An overview of the HEFCE Open Access requirements for the next Research Excellence Framework in the UK.

1. Improving health worldwide www.lshtm.ac.uk
Research Excellence
Framework & Open Access
23 May 2016

2. Post 2014 REF
• To fulfil its aim of increasing substantially the proportion of research
that is made available by open access (OA) in the UK, the four UK
higher education funding bodies have introduced a requirement that
outputs submitted to the post-2014 REF be made available in an
open-access form.
• Open access refers to unrestricted, online access to the published
findings of research.

3. • enables the prompt and widespread dissemination of
research findings
• benefits both the efficiency of the research process
and economic growth driven by publicly funded
research
• increases public understanding of research
Why Open Access?

4. OA Citation Advantage
http://www.keyperspectives.co.uk/openaccessarchive/Conference%20presen
tations/Swan%20-Trieste%20FEST.pdf

5. Improving health worldwide www.lshtm.ac.uk
• Notify publications@lshtm.ac.uk , on acceptance, for ALL
research articles that you are named on.
• Send us the Accepted manuscript, and data as per table
below
New requirements
Not Open Access
Data Required
On Acceptance
Title,
Journal,
Authors
OA status
Date of Acceptance
License Type
Embargo Length
Date of Publication (if known)
Press Embargo date, if high profile
Documents for repository Acceptance Email (for internal purposes only)
Author’s Accepted Manuscript Mandatory
Published Version Publisher permitting

6. The requirement only applies
to…
• Journal articles
• Conference proceedings with an International
Standard Serial Number (ISSN)
• It will not apply to monographs, book chapters, other long-form
publications, working papers, creative or practice-based research
outputs, or data.
What?

7. – not just those where you are lead author
– not just those that are not Open Access
– not just those you think are REF material: the next
REF may not be based on individuals’ Best Four, but
on best ~2000 from the School as a whole – don’t
be selective at this stage.
Details

8. Author manuscripts
Peer reviewed accepted manuscript Published article - PDF

9. Where will my
manuscript go?
It’ll be deposited in an open access institutional repository: the School’s

10. Exemptions
• It is recognised that publishers often impose an
embargo before repositories can make manuscripts
openly available.
• In recognition of the embargoes applied by many
publishers, the maximum permitted embargo is 12
months (for Panel A)

11. Exemptions
• The embargo period does not provide
exemption/extension from the requirement to
deposit within three months of acceptance
• The article can be kept closed access until the
embargo expires. (In such instances the article can still
form part of the REF).

12. Exemptions
• If the paper will not be made open access until after the
maximum embargo, researchers must be confident that the
journal/proceeding is the most appropriate publication for the
work.
How do I check if the journal
is REF compliant?

13. Check compliance
https://ref.sherpa.ac.uk/

14. What about paid OA?
• If the article is open access
– send us the details as soon as you hear it’s been accepted.
– REF rules give you the option to wait for the published version before depositing
the full-text
– You can deposit the manuscript and later replace it with the published version,
for all OA and some non-OA
Open Access (Full OA or optional payment journal)
Title,
Journal,
Authors
OA status
Date of Acceptance
License Type
n/a
Date of Publication (if known)
Press Embargo date, if high profile
Acceptance Email (for internal purposes only)
Author’s Accepted Manuscript Optional, but recommended
Published Version Strongly Recommended – can replace AAM

15. Reminder
publications@lshtm.ac.uk

16. Compliance so far

17. Monitoring submissions
Check what manuscripts we have in
your name:
https://intra.lshtm.ac.uk/publications/OAviewer/index.php?-table=by_author
Check what published articles we
have in your name:
https://intra.lshtm.ac.uk/publications/OAviewer/index.php?-table=publications

18. Information
HEFCE REF Policy:
http://www.hefce.ac.uk/rsrch/oa/
Complete list of FAQs:
http://www.hefce.ac.uk/rsrch/oa/FAQ/

19. Questions?
E-mail:
publications@lshtm.ac.uk