Arts and Humanities Alliance response submitted to REF 2029 Open Access Consultation | 2024-06-17

"... the time is not right to try to tighten requirements for OA in respect of short-form publications in any way, and most certainly not to introduce OA for long-form publications mid-cycle. We are deeply concerned about the considerable additional bureaucracy and associated cost of mandating OA for long-form publications, as well as the negative impacts on access to publishing from an EDI perspective. We also foresee potential damage to international collaborations and reputations if we mandate OA for long-form publications that are more logically published overseas and/or in conjunction with colleagues outside UK HE, and we are worried about the lack of evidence of full consultation with publishers about the affordability of the changes from their perspective and the likely impact on their publishing policies. There is further anxiety expressed around the many reasons for exceptions to be made, including the question of third-party materials for which OA compliance cannot be achieved.

Overall, then, we think the that undesirable outcomes will significantly outweigh the positive intentions of the extension of the OA policy. At the very least, we would argue that no changes in respect of long-form publications should be introduced part-way through the current REF cycle. In line with the GuildHE Position Statement, we would also encourage a shift away from a compliance-based approach at the level of individual outputs towards assessing OA as part of a commitment to Open Research within the People, Culture, and Environment part of REF2029...."

"The AHA represents subject associations and learned societies that, in turn, represent the whole of the UK."

Arts & Humanities Alliance: https://www.artsandhumanitiesalliance.org/