Open access

There are several ways to make your research open access:

• Add it to Research Space Repository
• Publish in an open access journal – types of open access journal are explained below
• Make your monograph open access - find out more about open access monographs

Green

The author publishes in a traditional, subscription-based journal but also deposits a copy (usually the final author version - the author’s final manuscript incorporating all changes resulting from peer review) in a repository, such as Research Space Repository. The published final version of the journal sits behind a subscription paywall, the “final author version” is available to anyone subject to any embargo period imposed by the publisher.

This is the version most commonly used by researchers at CCCU.

Gold

The full text of the article is accessible to anyone, without subscription charge, from the journal's website. However, the author needs to pay the publisher an Article Processing Charge (APC). If you want to publish in a journal that requires payment of an APC to publish open access, please have a look at our information on transformative agreements for open access, you may be able to have the APC discounted or waivered. 

Hybrid journals

This is a subscription journal that has some open access articles published in it - these are made open access on payment of an APC. If you want to publish in a journal that requires payment of an APC to publish open access, please have a look at our information on transformative agreements for open access, you may be able to have the APC discounted or waived. 

Diamond

Diamond open access as refers to a publication model where neither authors nor readers are charged for open access. Diamond open access journals tend to be operated by smaller, community-driven presses. 

Whether you want to find an open access journal to publish in, or want to see what research is available via open access, you can find a list of open access journals on DOAJ – the Directory of Open Access Journals.

Use the OAPEN Open Access Books Toolkit to understand the process of publishing an Open Access book.

Green Open Access

This route means you deposit a version of your work in the Research Space Repository.

• This costs nothing.
• It's most suitable for book sections and chapters.
• It works for books that are published in print or online.
• You need to get the permission of the publisher to put your work in Research Space. Many publishers allow this. Email us if you need advice.
• This community knowledgebase of OA policies on books and chapters (google sheet) provided by UKCORR is a useful tool to find out what your publisher will allow you to do with your book or chapter.
• You are usually only allowed to use the Author Accepted Manuscript of a chapter.
• You usually need to use an embargo, which means your work won't be Open Access until a set period of time has passed.

Gold Open Access

This route means that the author, institution or funder pays a book processing charge (BPC) to make the work Open Access. 

• This route applies to e-books only.
• Your book will be freely and publicly available online upon publication.
• You choose the terms under which your work is shared and re-used by applying a Creative Commons licence.

Articles and conference proceedings submitted on or after 1 April 2022 must be Open Access immediately upon publication.

In addition:

• You can no longer apply an embargo to your Author Accepted Manuscripts deposited in Research Space Repository.
• Add this UKRI statement to your author accepted manuscript (AAM) before submission: 'For the purpose of open access, the author has applied a CC BY public copyright licence (where permitted by UKRI, an Open Government Licence or CC BY ND public copyright licence may be used instead) to any Author Accepted Manuscript version arising'. This applies to all AAMs and is your ‘safety net’, it ensures that your article will comply.
• You must apply a CC BY licence to your article (with CC BY ND allowed in some exceptional cases)
• You must create a Data Access Statement, even where there are no data associated with the article or the data are inaccessible
• MRC and BBSRC biomedical research articles that acknowledge this funding will be archived in Europe PubMed Central
• Articles can include third-party materials (such as images, photographs or maps) that are subject to a more restrictive licence.

Books, chapters or edited collections published on or after 1 January 2024 must be published Open Access or available in a repository (eg Research Space) within 12 months of publication. Please read the UKRI Open Access Policy for full information on open access longform publications.

• They can be published as an Open Access item or be deposited as an Author Accepted Manuscript in Research Space Repository
• They must use a CC BY licence that allows the reader to search for and reuse content, subject to proper attribution
• They should include images, illustrations, tables, photographs, diagrams, maps and other supporting content where possible, but these third-party materials are allowed to be made available under a more restrictive licence
• Exceptions will be permitted, for example if there are problems related to obtaining permission for re-use of third party material, or if an appropriate publisher is unable to offer an Open Access option that complies with UKRI’s policy
• Textbooks, scholarly editions, exhibition catalogues, trade books and fictional works are excluded.

What you need to do

The UKRI practical guidance about how to meet the policy requirements is still developing, but the policy itself is unlikely to change.

• You must keep a digital copy of the Author Accepted Manuscript version of your work and deposit it in Research Space Repository upon acceptance. Contact repository@canterbury.ac.uk and we'll help you assign the 12 month embargo. This provides you with a “safety net” of free Open Access that is sufficient to meet the requirements. See point 17 of the UKRI policy.
• A central grant is available for publishing open access articles and longform publications. Page 5 of the UKRI policy states: "UKRI will provide an Open Access Block Grant to support compliance with this policy for both research articles and in-scope longform publications"
• You must apply a CC BY licence to your work (with CC BY ND allowed in some exceptional cases)
• Be aware of the need to make your work openly available online when dealing with material for which you don't own the copyright. This checklist about use of third party copyright material that University of Kent produced for postgraduates may be helpful.  When seeking permission to use third party copyright material, state that it will be available online.
• Bear in mind that some UKRI block grant funding will be available to publish Open Access online. Consider the opportunities this may offer to link to inter-active content, images and audio visual material and address this in your dissemination plan. 
• Use this list of resources to help you choose a quality Open Access publisher and this  Open Access books toolkit  which explains more about the process of publishing a book Open Access.

The final author version (also called accepted manuscript or post print version) is the accepted, author-created version following peer review and editing.

The text and any diagrams can be exactly the same as the published version, but does not include the publishers' logos, final formatting or typesetting.

Research Space Repository will automatically generate a coversheet with links to the published version and any copyright statements, to assist with citation and proper acknowledgement.

The version of record is the definitive version as published in the journal and includes the publisher’s logo, formatting, typesetting and page numbering.

Repositories collect, preserve and provide free online access to all types of research outputs.

CCCU's repository provides:

• A secure archive for research outputs
• Improved discoverability and citation.
• Enhanced institutional and individual profile.
• Statistics on download and use of publications.

The individual researcher is responsible for self-archiving as part of the research process and this must be done within three months of being notified of acceptance. The current (May 2024) definition of the article acceptance date is as follows: 

"The date of acceptance is when the publisher has firmly accepted your output for publication. It means the date that you, as the author, consider you have been told by the editor that the paper has been accepted (even in an informal email). This will be after peer review, edits and other alterations have been made.

You may have received ‘provisional’ or ‘conditional’ acceptance before this date, but these do not count as the ‘date of acceptance.’"

See https://openaccess.ox.ac.uk/faq#collapse4232231

Support available from Library and Learning Resources:

• Technical – how to use Research Space Repository.
• Accuracy – Checking the information you submit before it is
  published.
• Embargo and copyright.

Many journals impose an embargo period during which an article cannot be made available Open access. In these cases the article must still be deposited in the repository but Library and Learning Resources will apply the required settings so that it is not accessible during the embargo period.

The copyright situation varies across different journals and publishers. Library and Learning Resources will check the copyright position before any item is uploaded to Research Space Repository and CCCU will be legally liable for any accidental breaches, not the individual posting the article.