccess@ncl.ac.uk.