UK will require OA for Research Assessment

“Today the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) announced plans to require open access to research submitted to the Research Excellence Framework (REF) after 2014. From the press release: ‘The Council intends to consult the higher education sector on how to implement a requirement that research outputs submitted to any future Research Excellence Framework (REF) should be as widely accessible as possible at the time. This would not affect the current REF due to complete in 2014....’ From the full Statement on Implementing Open Access : ‘It is our well-established policy that outputs from all research supported though HEFCE funding should be as widely and freely accessible as the available channels for dissemination permit....As a first step, we would like to make clear that institutions can use the funds provided through our research grant to contribute towards the costs of more accessible forms of publication, alongside funding from other sources. In the coming months, the four UK HE funding bodies will develop proposals for implementing a requirement that research outputs submitted to a REF or similar exercise after 2014 shall be as widely accessible as may be reasonably achievable at the time.  We will consult all our partners in research funding, and a wide range of other interested bodies, before finalising our plans....’ Comment: This is very good news for two reasons. (1) In the UK, public research funds not disbursed by the RCUK are disbursed by HEFCE. Today the RCUK strengthened its existing OA mandate and HEFCE announced plans to adopt one. (2) In countries like the UK with research assessment programs, future funding may depend on the outcome. Hence, they have the attention of all researchers and research institutions. Requiring OA to all work submitted to research assessment is like requiring OA to all work submitted for promotion and tenure. (In both cases, these policies would require green OA, not gold OA.) These policies seize natural opportunities, harnesses strong, existing incentives to dot every i and cross every t, and apply to nearly all new research. As far as I know, the UK is the first country with plans to require OA for all the research submitted for its annual assessment exercise. This will absolutely boost OA in the UK, and it should stimulate similar policies in other countries.”