Open Access Policies

The metadata and author's final version of all papers must be entered into Pure on acceptance.

The author's final version must be made open under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) on publication unless the final published version, known as the Version of Record (VoR), has also been made open under the same licence and can be deposited into Pure.

To ensure compliance with this policy it is recommended that future publications should include the following text in the funding acknowledgement section of the manuscript and any cover letter/note accompanying the submission:

“For the purpose of open access, the author has applied a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) licence to any Author Accepted Manuscript version arising from this submission.”

In the majority of cases compliance will be simple. However, in exceptional circumstances where it will not, it is permissible for authors to request to opt-out. For more details of the scenarios where this may be appropriate and the opt-out process, please visit the Scholarly Communications web pages. Please note that this process cannot be used to request an opt-out from any possible funders' Open Access requirements or the requirements for depositing accepted manuscripts in Pure.

Scholarly Communications Team guidance on opt-out

Research Publications & Copyright Policy (2021)

The Scholarly Communications Team have created a checklist to help researchers comply with this policy.

Scholarly Communications open access checklist

For Informatics researchers the RDM team are always available to answer any questions.

Contact RDM team

Journal, conference papers, monographs, book chapters and edited collections produced from UKRI funded research. 

Journal and conference papers submitted for publication on or after 1 April 2022.

Monographs, book chapters and edited collections published on or after 1 January 2024.

• UKRI funding must be acknowledged within the paper.
• The paper must be made open access immediately upon publication via the Gold OA or Green OA routes:
  • Gold OA - where the final published version, known as the Version of Record (VoR), is made open under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) licence;
  • Green OA - where the Author's Accepted Manuscript (AAM), also know as the Author's Final Version (AFV), is made open under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) licence via deposit in an institutional or subject repository.

UKRI Open Access policy

The Scholarly Communications Team have created a checklist to help researchers comply with this policy.

Scholarly Communications open access checklist

For Informatics researchers the RDM team are always available to answer any questions.

Contact RDM team

Authors can also check if a journal allows compliance with select funder's Open Access policy through the Journal Checker Tool.

Check journal/funder compliance using the Journal Checker Tool

All staff who are likely to be included in the next REF. 

Paper must be:

• deposited in an institutional repository within 3 months of the date of acceptance;
• made open access within a month of the end of any publisher embargo, or within a month of deposit if no embargo applies.

For most Informatics staff an embargo period of 12 months will be allowable.  Staff who will be submitted to a non-Informatics REF UoA may have a longer embargo.  Staff who are uncertain which UoA they will be submitted with should contact the Director of Research.

Exceptions may be available where the publisher requires a longer embargo – please contact the RDM team for more details (rdmpublications@inf.ed.ac.uk).

Local information at http://web.inf.ed.ac.uk/infweb/research/ref/ref-open-access-policy

REF2021 open access policy in paragraphs 223-255 of the Guidance on submissions at https://www.ref.ac.uk/publications/guidance-on-submissions-201901/

Research England (previously HEFCE) information and FAQs at https://re.ukri.org/research/open-access-research/

Authors can check if a journal allows compliance with REF open acces policy through the SHERPA REF tool. Informatics authors should select REF Main Panels A and B (Sciences, Technology and Medicine).

Check journal REF compliance on the SHERPA REF website

• deposit a copy of the paper in an institutional repository
• ensure the paper is made open access

• Horizon Europe funding details must be included in the paper (grant project name, acronym and number)
• the final published version or accepted manuscript must be deposited in a trusted repository (Pure is acceptable)
• deposited manuscript must be published under a CC-BY licence or equivalent

Only publication fees in full open access venues for peer-reviewed scientific publications are eligible for reimbursement.

Monographs do not need to be published under a CC-BY licence. Instead, the licence may exclude commercial uses and derivative works (e.g. CC BY-NC, CC BY-ND).

Data generated as part of funded research should be made ‘as open as possible as closed as necessary’.

Horizon Europe programme guide (see pp. 32-33. pp. 37-38, pp. 47-48)

Horizon Europe annotated grant agreement (see Annex 5)

Horizon Europe reference documents library (for access to updated programme guide and annotated grant agreements as necessary)

Horizon Europe guidance to complying with publication mandate