Research outputs and open access
Scholarly communication is changing!
Many research outputs are now published in open access (OA) journals, or deposited in open access repositories. Governments and funders support open access to publicly-funded research. New business models are emerging, and new opportunities are available to increase visibility of research.
See a summary of our events to celebrate Open Access Week 2012.
Access to research outputs
The University has a new Research Information System called Pure which captures research-related activity. Pure is managed and supported by Research Policy Office, and more information is available from the web pages about Pure. Pure also offers the option to add full text documents to information about research outputs, increasing visibility and the potential for citation. Documents will be stored in Research@StAndrews: Full Text, an open access digital repository which makes content freely available over the internet.
To add full text to a research output in Pure, simply click ‘add document’. For help with using Pure, contact helpdesk@st-andrews.ac.uk. Library staff are able to help with checking publisher policies and copyright permissions. Contact Jackie Proven if you would like support with these aspects.
As well as reaching a wider audience by depositing the full text of your research publications, benefits of deposit include easier compliance with your funders’ requirements for open access.
While much of this information focuses on the Sciences and on journal articles, open access is becoming increasingly relevant for research publications in the Arts & Humanities. Possibilities exist for publishing open access monographs, and for depositing book chapters in repositories. A discussion of possible business models for open access book publishing in the humanities is available from the Public Knowledge Project.
Open access and funder mandates
Many funders including the Wellcome Trust and the Research Councils UK (RCUK) now require that publications arising from the research they fund are made available through an open access route. With these policies in place, it is a condition of grant that outputs are made publicly available in one of two ways:
- by depositing in an open access repository or
- by publishing in an open access journal.
The route you take will largely depend on the publisher’s policy of the journal you are intending to publish in, but you need to check it meets the requirements of your funder. The different requirements are informed by practice in different disciplines, and individual funders have made their own decisions on what authors should be required to do. As the situation is quite complex, we have put together a summary of funder open access policies and detailed advice on how to comply. See Research funders: open access policies
While open access as a requirement may not be relevant to all researchers, you may wish to choose to make your research outputs available in this way. There is a strong moral argument to sharing knowledge and scholarship as widely as possible, as well as the benefits from increased visibility. See more information about open access, including how open access can be achieved.
Staff in the Library have a wealth of experience of the issues involved in access to research outputs, including dealing with publishers and understanding copyright licences. We will be very happy to support you in complying with other funder open access mandates. Contact open-access-support@st-andrews.ac.uk for advice.
Open access costs
If you choose to publish in an open access journal, there may be fees to pay. (Not all open access journal publishers charge fees, for example Open Humanities Press or Philosophers’ Imprint). Some publishers will waive fees where authors are genuinely unable to pay, or give discounts for members of associated societies. You can get information from Research Funding Office about how to include costing for open access publishing in your grant application. Contact Financial Advice and Support
The University Library manages a central fund for Wellcome Trust grant-holders to pay for open access publishing – see how to claim from the Wellcome Trust award.
*NEW* From January 2013 central funds will be available to pay for 'Gold' open access costs, known as Article Processing Charges (APCs). Details on how to claim from these funds will be available soon.
Research data
Funding bodies are also increasingly requiring grant-holders to have a data management plan (DMP), and in some cases the data created throughout the lifetime of a project must be stored and made available for reuse. To help with compliance, the Digital Curation Centre has resources available on DMPs and UK funders’ data plan requirements.
