USW Open Access FAQs
Q. What is USW’s position on Open Access?
A. The University of South Wales recognises the value of its research, much of which is world and internationally leading, and so is committed to ensuring its knowledge and expertise is shared as widely and accessibly as possible to maximise its use and impact. It is important to acknowledge that Open Access goes beyond compliance with stakeholders, making our research available to a global audience is a fundamental aspect of our purpose.
The USW 2030 Vision states that we are proudly anchored in South Wales with global reach, Open Access is one of the methods by which we extend the reach of our research.
Q. What are the Open Access Compliance requirements for the REF (Research Excellence Framework)?
A. The Higher Education Funding Councils have mandated that eligibility for the submission of journal articles and conference proceedings in the REF is dependent on them being made available in an open-access form. The authors’ final peer-reviewed manuscripts must have been deposited in an institutional or subject repository within 3 months of acceptance for publication. The Open Access requirements are described in full in the REF Guidance on submissions pages 54–59.
We recommend that USW authors should do the following to ensure that their journal articles and published conference papers are OA compliant:
What: Journal articles and published conference papers
Where: Deposit a copy of the Author Accepted Manuscript* in Pure
When: Within three months of acceptance
*The Author Accepted Manuscript is the final text of the text of the article or paper after peer review, but before typesetting or formatting by the publisher.
The Higher Education Funding Councils are currently reviewing different aspects of the REF, including the Open Access Policy. It is likely that the scope of the Open Access Policy will be changed to include more output types, books and book chapters have been identified for possible inclusion. Contact the USW Research Librarian if you would like to know more about the potential changes to the REF OA Policy.
Q. What happens if I do not deposit an accepted manuscript for a journal (or published conference paper) within 3 months of acceptance?
A. If the accepted manuscript is not deposited in Pure within 3 months of acceptance the paper is classed as non-compliant and it will be ineligible for submission in the REF, if it were to be submitted it would be given a score of ‘Unclassified’. Creating the record of the output in Pure is not enough for it to be compliant, the accepted manuscript must be deposited in Pure within 3 months of acceptance.
Q. What are the Open Access Compliance requirements for UKRI funded projects?
A. The UKRI revised their Open Access policy in 2021 and it is very different to the previous UKRI policy. The UKRI have a useful FAQ document which outlines some of the questions about what the policy covers. We would advise USW Researchers to speak with the USW Research Librarian if they would like to know more about the UKRI OA Policy.
Q. What are Green and Gold, I see the terms related to Open Access Publishing?
A. There are 2 main routes regarding Open Access publishing:
Green Open Access – authors deposit an article in their Institutional Repository (IR) or via another Open Access repository.
The version deposited needs to conform to the publisher’s self-archiving policy, in most cases it is the author’s accepted manuscript. This is the final version of the peer-reviewed text but without the formatting, typesetting and layout from the final published version.
There is usually no charge for depositing an article into an Institutional Repository (IR), but if you are depositing an article that was published in a non-Open Access journal (often referred to as Subscription or Hybrid Journals) originally, then the publisher may insist on certain conditions, such as an embargo period or a specific open licence.
Gold Open Access – authors publish in an open access journal and the content is made immediately available via the publisher’s web site with an open licence.
Articles can be published in a fully Open Access journal or as an Open Access article in a traditional subscription journal (Hybrid journal).
For Gold publishers usually charge a processing fee (Article Processing Charge or APC) on accepted articles to cover costs incurred through peer review, manuscript preparation, and server space.
In some cases the paid route may be the only option to comply with your funder’s requirements.
USW does not receive a Block Grant from the UKRI and do not have access to large central funds for use on Open Access publishing. Where publisher green open access policies are compliant with the UKRI and the REF Open Access Policies USW authors should use the Green Route to deposit their accepted manuscript in Pure.
Q. Does USW have access to the UKRI Block Grant?
A. The UKRI Block Grant is allocated to UK HEI’s depending on the number of UKRI funded projects, currently USW does not have access to the Block Grant.
Q. Does USW pay Article Processing Charges (APCs) for Open Access Publishing?
A. USW does not have a central fund for Open Access Publishing costs so it cannot pay for individual APCs, the next question and answer includes information on how USW authors can use Read & Publish deals to pay for some Open Access costs.
Q. What are the other Open Access Publishing options at USW, do we have access to any Read & Publish Deals?
A. Read-and-publish agreements combine Open Access publishing costs alongside the costs for accessing the (subscription) content in a single contracted payment, rather than as 2 distinct payments. These agreements seek to transition spend away from subscription and paywalled access to pay for open access publishing.
It is important to stress that the agreements and deals are specific to each publisher, they can be subject to certain restrictions, e.g., the Wiley deal operates on a first come, first served basis and has previously restricted the fund to UKRI/other UK funders during the second half of the calendar year.
USW currently have access to 3 deals:
• Elsevier Read and Publish Agreement – ends 31/12/2024
• Wiley Read and Publish agreement – ends 31/12/2023
• CUP (Cambridge University Press) Read and Publish Agreement - ends 31/12/2023
USW researchers can access a short Panopto video on these Read & Publish Deals via this link (requires the user to be logged in to the USW intranet).
Q. Does Open Access just refer to journal articles and conference proceedings?
A. In theory open access can refer to any type of scholarly material. In practice the focus has been on journal articles and conference proceedings, driven by the mandated policies from the REF, UKRI and other funders.
From 2024 the UKRI will widen the scope of their OA Policy to include books, chapters and long-form outputs and the REF are likely to include similar outputs in the scope of their next OA policy. As of 2022 there is no requirement for authors to publish long-form outputs as Open Access but USW authors should deposit the accepted manuscripts for chapters in Pure where the individual publisher allows. Publisher policies for open access for books (and chapters) are not as well developed as those for journal articles, and we expect there to be a period of uncertainty while publishers adjust their policies, authors should check with their funder if they want to confirm the specific open access requirements for books and book chapters or speak with the USW Research Librarian.
While the USW OA Policy has to align closely with mandated compliance requirements from the UKRI and the REF (and other research funders) we encourage all authors, practitioners and researchers to consider depositing their work in Pure and making it openly available via the USW Research Explorer (where licencing or other restrictions do not apply).
Q. What does embargo period mean?
A. Embargoes are a common requirement from Publishers for Green Open Access. When we deposit an accepted manuscript in Pure for Open Access the Publisher will ask that this version is not made publicly available on the repository until after a certain amount of time, this is the embargo period. If Elsevier require an embargo period of 12 months for an accepted manuscript deposited for Open Access it means that it cannot be made available to the public 12 months after the date of first publication.
The JISC service Sherpa Romeo can be searched to identify Journal-specific information, including the length of embargoes for accepted manuscripts. Embargoes can get complicated so if you need assistance please contact the USW Research Librarian.
Q. What is the ‘accepted manuscript’?
For most academic articles it is useful to identify 3 stages of a paper, which can be shared with other readers in different ways.
Submitted Version (sometimes referred to as the pre-print) – this is the article prior to peer review, the first version that is submitted to the publication. These are often shared with other readers via pre-print servers, such as arXiv.
Author’s Accepted Manuscript, the AAM (sometimes referred to as the post-print) – the author’s final draft of the text, including corrections recommended by peer reviewers. Critically the accepted manuscript does not have the typesetting and formatting that the publisher does for final publication.
Version of Record/Publisher’s PDF – the work once proofread, copy-edited, formatted and type-set for publication. The version of record can only be deposited for Open Access if the paper has been published with an open licence or other clear statement of reuse rights.
In most cases it is the Author’s Accepted Manuscript version that should be deposited in Pure to be Open Access compliant.
Q. How can I be sure whether an Open Access journal is genuine?
A. The majority of OA journals are genuine, though there are “predatory publishers” who charge authors to publish research in journals of questionable scholarly standards. The website 'Think. Check. Submit' gives good advice on how to identify trusted publishers.
Q. I have submitted a journal article to a Publisher for publication, can I deposit that in Pure?
A. Yes, you can create a record at any time before acceptance and deposit the submitted manuscript but please beware - only the manuscript that has been accepted and been through peer-review will be Open Access compliant.
Q. My publisher is asking me to choose what Open Access Licence I need for my article that has been paid for by the Read & Publish deal or through other research funds, what do I select?
A. When you pay for Gold Open access using the Read & Publish Deals (or through funds direct from your Funder) the publisher will ask which Open Licence you want. For UKRI funded projects and those funded by other major funders (the Wellcome Trust, Cancer research, etc.) you should select the ‘CC BY’, known as the attribution licence.
The REF does not have a mandated requirement for a specific licence but selecting the CC BY licence is a good option, as this licence is regarded as the ‘most open’ - meaning that the end user can do more with the article than a ‘narrower’ open licence such as ‘CC BY-NC-ND’.
If you want to know more about Open Licences we have a section in the Introduction to Open Access session, a recording of which can be viewed from this link, otherwise check on iTrent or PhD Manager for the bookable OA sessions available for staff and PGRs.
Q. My journal publisher is asking me to add a data availability statement in my article, is there somewhere I can deposit data in Pure?
A. Yes, you can deposit datasets and data in Pure and make them available from the USW Research Explorer. If you need advice or assistance please contact the USW Research librarian.
It is now common for major Journal publishers to include a data availability statement in most articles, this is a short section which includes a link to the underlying data referred to in the article or saying that it’s available from the authors on request or if it is unavailable for specific reasons. Some authors deposit their data on subject data repositories or a national data archive (but usually at the end of a project) while some deposit their data on their institutional repository or separate data repository.
Q. Can my Pure record send information to my ORCID account?
A. Currently there is no data link between the two systems, we are looking at options for an ORCID subscription which would allow staff to send some information from Pure to their ORCID account. In the meantime you can add your ORCID to your Pure record and it will display as a link on your staff profile page on the USW Research Explorer.
ORCID’s are the Original Creator and Researcher ID’s that have become an important identifier for researchers, it is required for UKRI and is likely to be a requirement for staff in the next REF. You can create a record for free at ORCID.