HEFCE - Higher Education Funding Council for [...] (via noodls) / New policy for open access in the post-2014 Research Excellence Framework

"HEFCE and the other three UK funding bodies have published details of a new policy for open access relating to future research assessments after the current 2014 REF. The policy describes new eligibility requirements for outputs submitted to the post-2014 REF. These requirements apply to all journal articles and conference proceedings accepted for publication after 1 April 2016. They do not apply to monographs, other long-form publications, creative or non-text outputs, or data. The requirements state that peer-reviewed manuscripts must be deposited in an institutional or subject repository on acceptance for publication. The title and author of these deposits, and other descriptive information, [Note 1] must be discoverable straight away by anyone with a search engine. The manuscripts must then be accessible for anyone to read and download once any embargo period has elapsed. There are limited exceptions to the policy, where depositing and arranging access to the manuscript is not achievable. This policy was developed following an extensive two-stage consultation during 2013, to which we received over 460 written responses. David Sweeney, HEFCE's Director for Research, Innovation and Skills, said: 'The UK is leading the way to open access publication of its research findings, following strong and welcome commitment to this agenda by the UK government. The funding bodies believe that our policy for the next REF will increase substantially the amount of scholarly material that is made available in an open-access form. This will in turn increase the efficiency of the research process by allowing scholars to access more material that is relevant to them, and increase the impact of research findings on the economy and wider society. Linking open access to the REF will also help to drive visibility and awareness of open access options within our universities and colleges, which is vital to securing the long-term sustainability of research dissemination. Ultimately, the success of this policy, and others like it, will depend on the continued efforts of all stakeholders, including funders, institutions, researchers and publishers, to engage constructively in pursuit of a common goal: wider, faster and freer access to the findings of research. The funding bodies will continue to play our part in that debate as this policy beds in over the coming months and years.'"