A new Open Access policy will apply to research articles from April 2022 and long form publications from January 2024.

If your research is funded by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) including its seven research councils, Research England and Innovate UK, please ensure you are aware of the latest policy requirements including changes to scope and funding.

UKRI have recently published some guidance and resources related to the new policy. More specific information for grant holders will be available soon.

If you have any questions about how this affects you, email the Libraries Research Support Team at openaccess@nottingham.ac.uk.

What does it apply to?

The new UKRI Open Access policy will apply to:

• Articles, reviews, conference papers submitted from 1^st April 2022
• Long-form publications (academic monographs, book chapters, edited collections) published from 1^st January 2024

Routes to open access

We recommend checking the full policy requirements at an early stage to ensure you are meeting your funding conditions. The Research Support Team within Libraries are available to support with this.

There are two compliant routes to publishing open access within the policy:

Gold Route

1. Publish in a fully open access journal/platform or hybrid journal (funding restrictions apply) that makes the article immediately OA via its website under a CC BY or Open Government licence. Publishing under a CC BY-ND may also be available upon request (subject to UKRI approval). An Article Processing Charge (APC) payment is usually required.
2. Publish in a journal covered by a Transformative Agreement (also known as a Read & Publish deal).

Green Route

Publish in a subscription journal for free and release the Author Accepted Manuscript (AAM) upon publication under a CC BY, CC BY-ND or Open Government licence (no embargo).

This route requires you to include the rights retention text prescribed by UKRI in the submitted manuscript.

Are there any changes in gold open access funding?

Within the new UKRI Open Access policy, block grants will not cover:

• the cost of OA publishing in hybrid journals unless part of Jisc-approved transformative agreements or in journals approved by Jisc as meeting the research sector’s requirements for transition to open access.
• non-open access charges associated with publication, including page and colour charges.
• open access fees associated with long-form publications (UKRI will be making some dedicated funding available once the monographs policy is live in 2024).

Will I be REF-compliant?

Researchers should continue to comply with the requirements of REF 2021 OA policy until further notice. 

UKRI has confirmed that outputs that acknowledge UKRI funding and satisfy the new policy outlined above will also satisfy any future REF policy.

Help and Support

The Libraries Research Support team are available to help you with any questions about the new policy. Get in touch by email at openaccess@nottingham.ac.uk

More information about the UKRI policy is available on the Libraries and UKRI websites.