Open Access policy review

What publications the policy applies to

The revised policy requires ‘all’ peer-reviewed research articles describing the findings of in scope projects to be made immediately open access, rather than just the ‘main’ findings as per the previous policy. This change recognises the importance of all publicly funded research being made immediately open access. We also heard from researchers during the Review that it is very difficult to ascertain what ‘main’ means and that they cannot predict at the time of publishing, when the research is still ongoing, if there won’t be more significant findings later on.

When the revised policy comes into effect

The policy will apply to articles submitted on or after 1 June 2022. We consulted on a proposed implementation date of the policy for articles arising only from new NIHR awards from 1 April 2022. The analysis from the NIHR Open Access survey suggested that although the majority of stakeholders supported this implementation date, a significant proportion of stakeholders, and in particular patient and public contributors, indicated that NIHR should be more ambitious. To respond to this we decided to adopt an approach that the policy applies to both new and existing awards, however we moved the implementation date to 1 June 2022 to give stakeholders sufficient time from the policy announcement date to prepare for policy implementation.

The revised policy increases the flexibility for how NIHR funded authors can comply with the NIHR open access policy by ensuring that either the Version of Record or Author Accepted Manuscript of in scope articles is made immediately open access through PubMed Central (PMC) / Europe PMC. This approach was strongly supported by stakeholders in the survey, with PMC/Europe PMC being the most common way for health and care professionals, NIHR research contributors and the general public to access research articles. However, it is important to note that the mandated use of these repositories should not prevent researchers from also depositing a copy in their institutional or another subject-based repository.

In response to recommendations from the report on Open Access in Low and Middle Income Countries to support local ownership of research articles, the revised policy will enable researchers funded through NIHR’s Global Health Research portfolio to deposit in scope articles into appropriate and sustainable local institutional, national or regional repository where available rather than PMC/Europe PMC.

In line with our previous policy, all in scope articles arising from NIHR funded research will need to be published under Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY), or Open Government Licence (OGL) where relevant. These licences allow anyone to read, share, and adapt the original material for free, as long as appropriate credit is given to the original author. This will ensure that there are no barriers to the re-use and dissemination of NIHR funded articles and their content, while preserving the moral rights of authors. We heard from stakeholders that in rare circumstances a more restrictive CC BY-Non Derivative License (CC BY-ND) might be more appropriate, for example for ethical reasons, and therefore the revised policy will enable this type of license by exception.

The ability for researchers to deposit their Author Accepted Manuscript into a repository with zero embargo relies on the Author Accepted Manuscript having an open licence applied to it. Publisher licensing policies typically put different constraints on Author Accepted Manuscripts, which are often restrictive and complex. Therefore, the revised policy will require authors to notify subscription journals at the point of submission of their licencing requirements to any resulting author’s accepted manuscript. This will ensure licensing expectations are clear between authors and publishers before authors enter into any publishing agreements.

While many stakeholders supported a requirement for authors or research organisations to retain copyright, on balance we consider our licensing requirements to be sufficient to meet the policy aims and facilitate compliance. However, we acknowledge that it is good practice for researchers and research organisations to retain the copyright to their work.

The revised policy strengthens the Europe PMC requirements, so that all in scope articles must be made freely available through Europe PMC at the time of publication. Articles which are out of scope of the policy, but acknowledge NIHR funding, will need to be deposited and made freely available through Europe PMC no later than 12 months post-publication date. These changes will ensure that all NIHR-funded or supported research articles are freely accessible through a single platform - increasing the discoverability and long-term archiving of NIHR funded outputs.

Expectations on technical standards for journals and repositories in the revised policy are in line with the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI)'s open access policy. They relate to most aspects of high-quality journals and repositories - supporting the findability, accessibility, interoperability and reuse of NIHR funded research articles, as well as machine readability and automation of processes such as compliance monitoring.

The revised policy recognises that there are often costs associated with making research articles immediately open access and as such we will make reasonable financial provisions as part of the research contract to support researchers’ with policy implementation and compliance. In addition, as the proposed policy has a broader scope from the previous policy,  relevant and appropriate, additional funding can be requested for active contracts which have under-budgeted for open access costs. Authors and their research organisations should read the open access funding guidance for information on the terms and processes for accessing open access funding.

NIHR recognises the role that publishing transitional arrangements play in achieving a sustainable and cost-effective transition to open access for the sector. NIHR is exploring opportunities, by working with Jisc, for the NIHR-funded research community to access publishing transitional arrangements. NIHR will monitor its open access publishing expenditure to ensure it provides value for money as part of broader public investment in research. In light of these considerations, NIHR will review its open access funding position by 2024.