The University of Nottingham is rolling out new support and information for its researchers so they can make research papers open access, allowing peer-reviewed findings to reach new audiences. Law lecturer Dr Mattia Fosci explains how.

Open access makes research available online at no cost to the viewer and with few restrictions on re-use. New evidence suggests open access publishing has many advantages. It increases efficiency and innovation both inside and outside academia, supports the generation of ideas and can lead to new research collaborations.

Open access also expands the visibility of research, helps demonstrate its cultural, social, environmental and economic impacts, and from now on will be a requirement for outputs returned in the REF.

Research funders’ open access policies

To acknowledge the benefits of open access for research and innovation, policies to promote its use have been adopted in recent years by funders such as Research Councils UK, the National Institute for Health Research, the Wellcome Trust, the European Commission and others.

Moreover, to be eligible for submission in the post-2014 Research Excellence Framework, papers accepted for publication after 1 April 2016 will have to be made open access using the Green route.

Nottingham takes the Green route

Changes to the University’s 2009 Open Access Policy, approved in early 2014, require researchers at Nottingham to now archive their publications in the University’s institutional repository, Nottingham ePrints. This is the so-called ‘Green’ route, one of two open access pathways researchers can take.

Researchers may also apply for financial and technical support to make their articles open access on the journal’s own website (the ‘Gold’ route) if their research is funded by RCUK or a member of the Charities Open Access Fund.

All new research articles must now be deposited in Nottingham ePrints upon acceptance for publication and made available in full at the end of the journal’s embargo period. If a funder requires publication before the end of the embargo, authors will need to investigate all methods to making their article open access compliant.

Help to comply with requirements

“This new approach to academic publishing represents quite a culture change,” says Caroline Williams, Director of Libraries, Research and Learning Resources at The University of Nottingham. “We’re working with our researchers to help them integrate new approaches to publishing and making their papers publicly available.”

In order to make open access publishing easier, the University will launch an updated version of the Nottingham ePrints web portal and new open access webpages. In the coming weeks and months, information will be posted online and circulated among academic staff, and training will be provided by a new Library Research Support team.

For more information please visit our open access webpages or contact the Library Research Support Team: library-open-access@nottingham.ac.uk