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.