Open Access checklist for UoE authors
Checklist for all UoE authors to follow to help them make their research outputs open access.
In order for the University and its researchers to comply with funder requirements, and to enable the University to disseminate its research and scholarship as widely as possible, whilst enabling its staff to publish their work in a journal of their choice the University of Edinburgh has adopted a new Research Publications and Copyright Policy.
We present a checklist for all UoE authors to follow to help them make their research outputs open access. Funded authors will have extra steps to follow to ensure they comply with their funders’ policies. The policy was introduced on 1 January 2022 and all UoE authors are expected to follow its requirements from 1 April 2022.
If you are unsure about ANY of these steps you can ask your local support team or contact the central Scholarly Communications Team (openaccess@ed.ac.uk).
Before submission
Add the following Rights Retention Statement (RRS) in the funding acknowledgement section of the manuscript and any cover letter/note accompanying the submission:
“For the purpose of open access, the author has applied a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) licence to any Author Accepted Manuscript version arising from this submission.”
Inform co-authors about University of Edinburgh requirements to share the manuscript upon publication with a CC-BY license. If you are not the corresponding author please request the RRS to be included in the manuscript. If for any reason, one of the co-authors raises this as an issue, then it is possible to opt out of the University’s policy, or request a different open licence, via an online form.
When selecting a journal, check if the University of Edinburgh has a Transformative Agreement with the publisher using the Read & Publish journal list; you might be eligible to publish your article Gold Open Access with a Creative Commons licence for no extra charge.
Investigate on the journal web pages to see if the publisher charges any costs and confirm who will be able cover these. If you are publishing in an Open Access journal they may incur an Article Processing Charge. Some journals may also incur extra Page, Colour or Overlength charges for your paper. Again, please check before submission that you have access to funds to pay these fees.
Extra steps for funded research outputs (e.g. UKRI/Wellcome/ERC):
Check your Funder OA requirements and ensure that your chosen journal complies through one of the routes (Route 1: Gold OA, Route 2: Green OA, or Route 3: Transformative Agreement). You can use the Journal Checker Tool for an initial indication, and follow up with the Scholarly Communications Team (openaccess@ed.ac.uk) if you are unsure about anything.
If choosing Route 1 (an open access journal/platform, sometimes known as Gold OA), before committing yourself to incurring article processing charges please check with the Scholarly Communications Team that funding is available via the online Journal article open access claim form or via email (openaccess@ed.ac.uk). When you contact the Scholarly Communications Team they will indicate what the next steps you need to take are. If you proceed and place an order without confirmation then you may be held liable for costs.
Add a data accessibility statement in the paper. Data accessibility statements provide information about where the research data and other artefacts supporting the results reported in the paper can be found. Where applicable, links to the repository where the dataset(s) are publicly archived are included. The Research Data Service can help you understand general funder data management requirements.
Upon Acceptance
When you receive acceptance notification from the journal editor ensure that either the Authors Accepted Manuscript (AAM), or Version of Record (VoR) if permitted, is deposited in Pure. If necessary, please link the record with the correct project, and then add a licence (normally Creative Commons Attribution - CC BY) to the record in Pure.
After your article is accepted for publication the publisher usually sends you a link to complete their online forms. At this point select your Open Access route and initiate the process with the journal publisher, usually via;
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Route 1: Gold OA
- If you have had confirmation that funding is available in the Before Submission step, follow the instructions issued by the Scholarly Communications Team and order an invoice remembering to select a CC BY licence when prompted.
- Route 2: Green OA
- If you have included the RRS text in your submission then the article can be made immediately OA on publication. If the publisher wants to remove the statement then please contact the Scholarly Communications Team who will assist (see extra step 10 below).
- Route 3: Transformative Agreement
- Indicate your University of Edinburgh affiliation during submission. This should help ensure your article will automatically be included in the Read & Publish deal. Each publisher has their own system which should be simple to follow, however if you have any questions the Scholarly Communications team will able to guide you through the process. Please do not order an invoice as this will have to be cancelled.
If you have chosen Route 2: Green OA and your chosen journal specifically prohibits immediate open access and has contacted you to say this route is not possible then you may have to opt-out of the University’s policy.
- Please note that if you have a UKRI/ Wellcome Trust/ ERC grant (or other funder that requires immediate OA) then your publisher may be preventing you from complying with your funder’s requirements.
After Publication
When your article is published and available online please send notification to your support team, or update your Pure record with the publication dates, so that the AAM can be made open access as soon as possible with the correct final publication details.
Extra steps for funded research outputs (e.g. UKRI/Wellcome):
Deposit in Pure is not sufficient to ensure compliance with most medical funders’ OA policies (e.g. MRC, BBSRC, Wellcome Trust, Cancer Research UK, BHF). If required by funders, and you have taken Route 2 (Green OA) then you may need to organise deposit in Europe PMC. This can be easily and quickly done by using the Europe PMC manuscript submission system.
If you are unsure about ANY of these steps you can ask your local support team or contact the central Scholarly Communications Team (openaccess@ed.ac.uk).