Open Access (OA) belongs in the context of Open Science or Open Research, relating to how research is performed and how knowledge is shared based on the principle that research should be as open as possible.
Open Access publishing is increasingly mandated by funders and can be achieved through various publishing routes. The most common ones are known as the GREEN or the GOLD routes:
As a researcher, it is your responsibility to create a record of your research output in the Middlesex University Research Repository independent of the publishing route - at the point of acceptance.
While the REF 2029 Open Access policy is on its way, the REF 2021 Open Access policy and guidance should be followed until further notice. The REF 2021 Open Access policy therefore continues to apply for outputs accepted for publication from 1 January 2021.
The Middlesex University Research Repository is Middlesex University's research support infrastructure to meet post REF 2021 and other funders' Open Access requirements for GREEN and GOLD publishing routes.
For your article to comply with REF Open Access requirements:
Consult our Manuscript Versions section in this guide if you are unsure of the version to upload.
Related information:
The new UKRI Open Access policy for long-form publications applies from 1 January 2024 for publications published on or after 1 January 2024.
Types: Monographs, Book chapters, Edited collections
In-scope: Long-form outputs published on or after 1 January 2024
Funding: From 31 October 2023, it is no longer permitted to include publication costs for long-form publications in scope of the Open Access policy in funding applications. UKRI introduced a two stage process to apply for long-form publication funding instead. Applicationsl will have to be submitted by Middlesex University staff responsible for open access funding - on behalf of researchers.
If you are planning to publish a publication in scope of UKRI’s open access policy and expect to pay for Open Access, contact the Research and Knowledge Exchange Office (research@mdx.ac.uk) and the Research Support Team (repository@mdx.ac.uk) as early as possible. They will give you advice on Open Access funding options, explain the process to access funding, manage applications on behalf of Middlesex University Researchers.
Routes to OA Compliance: In-scope UKRI funded long-form publications (Monographs, Book chapters or Edited collections) published on or after 1 January 2024 it will need to be made open access.
Useful links:
The new UKRI Open Access policy for short-form publications applies from 1 April 2022. It replaced the Research Councils' (RCUK) Policy on Open Access for publications submitted before 1 April 2022.
Types: Peer reviewed research articles, including reviews and conference papers, accepted for final publication in either a journal or conference proceedings with an International Standard Serial Number (ISSN), or publishing platform
In-scope: Research articles submitted for publication on or after 1 April 2022
Funding: UKRI provides an open access block grant to eligible research organisations to support compliance with the Open Access policy for research articles. The use of UKRI open access funds is permitted for a wide range of costs, however the use of UKRI funds for publishing in a ‘hybrid’ journal that is not part of a transitional arrangement that meets the research sector’s requirements as set out by Jisc is not permitted.
Routes to OA Compliance:
Related information:
Useful links:
Horizon Europe is the European Union's research and innovation funding programme until 2027. Open Access requirements are outlined in the General Model Grant Agreement Contract.
Types: Peer-reviewed scientific publications, Monographs and other long-text formats as well as Research data and additional practices, funded in whole or in parts by Hozrizon Europe.
In-scope: In alignment with the Plan S Principles with effect from 2021.
Funding: Only publication fees in full Open Access venues (not Hybrid venues), are eligible for reimbursement.
Routes to OA Compliance:
Related information:
Useful links:
Middlesex University encourages the GREEN Open Access route via self-archiving of the accepted manuscript in the Middlesex University Research Repository in cases where no funds are available to pay for GOLD.
This policy applies to all academic staff, all research staff and all students whose research outputs derive from their employment by the University, from research grants or otherwise from the use of University resources and facilities. This policy requires researchers at Middlesex University to:
The Repository team will check all files that are uploaded to ensure they comply with copyright law and will apply any embargoes required by the publisher. More information can be found in the full Middlesex University Open Access Publications Policy.
| As per the Middlesex University deposit requirements all research outputs must be deposited in the Middlesex University Research Repository at the point of acceptance. |
There are options to support the GOLD Open Access publishing route: if your journal is included in one of the Transformative Agreements Middlesex University signed, your Open Access fee is covered by the agreement (a check-list for eligibility is available in our Training Material section).
Open access fees for funded research may otherwise be managed by each faculty/department. Consult with your research lead and/or your Deputy Dean for Research about access to funding.
If you are working on a collaborative project, check if your collaborators are in receipt of Open Access funds to cover the Open Access publishing costs.
Middlesex University signed transformative agreements with the following publishers and the list of journals included in the current Middlesex University agreements is available via Jisc's Knowledge Base+ packages (see publisher web pages and links to KB+ lists as follows for each agreement):
Jisc is working with UKRI and Coalition S to improve the Journal Checker Tool, and to further customise it in line with UKRI policy changes (see Jisc blog). More detailed information about transitional agreements and the list of Jisc-approved transformative journals (downloadable list) is also available via the Sherpa services.
If you publish in a journal via a transformative agreement, the publisher will ask what licence you want to apply, select CC-BY unless you have secured permission from your funder for a CC-BY-ND licence.
Do have a look at our check-list provided via the slide-deck in the Training Materials section.
The following diagram highlights the difference between manuscript versions and shows that the final accepted manuscript version is the version before copy-editing or type-setting by the publisher.
Article version diagram courtesy of University of Cambridge CC-BY
Another manuscript version diagram is available via the National Web Archive of the HEFCE domain, originating from earlier HEFCE guidance.
Initiated by coalition S, the so-called Rights Retention Strategy requires that researchers add a Rights Retention Statement to their manuscript on submission of their article. Several funders are following this approach, including the Wellcome Trust (Jan 2021), UKRI (Apr 2022), NIHR (Jun 2022), and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (January 2021) and have introduced similar requirements.
If your work is funded by one of these organisations and you publish via the self-archiving or GREEN Open Access route in one of the eligible journals, your manuscript will have to include a rights retention statement in the funding acknowledgement section of the manuscript and any cover letter/note accompanying the submission. The statement will be slightly different per each funder, but should say:
| The research was funded by funder / grant number, and for the purpose of Open Access the author has applied a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) licence to any Author Accepted Manuscript version arising. |
When naming Middlesex University, you should declare your institution to be 'Middlesex University'.
The particular research centre, school or department may also be named separately and additionally, but not instead of Middlesex University, which should be the primary institutional affiliation of the author.
This will help to identify and retrieve all the University’s research publications in research aggregation services such as Web of Science and PubMed, and it will also help others to recognise you and your work.
In order to assist others to identify your work, you are also advised to create and use an ORCiD identifier when publishing. Obtaining an ORCiD will help you manage your outputs across multiple research platforms.
In case you have further questions or need additional information about Open Access, or how to meet your funder's open access compliance, request a one-to-one or group training session, contact the Research Support Team via eprints@mdx.ac.uk.
In October 2011 the University mandated the deposit of all research items in the repository on acceptance for publication. "Following the decision of the Research and Research Degrees Committee in October 2011 Middlesex University has mandated that academic and research staff deposit all outputs resulting from their research undertaken while employed at Middlesex University in the Research Repository."
The Middlesex University Research Repository (EPrints) is an online, open access archive of published research and other scholarly content produced by Middlesex University staff and researchers ('Who is eligible to add work?'). Access to bibliographic information is open to anyone on the internet without the need to log in. In rare cases where full-text is associated, access may not be immediate.
In addition to full texts of many articles, book chapters and conference papers, the repository is an index of Middlesex's practice related research, as it holds records of performances, exhibitions, compositions, artefacts, videos, portfolios, etc. The repository also holds a copy of all doctoral theses awarded by the University.
The Middlesex University Research Repository (https://eprints.mdx.ac.uk/) is managed by the Research Support Team, based in Library and Student Support. Library and Student Support encourages self-deposits of research and practice research in the repository. Consult Jisc's Sherpa/Romeo service for the particular policy of your journal.
Help or support is provided by the Research Support Team (eprints@mdx.ac.uk).
All doctoral theses accredited by Middlesex University are uploaded to the Middlesex University Research Repository and will be openly accessible unless the author has requested otherwise. Via the deposit agreement form that you will have to sign, you can restrict access to the full-text of your thesis for a fixed time (usually around five years, although this is renewable) if you e.g. intend to publish your thesis, or register a trademark from your research, or to respect confidentiality and/or commercial obligations.
On completion of your degree, you will need to send a copy of your final thesis and the signed deposit agreement form to the Research Degrees Administration Team.
Take into account: