Open Access at the University of Oxford is overseen by the OA Steering Group which is accountable to the Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Research) and Research & Innovation Committee.
On 20 October 2022, the updated University of Oxford Open Access Publications Policy (pdf) was approved by Research & Innovation Committee. It reaffirms that the University’s preferred route to open access is the self-archiving (green) route and brings the policy in line with funder OA policies. The policy also sets out principles for managing open access block grants and covers all forms of publications incl. journal articles, conference papers, reports, books, book sections and chapters, and working & discussion papers. Key points:
- Due to the complexity of the OA policy environment, researchers are asked
- to contact the Bodleian Libraries at openaccess@bodleian.ox.ac.uk (https://openaccess.ox.ac.uk/) when deciding on their publication venue so the Bodleian can advise on the OA requirements and the options available, including sources of publication funds, using rights retention, conversations with co-authors about OA costs, and on the relationship between OA and Intellectual Property
- to deposit into ORA (Oxford Research Archive), on acceptance, the author accepted manuscript of journal articles and conference papers; record details of all other publications and add full text if possible
- The University supports the academic freedom of its authors (academics, researchers, staff and students) to publish where they choose, provided funder requirements are met and funds are available for open access publication costs
- Researchers are advised to retain their copyright, using rights retention when required by their funder, and to publish using the widest possible open licence i.e. Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY)
- The University will provide an OA service that assists researchers to be compliant with their funders’ OA policy and the requirements of research assessment exercises, a centrally managed and maintained platform to manage the long-term preservation, continued access, and storage of material
- Researchers are strongly encouraged to obtain an Oxford-linked ORCID, either by using IT Self-Service or by claiming their ORCID in Symplectic Elements, and to use their Oxford-verified ORCID at every available opportunity – when submitting publications or applying for grants, to ensure that they are credited for their work with the correct institutional affiliation.
The policy replaces the 2018 Open Access Publications Policy (pdf)
Act on Acceptance
The UK higher education funding bodies have an open access policy which requires that all journal articles and conference papers (in publications with an ISSN) accepted since 1 April 2016 must be deposited in a repository within three (3) months of acceptance for publication, in order to be eligible for submission to the next Research Excellence Framework (REF 2021).
In line with this requirement, Oxford’s policy is that all authors should deposit the peer-reviewed manuscripts (Author Accepted Manuscripts – AAMs) of newly-accepted papers into the University’s repository ORA via Elements. Please visit Act on Acceptance for details of what to deposit and how.