At Oxford Brookes University, we have an Open Access policy which generally supports Open Access publication for all research outputs. We have an institutional repository, called RADAR (Research Archive and Digital Assets Repository), which is a key tool for sharing Oxford Brookes' Open Access research with researchers from other institutions and the general public.
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A research output can be regarded as being Open Access if the original research content has been made publicly and freely available online with an irrevocable licence or usage statement (such as a Creative Commons licence) that allows unlimited sharing and reproduction.
However, some research funders have a stricter definition for what they consider to be Open Access. See the links on the right for our support service for research projects funded by UKRI or one of its Research Councils, and our email address if you would like to contact us about how to comply with a research funder's Open Access policy.
Here are the two main routes to achieving an Open Access publication:
Green Open Access
Green is a route to Open Access where there are two versions of the output: one is the ‘Version of record’ that is published by a scholarly publisher and that readers must pay to access, the other is the ‘Author's Accepted Manuscript’ that is made publicly and freely available to any readers without charge through a repository. Oxford Brookes has an institutional repository called RADAR that achieves this purpose.
Green Open Access functions within the traditional scholarly communications financial model, where readers (typically through academic library subscriptions) pay for services performed by scholarly publishers.
Gold Open Access
Gold is a route to Open Access where there is only one version of the output: the ‘Version of record’ that is published by a scholarly publisher, and this is freely available from the scholarly publisher’s platform immediately at the point of publication, to any reader, without any charge or barrier.
In Gold Open Access there are many different and evolving models for paying for the publishing services performed by scholarly publishers, though typically they involve direct payments from authors’ institutions or research funders.
There are multiple ways that the fees for Gold Open Access can be paid for Oxford Brookes authors:
- If a research project has an external research funder then that funder should pay any Open Access Fees. Researchers usually need to include the cost of Open Access Fees in their grant applications, though this is not necessary for UKRI / RCUK.
- Oxford Brookes Library may have an agreement with the publisher of their work that includes Gold Open Access publishing for Oxford Brookes authors. There is more detail on these agreements below.
- An application can be made for Oxford Brookes to pay an Open Access Fee (also known as an Article or Book Processing Charge). The application procedure and application form are available here.
Below are some key points from the REF Open Access policy:
- Journal articles and conference proceedings that were published in a publication with an ISSN number must be published as Open Access to be included in REF.
- The acceptance date is what matters, not the publication date. The acceptance date is "as given in the acceptance letter or email" from the publisher.
- Relevant outputs must be deposited in an institutional repository (for Oxford Brookes staff, this will normally be RADAR) as soon as possible after acceptance and in any case no longer than three months after the acceptance date.
- The version of the output that must be deposited is the "author's accepted and final peer-reviewed text" (sometimes known as the 'accepted manuscript' or 'postprint'). Please note that a version of the output that is provisionally accepted before peer review is not considered as the accepted manuscript.
- Publishing an output through the Gold route to Open Access is immediately compliant with the REF requirements, meaning a version of the output does not need to be deposited in a repository. The definition of Gold Open Access we are using is that the article has been licenced by the publisher with any one of the Creative Commons Licences or an equivalent.
As soon as you have had a paper formally accepted for publication, please follow these easy steps:
- Log into Converis
- Provide the key metadata for your paper in the required fields. Remember to include yourself among the authors, and ensure that you select the correct journal
- Upload the final author's accepted manuscript (AAM) of your paper
- Upload evidence of the acceptance date, e.g. a screenshot or copy of the email publisher.
- Help with adding records to Converis is available here.
When you upload publications to Converis, they are always checked by the Scholarly Communications Team before they are made open access. They will:
- Confirm which version of your paper can be published on RADAR.
- Confirm the copyright or licensing terms applicable to your paper.
- Observe any necessary embargo periods.
When your publication record is validated, you will receive a confirmation email generated by Converis. Please pay attention for any information specific to your paper that is included in this message.
'Act on Acceptance' and add your publication to Converis
Use our step-by-step guide to following the REF requirements
Oxford Brookes Library pays for agreements with scholarly publishers that provide Oxford Brookes authors with the opportunity to publish their work Open Access.
The agreements typically include a discount or allowance for Gold Open Access publishing (e.g. ‘read & publish’) or involve regular annual payments to the publisher / journal to allow them to operate an Open Access model with no individual fees for readers or authors (e.g. ‘Subscribe to Open’).
These agreements with scholarly publishers are negotiated by Jisc on behalf of all UK universities, and Oxford Brookes Library then chooses which agreements it will sign based on academic need and financial viability.
ACM
The agreement between Oxford Brookes Library and ACM (Association for Computing Machinery) provides unlimited Open Access publishing for Oxford Brookes authors if all the following criteria are met:
- The paper is submitted to an eligible ACM journal, magazine, or conference proceedings (a full title list is available here)
- The article type is a 'research article' or other eligible article type (excluded article types include abstracts and editorials).
- The corresponding author submits the article using an Oxford Brookes email address and states their affiliation as Oxford Brookes University.
- The article has an acceptance date between 1st January 2023 and 31st December 2025
The publisher's own information on this agreement is available here: ACM OPEN and ACM OPEN Author Experience
Cambridge University Press
Authors from Oxford Brookes can publish their articles Gold Open Access in Cambridge University Press journals without paying an Open Access Fee under the following conditions:
- The article is submitted to one of the publisher's Hybrid and Gold (Fully Open Access) journals.
- The article type is a Research article, Review Article, Rapid Communication (RRR), Brief Report, or Case Reports.
- The corresponding author submits the article using an Oxford Brookes email address and states their affiliation as Oxford Brookes University.
- The corresponding author selects a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) licence.
Click here to visit the Cambridge University Press webpage about the agreement for authors.
Elsevier
Authors from Oxford Brookes can publish their articles Gold Open Access in Elsevier's hybrid journals (that publish a mix of Open Access and non-Open Access articles) without paying an Open Access Fee under the following conditions:
- The article is submitted to an eligible journal (click here to search for an eligible journal).
- The article type is a 'Full-length article' or other eligible article type.
- The corresponding author submits the article using an Oxford Brookes email address and states their affiliation as Oxford Brookes University.
- The article has an acceptance date between 1st January 2022 and 31st December 2025.
The agreement does not include 'free' Open Access publishing in Elsevier's Gold Open Access journals (i.e. journals that only publish Open Access articles). Instead the agreement provides a 15% reduction in the Open Access Fee that must be paid to publish in these journals.
Click here to visit the Elsevier webpage about this agreement.
Sage
Authors from Oxford Brookes can publish their articles Gold Open Access in Sage journals without paying an Open Access Fee under the following conditions:
- The article is submitted to a subscription or 'hybrid' journal (that publishes a mix of Open Access and non-Open Access articles).
- The article type is an 'Original Research Paper' or other eligible article type.
- The corresponding author submits the article using an Oxford Brookes email address and states their affiliation as Oxford Brookes University.
The agreement does not include 'free' Open Access publishing in Sage’s Gold Open Access journals (i.e. journals that only publish Open Access articles). Instead the agreement provides a 20% reduction in the Open Access Fee that must be paid to publish in these journals, although again there are some journals that are excluded from this discount.
Springer Nature
Authors from Oxford Brookes can publish their articles Gold Open Access in Springer Nature's journals without paying an Open Access Fee under the following conditions:
- The article ‘cap’ (shared between all institutions participating in the agreement) has not been reached in the current calendar year.
- The journal is an eligible 'Open Choice' hybrid journal (meaning it publishes a mix of Open Access and non-Open Access articles) that offers a CC BY licence.
- The type of article is an Original Paper (also referred to as Original Research, Original Article, or Research Paper), Review Paper, Brief Communication, or Continuing Education.
- The corresponding author submits the article using an Oxford Brookes email address and states their affiliation as Oxford Brookes University.
The agreement does not include 'free' Open Access publishing in Springer Nature's 'Fully Open Access' journals (i.e. journals that only publish Open Access articles) such as Nature Communications, Scientific Data, Scientific Reports, and the BMC titles. Instead the agreement provides a 15% reduction in the Open Access Fee that must be paid to publish in these journals..
Click here to visit the Springer Nature webpage about this agreement.
Taylor & Francis
Authors from Oxford Brookes can publish their articles Gold Open Access with Taylor & Francis without paying any fee under the following conditions:
- The article ‘cap’ (shared between all institutions participating in the agreement) has not been reached in the current calendar year.
- The corresponding author submits the article using an Oxford Brookes email address and states their affiliation as Oxford Brookes University.
- The article-type is a ‘Research article’ (other article-types like letters, editorials, etc. are excluded).
- The journal submitted to is an eligible journal - this includes both full open access and Open Select (hybrid) journals, as well as F1000Research and Routledge Open Research. It does not include Dove Press titles.
Click here to visit the Taylor & Francis webpage about this agreement.
Wiley
Authors from Oxford Brookes can publish their articles Gold Open Access with Wiley without paying an Open Access Fee under the following conditions:
- The article ‘cap’ (shared between all institutions participating in the agreement) has not been reached in the current calendar year.
- The article-type is either a primary research article or a review article (other article-types like letters, editorials, etc. are excluded).
- The journal is a fully Gold Open Access journal or a subscription (‘hybrid’) journal that offers OnlineOpen.
- The corresponding author submits the article using an Oxford Brookes email address and states their affiliation as Oxford Brookes University.
Other agreements
Oxford Brookes Library has signed agreements that provide Oxford Brookes researchers with unlimited Open Access publishing in journals of the publishers listed below. For an article to be recognised as eligible for the benefits of these agreements the corresponding author must submit the article using an Oxford Brookes email address and state their affiliation as Oxford Brookes University, and the article type must be a 'research article' or other eligible article type.
- Rockefeller University Press: includes the journals Journal of Cell Biology, Journal of Experimental Medicine, Journal of General Physiology, and Life Science Alliance.
- The Company of Biologists: includes the journals Development, Journal of Cell Science, Journal of Experimental Biology, Disease Models and Mechanisms, and Biology Open.