Find out more about RIS & Cronfa in our Institutional Repository Guide or on the 'Publishing' tab of this guide.
The REF 2021 publication period closed on 31 December 2020 but researchers should continue to comply with the requirements of the REF 2021 OA policy.
Research England will launch a consultation on the future REF OA policy following the outcome of the UKRI OA review. The Research England Open Research page includes the following statement:
"The UK HE funding bodies recognise that due notice will be needed prior to implementation of the OA policy for the REF-after-REF 2021, which will be consulted on after UKRI's OA policy is announced. The OA policy for the REF-after-REF 2021 will not come into effect on 1 January 2021 (that is, at the beginning of the publication period for the REF-after-REF 2021 exercise)".
REF Open Access requirements apply to papers accepted from 1 April 2016
The policy covers journal articles and conference papers which are in a publication with an ISSN. No other type of material is required but HEFCW / HEFCE are keen to see universities make as much as possible open access and universities will get credit for going beyond the requirements.
You must deposit your author accepted manuscript (AAM) within 3 months of the date of acceptance to be eligible for REF. The AAM is the manuscript as it will appear in the journal but without the publisher formatting (unless you have paid an article processing charge to the publisher).
There are some exceptions to the REF Open Access requirements. Exceptions include:
Contact us if you require support or visit our FAQ tab on this guide.
The REF2021 at Swansea University site is also available behind a Collaborate login.
Policy on Open Access
Updated policy link
Frequently Asked Questions
An electronic copy of the final, published form of your paper (either the Author Accepted Manuscript (AAM) or Version of Record (VoR) must be available on Europe PubMed Central (Europe PMC) as soon as possible.
Immediate Open Access
For articles accepted for final publication on or after 1 January 2022 CRUK require that your paper is made openly available in Europe PMC immediately on publication. (i.e. a 6-month embargo will not be permitted).
If you have paid an article processing charge (APC) for the Europe PMC deposit then you must use a Creative Commons Attribution licence (CC-BY 4.0).
Swansea University has affirmed its commitment to the fair assessment of research through the signing of the San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA) and adopting the principles outlined in the Leiden Manifesto.
Statement on DORA by Helen Griffiths, Pro-Vice Chancellor for Research & Innovation
With the adoption of these principles, as an institution, we commit to:
We recognise that the adoption of these principles is a statement of intent and that there will be a gradual aligning of the policy and embedding the practice across our academic and professional services at Swansea. As issues are highlighted and areas in contradiction with these principles come to light, we will review the policies in light of the principles, ensuring Swansea has a robust, transparent and fair approach to the use of metrics for research evaluation and communicate such changes and developments at regular intervals.
The Library Research Support Team is working with partners across the university to develop a route for researchers and professional service staff to report policies, procedures and behaviours that they felt were out of line with the principles included in the DORA and the Leiden manifesto. If you have any such concerns, questions or requests for training then please get in touch so that we can prioritise these requests. The implementation of these principles at Swansea is supported by Ellie Downes (e.c.downes@swansea.ac.uk) within the Library Research Support Team.
Read the NIHR Open Access Policy
This policy applies to all peer-reviewed research articles, including reviews not commissioned by publishers and conference papers, submitted for publication on or after 1 June 2022 arising from:
Principle 1 Articles must be immediately, freely and openly accessible to all
The most up to date Version of Record or the Author Accepted Manuscript of in-scope articles must be made freely available through PubMed Central (PMC) and Europe PMC by the official final publication date, without any embargo period.
Principle 2 There should be no barriers to the re-use and dissemination of NIHR funded articles
All in-scope articles must be published under the Creative Commons attribution licence (CC BY), or Open Government Licence (OGL) ensure maximum impact. This will permit all users of NIHR-funded articles to disseminate and build upon the material for any purpose without further permission or fees being required.
Principle 3 - Articles must be freely discoverable
Principle 4 - NIHR will pay reasonable fees to enable immediate open access
The UKRI Open Access Policy applies from the following dates:
a. In-scope research articles submitted for publication on or after 1 April 2022.
b. In-scope monographs, book chapters and edited collections published on or after 1 January 2024.
The policy applies to the following types of publication, when they are required to acknowledge funding from UKRI or any of its constituent councils.
Compliant open access routes for research articles
Route 1 [Gold OA]: Publish the research article open access in a journal or publishing platform which makes the Version of Record immediately open access via its website.
a. The Version of Record must be free and unrestricted to view and download. It must have a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) licence, or other licence permitted by UKRI. An exception for CC-BY-ND no derivatives will be possible upon application and approval. Complete the UKRI No derivatives licence exception form (10 day UKRI service level response).
Route 2 [Green self-archiving OA]: Publish the research article in a hybrid subscription journal and deposit the Author’s Accepted Manuscript (or Version of Record, where the publisher permits) in an institutional or subject repository at the time of final publication.
a. The deposited version must be free and unrestricted to view and download. It must have a Creative Commons CC-BY attribution licence, or other licence permitted by UKRI.
b. A publisher-requested delay or ‘embargo period’ between publication of the Version of Record and open access of the deposited version is not permitted.
c. The research article must be made open access in a repository that meets the minimum technical standards that facilitate access, discovery and reuse, as defined at Annex 2.
For the article to be published under Route 2, submissions must include the following text in the funding acknowledgement section of the manuscript and any text accompanying the submission:
‘For the purpose of open access, the author has applied a CC BY public copyright licence (where permitted by UKRI, ‘Open Government Licence’ or ‘CC BY-ND public copyright licence’ may be stated instead) to any Author Accepted Manuscript version arising’
Compliant open access routes for long-form publications
This section sets out the UKRI Open Access Policy requirements for monographs, book chapters and edited collections, as defined at paragraph 3b.
For in-scope monographs, book chapters and edited collections:
a. the final Version of Record or the Author’s Accepted Manuscript must be free to view and download via an online publication platform, publishers’ website, or institutional or subject repository within a maximum of 12 months of publication.
b. the open access version has a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) Licence or other licence permitted by UKRI (see ‘licensing requirements’) and allows the reader to search for and reuse content, subject to proper attribution.
c. the open access version should include, where possible, any images, illustrations, tables and other supporting content (see ‘licensing requirements’) d. where an Author’s Accepted Manuscript is deposited, it should be clear that this is not the final published version.
See section 17 of the published policy to explore when exemptions may apply.
Published outputs arising from Wellcome funding must be open and accessible to all.
Journal articles submitted from January 2021:
Monographs and book chapters:
All original scholarly monographs and book chapters authored or co-authored by Wellcome grantholders as part of their grant-funded research, must be: