RSP - OA

University Open Access Standard

The University has had an Open Access Standard in place since 1^st August 2015, which is annually reviewed alongside related policies. 

The Open Access Standard ensures that research outputs from the University are disseminated as widely as possible, helping to raise the profile of the authors and University. Furthermore, open access facilitates broader knowledge transfer and open science. It also ensures that non-academic organisations such as small and medium-sized enterprises and charities who have limited access to journal outputs are able to freely access published research via the internet.

The Open Access Standard was developed to help ensure compliance with the Open Access policy in effect for the REF 2021 Research Assessment exercise. The Open Access policy in effect for future Research Assessment Exercises is expected to be reviewed in early 2022, and the University Standard is likely to be updated in light of any changes.

What does this mean for individual researchers?

Research staff and students at the University should be aware of the seven requirements which form the Open Access Standard:

1. Authors record bibliographic details of all research outputs in the University Repository Pure, within three months of the date of acceptance for publication. Authors additionally must deposit full text copies of research outputs, i.e. the final accepted peer-reviewed journal articles and conference papers (and where appropriate monographs) in the institutional repository no later than three months after the date of acceptance for publication.
2. Authors must deposit all other types of research output where copyright allows; subject to the conditions of any research contracts with third parties, commercial sensitivities and discipline-specific conventions. Bibliographic details for these outputs must be recorded in Pure even if a version of the output cannot be made available. Authors of practice-based outputs must deposit documentation of the research dimensions of the output.
3. Where publisher’s copyright permissions allow and there is no confidentiality or commercial constraints, the research outputs in the institutional repository must be made available open access, i.e. freely available over the internet. This process is managed and overseen by our Research and Scholarly Publications team within the Library.
4. Authors must use the standardised institutional affiliation “Coventry University” to ensure clear affiliation with the University and their Research Centre (if they are a member of one) or Faculty.
5. Authors must comply with funders’ policies relating to open access and research data management. For more on these subjects please see the relevant Open Access and Research Data Management sections of this LibGuide, and contact us if you should have any questions.
6. Authors must acknowledge the source of grant funding associated with a research output in the publication itself. Information about the grant must also be linked by the author, to the record of the publication in Pure.
7. Authors should register for an individual ORCiD identifier and include this on Pure, when submitting publications, and when applying for grants to ensure the individual is credited for their work and the correct institutional affiliation is achieved.

For more on the interoperability between ORCiD and Pure please see this section of our LibGuide.

Does it make a difference if I am publishing via the Gold or Green Routes?

You can satisfy the University's Open Access Standard via either route to open access.

Due to financial considerations, Coventry University has generally favoured open access by means of the Green Route (which does not involve an article processing fee).  This enables the author to publish for free in a subscription journal and to self-archive a version of the article for free public use i.e. in Pure, subject to publisher policies.  As well as ensuring your research reaches a wider audience, adding your research outputs to Pure will help researchers comply with funder policies and the requirements for national Research Assessment Exercises.

That being said, the University also recognises that there are additional benefits of the Gold open access route. This is where the final published version is made Open Access at point of publication. The University has Read and Publish agreements with specific publishers where open access publication is possible at no additional cost, and funding is available to cover Gold Open Access costs.

The policy applies in principle to all forms of research output. However, it is recognised that in some instances where it may not be possible to make the full text or output available openly, authors are encouraged to upload the output to Pure for preservation purposes with an indefinite embargo period applied if required. Restricted access to the document can be set by the Open Research and Scholarly Publications team who will check publisher permissions and policies and advise where appropriate.

We would encourage authors to negotiate publishing contracts where possible and appropriate, to permit their work to be made available via the institutional repository, especially if the work is supported by a funder with a Rights Retention Strategy in place.

For further help and advice, please contact the Library Open Research & Scholarly Publications Team by email: oa.lib@coventry.ac.uk.