Summary
UK researchers are covered by a number of funder open access (OA) policies and publish in journals with a variety of OA policies, sometimes differing depending on who funds the research. This “policy stack” is complex, causes confusion and is difficult to administer. Researchers run the risk that their outputs may not be eligible for submission to the post 2021 Research Excellence Framework (REF2021)
Many publishers ask researchers to transfer copyright in outputs to the publisher, causing difficulties when researchers seek to re-use results in classroom and online teaching.
The Funding Councils (HEFCE, HEFCW, SFC) have set minimum OA eligibility criteria for REF2021 but encourage institutions to go beyond that minimum
UK-SCL Steering Group
Policy development and liaison between institutions, funders and publishers is overseen by a Steering Group which is made up of representative experts in various aspects of open access publishing.
Members of the Steering Group as at March 2018 are:
- Dr Paul Ayris, Pro Vice-Provost and Director of UCL Library Services, University College London, Chair
- Chris Banks, Assistant Provost (Space) & Director of Library Services, Imperial College London
- Simon Bains, Head of Research Services and Deputy Librarian, University of Manchester
- Ian Carter, Director of Research and Enterprise, University of Sussex
- Professor Aileen Fyfe, Professor of Modern History, University of St Andrews
- Dr Danny Kingsley, Deputy Director – Scholarly Communication & Research Services, Cambridge University Library
- Professor Martin Kretschmer, Professor of Intellectual Property Law and Director of CREATe Centre (School of Law), University of Glasgow
- Chris Morrison, Copyright Support and Software Licensing Manager, University of Kent
- Rachel Paterson, University Lawyer, University of Bristol
- Dr Torsten Reimer, Head of Research Services, British Library
- Jennifer Rochfort, Director for Research and Learning Services, Libraries, Research and Learning Resources, University of Nottingham
- Dominic Tate, Head of Library Research Support, University of Edinburgh
- Dr Stuart Taylor, Publishing Director, The Royal Society
The administration of the Steering Group is supported by Sharona Rowe and Jack Robinson, of Imperial College London, and Dorothea Miehe and Jonathan Sims, of the British Library.ding Councils (HEFCE, HEFCW, SFC) have set minimum OA eligibility criteria for REF2021 but encourage institutions to go beyond that minimum