The REF open access policy Steven Hill Head of Research Policy UHMLG Spring Forum, 4 March 2016 @stevenhill

Summary Policy context Broad HE/research policy Open Open access requirements for future REF Future developments

Summary Policy context Broad HE/research policy Open Open access requirements for future REF Future developments

21 days in November 2015…

Green paper

Spending review

Image of Willetts: BIS In the UK we’ve had political impetus. Government transparency agenda Wanting to see most public good from publicly funded research Personal frustrations of Willetts when writing ‘The Pinch’ – not able to access journal articles Led to Janet Finch being asked to review how to improve access to academic journal output of the UK. Image of Willetts: BIS

Motivations for OA “The principle that the results of research that has been publicly funded should be freely accessible in the public domain is a compelling one, and fundamentally unanswerable.” There are other motivations – including that expressed in the Finch report in the UK in 2012. A public-as-taxpayer argument. Or perhaps a public good argument. But undoubtedly tied to the government’s transparency agenda. Image: Public Domain

Summary Policy context Broad HE/research policy Open Open access requirements for future REF Future developments

Open Access and the REF Open research is excellent research Mandates are successful £1.6 billion Our reasons for implementing a policy associated with the REF. Quality reasons Effectiveness reasons Moral reasons http:/is.gd/OAREF

Our aims Maximising the reach and impact of research we fund Delivering a future that is ‘open by default’ Not ‘distorting’ the system unilaterally and ideologically… …but fixing some of the problems in the system Our aims for the OA policy

Our aims Author engagement is essential We must set clear and straightforward rules We must be ambitious, but reasonable and flexible

The minimum requirements To be eligible for the next REF, journal articles and conference papers accepted after 1 April 2016 must be: Deposited in a repository as the peer- reviewed manuscript (or better) Made accessible for read and download after 12 months or 24 months Policy in a nutshell  Full policy: http://www.hefce.ac.uk/rsrch/oa/Policy/

 Full policy: http://www.hefce.ac.uk/rsrch/oa/Policy/ A few more details… Exceptions apply where deposit not possible / open access not possible etc Benefits of OA should be extended beyond journals and conferences… …and in the long run include broad reuse permissions  Full policy: http://www.hefce.ac.uk/rsrch/oa/Policy/

Challenges Implementation and monitoring Stability vs. harmony Ambition vs. realism Long-term trajectory for UK OA

Pinch-point: deposit on acceptance Author engagement is possible, but is challenging HEIs want systems in place to notify of accepted papers We have granted flexibility in Y1 to deal with this Will review this autumn

Summary Policy context Broad HE/research policy Open Open access requirements for future REF Future developments

The Future Monographs and long form outputs ‘Technical review’ of REF implementation Infrastructure developments: Publications router SHERPA REF

Summary Policy context Broad HE/research policy Open Open access requirements for future REF Future developments

Thank you for listening s.hill@hefce.ac.uk @stevenhill openaccess@hefce.ac.uk