Complying with the UKRI open access policy for publishers

Guidance for publishers on what the UKRI open access policy means and compliant routes publishers can offer authors.

The issue

Most major research funders now have policies that require research outputs acknowledging their funding to be made open access (OA). Jisc is working with publishers to offer authors compliant routes that meet a range of different funders’ requirements. We are contacting publishers that have published one or more UKRI funded research article per year on average over the past five years to ensure that all UKRI funded authors have the option to publish in their journal of choice.

The UKRI open access policy

The UKRI OA policy requires that all peer-reviewed research and review articles (including conference proceedings) submitted after 1 April 2022 (that acknowledge funding from UKRI or one of its constituent councils) be published OA immediately, without embargo, under a CC-BY licence. This can be achieved by either:

  • Making the final Version of Record (VoR) OA on the journal website/publisher platform (Route 1 – also known as Gold OA), or
  • Allowing authors to self-archive the VoR or the Author-Accepted Manuscript (AAM) in a repository (Route 2 – also known as Green OA)

UKRI provides funding to eligible research performing organisations to support implementation of the policy in the form of block grants. The policy includes guidance on how block grants can be used.

Guidance for publishers on the UKRI open access policy

To support publishers in understanding the steps they need to take to offer compliant publication options to UKRI funded authors, we've created a series of short guides. These aim to explain key concepts in the UKRI open access policy, as well as open access more broadly.

Download Jisc's guides to:

Please share these documents with your colleagues and publishing networks.

UKRI open access funding restrictions

Although publishing OA in a hybrid journal is compliant with UKRI’s OA policy via Route 1, UKRI block grants cannot be used to pay Article Processing Charges (APCs) for articles published in hybrid journals, unless the article is published under a Jisc-approved transitional agreement (TA) or in a transformative journal (TJ) that meets the sector’s criteria for transformative journals. (Please note: after 31 December 2024, research organisations will not be able to use their open access block grant for transformative journal publication costs).

The following list provides a summary of publication routes that are compliant with UKRI’s OA policy, and potentially also eligible for OA costs to be paid from UKRI funds.

Fully open access - gold open access

  • CC-BY license
  • UKRI policy compliant
  • Eligible for UKRI funding
  • Fully OA titles should be registered in DOAJ. Funding subject to institutional circumstances

Hybrid - Transformative Journal (TJ) - gold open access

Hybrid - Transitional Agreement (TA) - gold open access

  • CC-BY license
  • UKRI policy compliant
  • Eligible for UKRI funding , if the journal is included in a TA in which the author's institution is participating
  • There will be no APC to pay in this scenario. UKRI funds can be used to contribute towards the costs of TAs where certain requirements are met as outlined in UKRI guidance

Hybrid - Subscribe to Open (S2O) - gold open access

  • CC-BY license
  • UKRI policy compliant
  • Eligible for UKRI funding, if the subscription target is met and titles published on a fully OA basis at the time of publication
  • There will be no APC to pay in this scenario. UKRI funds can be used to contribute towards the costs of S2O agreements where certain requirements are met as outlined in UKRI guidance

Hybrid - gold open access

  • CC-BY license
  • UKRI policy compliant
  • Not eligible for UKRI funding

Hybrid - green open access

  • CC-BY license
  • UKRI policy compliant, if AAM* made available in a repository without embargo under a CC BY licence.
  • Not eligible for UKRI funding
  • Publishers can sign up to Jisc’s Publications Router to deposit AAMs directly into authors’ institutional repositories

Subscription - green open access

  • CC-BY license
  • UKRI policy compliant, if AAM* made available in a repository without embargo under a CC BY licence.
  • Not eligible for UKRI funding
  • Publishers can sign up to Jisc’s Publications Router to deposit AAMs directly into authors’ institutional repositories

Hybrid - closed access

  • License not applicable
  • Not UKRI policy compliant
  • Not eligible for UKRI funding

Subscription - closed access

  • License not applicable
  • Not UKRI policy compliant
  • Not eligible for UKRI funding

*AAM = Author’s accepted manuscript

We recognise that publishers vary in size and resource. Further information is available on the UKRI policy compliant models that are more suitable for small and learned society publishers.

What can publishers do?

As well as deciding which compliant routes to offer to UKRI funded authors, it’s important that these are clearly communicated.

We recommend that:

  • Journal policies are available on Sherpa Romeo
  • Clear information and instructions for authors are posted on your website
  • Clear information and instructions for authors are posted on individual journal websites
  • Author publishing/licence agreements explain funder compliance

Contact

For help and guidance on the above, please contact us by calling 020 3006 6088 or email help.digitalresources@jisc.ac.uk