Category: Open Research

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. 

Feedback on an Open Research Comic

Kelsey Bezaire (PGR in Animal Sciences) is developing an Open Research comic with support from the University’s Enhancing Research Culture Project Fund.

Kelsey has drafted the first page of the comic below and would love some feedback. Specifically, what topics would you like to see covered and how is the readability? Any other feedback is welcome too, so please post your thoughts in the comments or contact Kelsey directly.

OR Owl Introduction #1 PAGE ONE Panel 1: DAY. Over the shoulder mid shot in the breakroom. Tina waves and called for Illya to join them for lunch, half shot of Illya with hot lunch. 1. TINA: Illya! Come join us for lunch. Panel 2: Wide bird eye/high angle shot with background details to show it’s a lunch break room and show where Miguel, Tina, Remi and Illya are. Illya is grabbing a seat, Remi is leaning over a chair, and Miguel (far) is sitting on the sofa by Tina (near). Box of free stuff is by Miguel. 2. MIGUEL: How did the meeting go? 3. ILLYA: It went well. We have a draft of the paper but I need to figure out how some of the publishing works. 4. TINA: Anything we can help with? 5. Illya: Maybe. Panel 3: Eye level profile shot of Illya and Remi. Remi looks keen and Illya is quizzical. 7. ILLYA: My supervisor was saying we need to make our paper open access. I know nothing about any of this so I just took a lot of notes so I can look it up this afternoon. Panel 4: Same as panel 3 but Remi is gesturing towards Illya and Illya looks uncertain. 9. REMI: I know someone experienced with open access publication. I can see if she’s free and she can explain it. 10. ILLYA: Oh! That would be great. Thanks. 11. REMI CAPTION: I’ll be right back! Panel 6: Wide over the shoulder from between Miguel and Tina. Showing Illya (with nearly finished lunch) and Remi with something perched on his arm silhouetted by the doorway. Chris (new character) is standing. 9. CAPTION: Later… 11. REMI: Hello! Panel 7: Cut out eye level portrait of Ada with left wing partially extended as if in wave. 9. ADA: Hi everyone, I’m Ada, the Open Research Owl. What would you like to know?

Find out more about how we are supporting open research and open access.

Octopus Demonstration

In collaboration with Northumbria University we are hosting an online demonstration and discussion of Octopus on November 28th, 1-2pm. Please find event details below and I hope you will be able to join us to learn more about how Octopus aims to support open research. 

Octopus is a new publishing platform that is designed to be the primary research record, sitting alongside journal articles which have a more narrative style. Funded by UKRI and built in association with Jisc, it is the place where researchers can record their work in small units, and where the research’s quality can be assessed through peer review and ratings. It is designed to incentivize best practices in research and to make it easy for researchers to establish their priority and get their work ‘out there’ in a way that is fast, fair and free.

  • Presenter: Dr Alexandra Freeman, Creator of Octopus.
  • Date: 28th November, 2022
  • Time: 1-2pm
  • Location: On Zoom
REGister

Open Research Award Winners

The inaugural Newcastle University Open Research Awards culminated in a celebration event where candidates shortlisted for an award we invited to present their case studies. We heard excellent presentations on the benefits and challenges of making research more open from postgraduates and researchers working in a range of disciplines and the winning case studies are presented below.

We’d like to thank all of the candidates who submitted a case study. The submissions we received were all of a high standard and we were delighted by the range of open research practices they described. We’d also like to thank the awards panel (Dr Stephen Parnell, Professor Neil Boonham, Dr Chris Emmerson and Jill Taylor-Roe) for their help with the very difficult job of choosing the winners.

These awards were made possible thanks to Newcastle University’s QR Enhancing Research Culture Project Fund 2022 in support of the University’s developing Research Culture Action Plan. A key strand of this plan seeks to make our research more transparent and reproducible and our data more accessible, to facilitate re-use and extend impact.

Award Winning Case Studies

Special commendations

Lenka Pelechova, Leanne Hobbs, Nadia Rostami, Natalie Partridge

This case study described the design of open version control software to facilitate increased transparency in Cell Engineering. The panel felt this case study gave an excellent account of how this innovative open approach would increase public trust in research in a discipline where this is vital.

Pelechova Case studyDOWNLOAD
Pelechova Slides (PDF)Download


Courtney Neal

The panel felt this case study gave a frank and refreshing take on being open from the very start of a research project. It clearly outlined the benefits of openness through study pre-registration and replication. Although not part of the award criteria, it was heartening that a postgraduate student has adopted these principles so quickly in their research career. 

Neal Case StudyDOWNLOAD
Neal Slides (PDF)Download

Third prize winner

Elizabeth Lewis

This case study described the challenges and societal benefits of combining climate data from diverse sources and adapting them so that they were suitable for release as open datasets with associated open software. The panel also commended their commitment to training early career researchers in open practices.

Lewis Case Study Download

Second prize winner

Renae Stefanetti

Led by Renae J. Stefanetti (Exercise Physiologist), Alasdair Blain (Statistician), Linda Errington (Medical librarian), Laura Brown (Trial Manager), Jane Newman, Cecilia Jimenez Moreno (Physiotherapists), Robert McFarland (Paediatric Neurologist), Yi Shiau Ng, Doug Turnbull, and Gráinne S Gorman (Adult Neurologists).

This case study described a wide range of open research practices within their research, including open peer review, open access publication, the sharing of data and fully documented code and the creation of an interactive database of systematic review data. The challenges and benefits of these approaches were well articulated and it offered an excellent example of a group adopting the principles of open research.

Stefanetti Case StudyDownload
Stefanetti slides (PDF)Download

First prize winner

Sam Orange

Our winning case study described a consistently open approach across several research projects, using a wide range of open practices. They showed a clear understanding of the challenges, offered pragmatic solutions to overcome them and made a strong case for open research as a means to promote scientific progress. They also demonstrated a commitment to championing open research with both colleagues and students

Orange Case StudyDownload
Orange Presentation (PDF)Download

Our thanks also go to Professor Candy Rowe, Dean of Research Culture and Strategy for helping us present these awards and for enabling them through funding from the University’s QR Enhancing Research Culture fund.

Open Research Awards Celebration Event

Tuesday 5th July, 12.00 – 14.00, Devonshire G21/22.

Celebrating with Fireworks

All colleagues are invited to attend the Open Research Awards celebration event on Tuesday 5th July from 12.00 to hear presentations from the shortlisted entries and to enjoy a networking lunch.

The Open Research Awards recognise staff and students who have used open practices to make research more accessible, transparent or reproducible, and demonstrate an understanding of the aims of Open Research.

If you would like to attend the celebration event please book below to allow us to cater for the appropriate number of people and for any special dietary requirements.

Book to attend

Photo by Mitchell Luo on Unsplash

Research Culture Workshop: Towards Open Research

As part of Newcastle University’s Research Strategy, we are evolving our research culture in collaboration with the whole research community. We invite the research community across career stages, job families, and disciplines, to join this first Skills Academy Research Culture workshop: Towards Open Research.

The workshop will invite participants to consider open research practices and reflect on how they and the university can move towards a culture of more open research. In this workshop, we will consider open research principles and practices that increase transparency and rigour and accelerate the reach of our research.

Open research describes approaches to increase openness throughout the research cycle, including collaborative working, sharing and making research methodology, software, code, data, documentation and publications freely available online under terms that enable their reuse. Open research thereby increases the transparency, rigour and reproducibility of the research process and so can promote inclusivity, accelerate impact and improve public trust.  However, understanding and adopting open research practices can be challenging. This workshop therefore will explore strategies for culture change here at Newcastle University.

Workshop Details

Date: Thursday 30th September, 10.00 – 12.00.
Venue: Online.
Facilitators: Chris Emmerson and Steve Boneham.

Programme

  1. Introduction to open research
  2. Researcher perspectives on open research:
    1. Melissa Bateson – Professor of Ethology – Biosciences
    2. Greg Mutch – NU Academic Track Fellow – Engineering
    3. David Johnson – PhD Researcher – History, Classics and Archaeology
  3. Comfort break
  4. Breakout groups

    To discuss how the university can move towards a culture of open research by considering core aspects of the Center for Open Science strategy for culture change

    1. Systems and tools – what systems and research tools are needed to facilitate open sharing and documentation
    2. Support and training – what research support and training researchers require to undertake open research activities 
    3. Recognition and rewards – how open research behaviours can be encouraged, recognised and rewarded
    4. Policy – the role policy changes and interventions that require change to occur in open research practices at Newcastle

4. Reflections and next steps

*** This event is now fully booked. Please email RDM@ncl.ac.uk should you wish to discuss future Open Research events. ***

Book now