Open Access (OA) means that research outputs are made available online, in a digital format, at no charge to the reader and with limited restrictions on re-use.
There are two main routes to Open Access:
If you have been awarded research funding, it is important to check if there is an Open Access policy you need to comply with when publishing outputs related to that funding. This page provides Open Access policy guidance for the main research funders. It also provides information about how to apply for Open Access funding if you are funded by UKRI.
If you are unsure whether you need to comply with a policy, or whether you are eligible for UKRI OA funding, please email openaccess@leedsbeckett.ac.uk
The British Academy does not have an Open Access policy and grants cannot be used to pay publication charges.
Under Horizon 2020, each beneficiary must ensure Open Access to all peer-reviewed scientific publications relating to its results. This is typically journal articles, but beneficiaries are strongly encouraged to provide Open Access to:
The Author Accepted Manuscript or Published version (if the publisher allows) of the manuscript must be deposited in an institutional repository as soon as possible and on the date of publication at the latest.
The bibliographic metadata must be made immediately available in Symplectic using this standard format:
Beneficiaries can choose to use Green (allowing for a 6 or 12 month embargo period dependent on subject) or Gold Open Access. Gold OA charges can be reimbursed during the project, but not after the project ends.
The Leverhulme Trust does not have an Open Access policy.
Open Access costs must be budgeted into grants and can only be used during the period of the Leverhulme award. For further details, see the Leverhulme research expenses webpage.
Research should be published in journals that allow publication under a CC-BY licence.
Upon acceptance, a copy of the final manuscript should be deposited with Europe PMC and made freely available as soon as possible and in any event, within six months of the journal's final date of publication.
The most up-to-date Version of Record or Author Accepted Manuscript must be made freely available in PubMed Central (PMC) or Europe PMC by the first official date of publication, with no embargo and using a CC-BY licence.
The NIHR will pay for APC costs for in-scope articles. Please see their Open Access publications funding guidance for how to request.
This policy applies to publications which acknowledge funding from UKRI including:
From 1 April 2022, all research articles funded by UKRI grants must comply with the following Open Access policy requirements:
You can comply with the policy using one of two routes:
From 1 January 2024, monographs, book chapters and edited collections funded by UKRI grants must comply with the following Open Access policy requirements:
For more details, please read the full UKRI Open Access policy and to apply for UKRI Open Access funding for publications, please see the APC & UKRI Funding webpage.
The policy applies to:
1. articles or chapters that are authored or co-authored by WHO staff or by individuals or institutions funded in whole or in part by WHO and published by external publishers
2. publications published by WHO.
From 1 January 2021, all WHO-authored and WHO-funded articles that are submitted for publication in peer-review journals must be published in an open-access journal or on an open-access platform.
Such journals should be indexed by the Directory of open access journals and have an agreement with the United States National Library of Medicine (NLM) to deposit the version of record in PubMed Central (PMC) and to allow that content to be shared with Europe PMC.
WHO will only support the costs of hybrid open access publishing in subscription journals or publication in subscription journals with an embargo period in the following cases:
All articles (version of record or the author-accepted manuscript) must be deposited in Europe PMC or PMC by the official date of publication and published under one of the following licences:
Cost of open access publication
Where applicable, reasonable article processing charges (APCs) will be covered by WHO for articles published in open access journals or on open access platforms that are compatible with the above-mentioned requirements.
WHO invites external entities applying for project support from WHO to include such costs, where appropriate, in their applications. Applicants should not include the costs for APCs for hybrid journals in their grant applications unless the journals concerned meet the above-mentioned requirements, and holders of grants from WHO should not use their grants to pay for these costs. Applicants should also register for and provide their ORCID identifier in their applications and link their published research outputs to their ORCID identifier.
WHO will include the open-access publication fees, where appropriate, in its applications to donors for project support.
Research data and related materials
All research articles that are funded in whole, or in part, by WHO, must include a data availability statement with links to underlying data or extended data and any relevant materials necessary to understand, assess, and replicate the research. In cases where data cannot be made publicly available for ethical and confidentiality reasons, the statement should indicate the restrictions, the process for applying for access to the data and the conditions that will apply. Data sets should be deposited in an appropriate open data repository, with a persistent identifier, such as a DOI and under an open licence.
For more details, please visit the WHO Policy on Open Access website.
Our UKRI open access fund supports open access publishing for eligible articles which acknowledge UKRI funding and are being published under a CC-BY licence.
Subject to available funds, the UKRI open access fund will pay up to the full cost of the APC plus any applicable VAT on your behalf. Please apply for funding before article submission to ensure funding is available.
Author eligibility:
In order to be eligible for funding, at least one of the authors must be an employee or current student of Leeds Beckett University, and funded by UKRI.
Journal eligibility:
Please use the Jisc Journal Checker Tool to check the journal meets your funder's eligibility criteria. This tool can also check if Leeds Beckett already has a publisher deal in place which waives/discounts an APC, meaning you may not need to apply for funding.
Eligible publication types:
Peer-reviewed research articles, including reviews and conference papers, that are accepted for final publication in either a journal, conference proceeding with an International Standards Serial Number (ISSN), or publishing platform.
How to apply for funding:
Leeds Beckett University's Open Research Policy sets out our commitment to making the products of our research (both outputs and research data) publicly available.
The next REF
Initial Decisions about REF 2028 were published in June 2023. Consultation is open on these initial decisions until October 2023.
Consultation on the Open Access policy for REF 2028 will start in Autumn 2023. Until a new policy is announced, REF 2021 rules apply. Continue to deposit author accepted manuscripts of journal articles and conference proceedings with an ISSN in Symplectic within three months of acceptance.The Research Services team process these records and make them available open access in the Leeds Beckett Repository.
