Open access and monographs - Research England

"In December 2016, the four UK higher education (HE) funding bodies signalled their intent to extend the open access (OA) requirements of the Research Excellence Framework (REF) to include long-form scholarly works and monographs in the exercise after REF 2021. At the University Press Redux conference in February 2018 – an event that brings together experts on university press publishing – these plans triggered a lively debate. This led to Research England’s Director of Research, Steven Hill, confirming that further discussions and a consultation with the sector will be needed to develop policy details and finalise conditions. Professor Martin Eve of Birkbeck, University of London, recently wrote that the four HE funding bodies are not moving quickly enough, and that clarity is urgently needed to understand how a policy for OA monographs will be implemented...."