Critique of RCUK's Response to BIS Recommendations on UK Open Access Policy - ePrints Soton

RCUK has agreed that in order to comply with the RCUK Open Access (OA) Mandate, fundees are free to choose either to publish in any journal at all, and self-archive the final refereed draft (Green OA), or to publish in an OA journal (Gold OA), although RCUK prefers Gold. With the help of the HEFCE addendum that all articles must be deposited in the author's institutional repository immediately upon acceptance for publication in order to be eligible for REF2020, irrespective of whether the author chooses Green or Gold, or whether OA is immediate or embargoed, RCUK follows the spirit if not the letter of the BIS recommendations. The HEFCE requirement recruits institutions to monitor and ensure timely compliance with the both the RCUK and the HEFCE mandate, and the institutional repository provides the automated request-a-copy Button to tide over research user needs during any embargo.