All university staff producing publications are able to use the Research Information System (RIS) and the repository, Cronfa. You do not need to be on a research contract in order to populate our repository as we want to capture the rich diversity of outputs produced by the Colleges.
All types of publication can be uploaded and will be made open access according to the publisher's terms and conditions. This includes articles and conference papers, books and book chapters, and outputs from conferences, workshops and meetings held at, or organised by Swansea University.
Contact us for more information.
You can still submit your publications to the REF and you should upload the manuscript to RIS where possible. These outputs can be selected for the REF even if a file has not been uploaded. The Library Research Support team will assign an applicable exception flag to the output record if you were previously employed by a non-UK HEI institution.
Please contact Library Research Support if you require assistance.
It is important that all papers that fall under the REF policy are added to RIS so that they are eligible for submission regardless of where an author is based at the time of the next REF. Please add the output to RIS.
New members of staff should upload the final accepted manuscript (AAM) of all journal articles and conference papers accepted for publication after 1 April 2016. If you have previously uploaded your output to another institution's repository you can provide the URL details to the Library Research Support team. We can set an exception flag to demonstrate that the output is compliant in another repository.
All Swansea University staff are expected to ensure that their published outputs align with the University Open Access policy and the requirements for submission to the next REF cycle. Many external funders also have open access requirements that exceed the REF policy which will apply to any research acknowledging funding.
We have extensive information and links to policy documents on this guide. This includes information on selecting an acceptable Creative Commons license to meet particular funder requirements.
Conference contributions with an ISSN are within scope of the policy if the date of acceptance for the output is after 1 April 2016.
In general if a conference proceeding is published with both an ISSN and an ISBN or in journals with an ISBN it is within scope, for example Lecture Notes in Computer Science.
The distinction between ISSNs and ISBNs is intended to separate two types of conferences:
Many funders require some form of open access - look out for policies when applying for grants. The details of their requirements may differ from the REF open access policy. If you don't comply with your funder's policy, your existing grant may be partially withheld, and you may not be eligible for future funding.
Sherpa Juliet contains details of many, including quite a few medical charities
The publisher policy will specify which version you can upload to the Research Information System (RIS) for the repository. This could be:
Author's accepted manuscript version (AAM): normally the final peer-reviewed article that has been accepted for publication but has not been formatted with the publisher’s copyediting, typesetting or final layout. Self-archiving embargo periods may apply.
The author's accepted manuscript document is required to comply with the REF and the institutional open access policy.
Published version of record (VoR) incorporating the layout and typographical arrangement of the publisher. You are not usually able to upload the publisher created PDF version unless:
Contact the corresponding author or your co-authors so that you can upload a copy in good time.
Non-UK authors may need an explanation about the UK HEFCE/HEFCW requirement that UK authors are required to deposit the final accepted manuscript (AAM) in their institutional repository. The AAM, which is the version of the article that was peer reviewed but without the publisher's typesetting, will be made open access after a delay period specified by the publisher policy.
If you cannot obtain your final manuscript then we can apply a REF exception to your paper. You need to be aware that many research funders now require immediate open access with a Creative Commons CC-BY attribution licence applied to the accepted manuscript (AAM). You should tell the publisher of the funder requirement at the point of submission.
Contact the Library Research Support team.
Background: cOAlition S launched its Rights Retention Strategy (RRS) in 2021. This is a tool for authors to retain sufficient rights to their own article manuscripts to use as they wish.
The Rights Retention Project: In response to sector changes Swansea University is updating the Research Publication policy as well as overlapping areas in IP and Open Access policies. This presentation aims to explain the background and reasoning behind rights retention, its implementation, and the impact it has on researchers. This includes enabling researchers to retain control of their author rights and be compliant with institutional and funder requirements of Open Access.
The Rights Retention Strategy project will result in a new Research Publication policy, expected to launch in summer 2023. The recording of a recent consultation session is available to watch here: https://bit.ly/RRSProject2023SwanseaUniversity
Funded researchers can publish in any hybrid (subscription + open access mixed model) or subscription journal as long as a deposit of the author accepted manuscript (AAM) is made in a repository without an embargo.
Find further information on the Rights and Licensing page or visit the Plan S Rights Retention Strategy.
Non – funded For the purpose of open access, the author has applied a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) licence to any Author Accepted Manuscript version arising from this submission |
Gwaith heb ei ariannu At ddiben mynediad agored, mae'r awdur wedi ychwanegu trwydded cydnabyddiaeth Creative Commons (CC BY) at unrhyw fersiwn o lawysgrif awdur a dderbyniwyd sy'n deillio o'r cyflwyniad hwn. |
Funded by UKRI This work was funded by UKRI grant [grant number]. For the purpose of open access, the author has applied a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) licence to any Author Accepted Manuscript version arising from this submission |
Gwaith wedi'i ariannu gan UKRI Ariannwyd y gwaith hwn gan grant rhif [grant number] gan UKRI. At ddiben mynediad agored, mae'r awdur wedi ychwanegu trwydded cydnabyddiaeth Creative Commons (CC BY) at unrhyw fersiwn o lawysgrif awdur a dderbyniwyd sy'n deillio o'r cyflwyniad hwn. |
Other language translations are available from the University of Edinburgh webpage, 'Translation of Rights Retention Statements'. You can use these if you are submitting your article to a foreign language journal.
Uploading to RIS does not make your paper openly available unless you press the 'Publish to Cronfa' button.
A member of the Research Support team will usually double check the publisher terms and conditions using Sherpa Romeo and check that the applicable embargo period is applied to the journal output. The metadata description record will appear in Cronfa immediately but the full-text file is normally subject to the embargo period.
Creative Commons (CCL) are pre-prepared licences that are intended to help copyright holders distribute their work; they define how the work can be used by others without the need to grant permission each time someone wants to use it. There are various different types allowing for reuse, modification, commercial use etc. The Creative Commons web site has more information.
The licences contain four main elements:
These elements then combine to form six licences plus a final CC Zero or public domain licence which purports to waive all rights to the material it is applied to:
If your paper contains third-party content for which open access rights cannot be granted you have the option to upload the text on its own. However the REF policy recognises that third party content may be essential to the publication and permits an access exception in these circumstances.
Please contact the Library Research Support team if you require assistance.
We are able to claim an exception for REF if an open access deposit would put the author or the institution at risk. If you have any concerns about placing sensitive material in the repository, get in touch with us
Please contact the Library Research Support team if you require assistance.
If you are required by your funder to add a data statement to your paper you could include information in this format:
My paper contains data which are openly available
My paper does not refer to underlying research data
It is not possible to make my research data openly available
The site supports the University’s Policy on Research Data Management. It provides guidance for Swansea University researchers on expectations, obligations, advice and support for research data management
How do I make my PhD open access to comply with my funder or institutional OA requirements?
Full text PhD theses produced at Swansea University are provided in Cronfa, the institutional repository.
Please visit our E-Theses Library Guide for information on the Library mediated deposit service.
Compliance with the UK Research Councils’ (RCUK) policy on open access:
The UKRI (RCUK) document "Research Councils Training Grants Terms & Conditions" Requirement TGC11.5 states that the institution must support RCUK funded Ph.D. students to publish the results of their research in the institution's repository as soon as possible after award. A full text version should be available within a maximum of 12 months following award.
Research Councils’ policies on research data require data generated or collected by research that supports published research findings (which could include e-theses) to be preserved and (where no commercial, ethical, or legal restrictions apply) made publicly available. Clarification on the EPSRC data access requirement can be found on their website. We can link your e-thesis record to your research data if you provide a URL
Publishing models for books are complex and at the moment there is no requirement to make books open access.
If you would like to make a chapter from your book available you are welcome to put it in RIS/Cronfa if your publisher allows this. Author's are strongly encouraged to upload outputs outside the scope of the REF policy to increase citations and to provide greater research visibility. We usually ask Swansea University authors to provide their book chapter manuscripts for RIS.
In the majority of cases you should be able to use your usual journals. However, you should make sure you are aware of a publisher's policies before you choose a journal. In a small number of cases it might be advisable to change.
If the journal's embargo period is longer than 12 months (REF panels A and B) or 24 months (REF panels C and D), or the journal does not allow open access at all, your paper will still be eligible for the REF provided you consider the journal the most appropriate publication for the work.
Many funders now require immediate open access with zero embargo so ensure you can meet their requirements.
The Think, Check, Submit Tool helps researchers identify trusted journals for their research.
You can browse Journal Citation Reports
It is not usually necessary to pay. Most publishers allow the deposit of an accepted manuscript or postprint in an institutional repository, often with an embargo period. In some cases where you have funding you can pay the publisher to make your paper freely available straight away (gold open access).
Further information on the Financial support tab.
You can find out about the Swansea University Digital Press on our website. If you think this is for you then you can fill out a journal proposal form online and the Digital Humanities team will contact you to discuss the details.