1. Welcome slide

2. Open access and submissions to the REF post-2014
Steven Hill
Head of Research Policy, HEFCE
23 May 2013

3. Summary The policy background Research assessment and the REF
Developing policy options

4. Summary The policy background Research assessment and the REF
Developing policy options

5. The Government View
“Removing paywalls that surround taxpayer funded research will have real economic and social benefits. It will allow academics and businesses to develop and commercialise their research more easily and herald a new era of academic discovery. This development will provide exciting new opportunities and keep the UK at the forefront of global research to drive innovation and growth.”
David Willetts, July 2012

6. Policy background: Research is:
A process of investigation leading to new insights, effectively shared
Dissemination is an integral part of the research process, not an add- on
Ensuring that findings are disseminated is the responsibility of all those undertaking and managing research

7. Policy background (2)
Prompt and effective dissemination of research findings has benefits including
Improving the efficiency of the research process: researchers have easy immediate access to their colleagues’ findings; and findings are exposed to productive scrutiny, challenge and debate
Improving the impact of research findings: actual and potential research “users” can see what work has been done that they might find helpful and who did it
Encouraging public support for science: the public who paid for the research can see that their investment is well used to fund robust, timely investigation and what came of this

8. Policy background (3)
UK Funding Bodies are committed to support the development of “open access” research communication in forms that
Support our policy aim to maintain an excellent and responsive research base
Are robust, sustainable and affordable
Meet the needs and command the support of researchers and research users
Make it possible for important research findings to be recorded in a peer reviewed, quality badged form

9. Summary The policy background Research assessment and the REF
Developing policy options

10. Purposes of research assessment
To allocate research funding selectively on the basis of performance (~£2bn per year across the UK)
To encourage and reward excellence
To provide accountability for public funding and demonstrate the benefits of public investment
To produce benchmarks and reputational yardsticks, including useful management tools

11. The REF assessment framework
Overall quality
Outputs
Up to 4 outputs per researcher
Impact
Impact case studies and general strategy for impact
Environment
Data and narrative about research strategy, students, staffing, income, facilities and collaborations
65%
20%
15%

12. Summary The policy background Research assessment and the REF
Developing policy options

13. Timeline Feb 2013: initial policy direction and advice letter
Now: developing detailed policy options
Jul 2013: consideration by Board
Jul-Oct 2013: formal consultation
Nov/Dec 2013: finalize policy
Jan 2014: agreement by Board
Jan/Feb 2014: policy announcement
Dec 2019?: ‘outputs window’ closes for next REF

14. Initial policy direction: key points
Objective to increase considerably proportion of outputs published in open-access form
All outputs submitted to post-2014 REF to be open access, where reasonably achievable and appropriate for the medium
Gold or green open access routes eligible – not appropriate for research assessment to express a preference
Advice sought on a number of areas regarding the implementation of the policy
Essential for all parties to work together

15. Institutional repositories
‘All submitted outputs covered by our requirement for open access above, and other submitted outputs that are available electronically, shall be available through a repository of the submitting institution.’
Aim to increase sustainable and convenient public access

16. Advice received General support for principles of open access
Some expressed concern about linking an open access requirement to the REF
Concerns expressed regarding mobility of researchers, international journals, licensing, costs
Call for ‘flexibility’ on embargo periods
Some concerns regarding CC-BY
Various views on exceptions
Most agree that too early to have mandates on monographs and for open data

17. Advice received: institutional repositories
Position at core of policy welcomed
But costs/state of readiness an issue
Subject repositories important
Issues with staff mobility
Emphasised importance of standards, interoperability and search and discovery tools. Further development needed

18. Consultation: emerging thoughts
Criteria for inclusion in policy (noting advice on monographs)
Exceptions (noting advice on researcher mobility)
Retain openness to ‘gold’ and ‘green’ routes and role of institutional repositories
Consistency with wider policy environment on embargo periods and licensing
Compliance approach
Notice period

19. Summary The policy background Research assessment and the REF
Developing policy options

20. And finally…
None of this has any bearing on REF2014

21. Thank you for listening