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

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

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

4. 21 days in November 2015…

5. Green paper

6. Spending review

7. 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

8. 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

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

11. 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

12. 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

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

14. 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:

15.  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:

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

17. 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

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

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

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

21. Thank you for listening
@stevenhill