Open Access Policy

Discover how to ensure your research publications comply with the University of Salford’s Open Access Policy.

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An overview of the policy

The University of Salford Open Access Policy, ensures that all research outputs produced by staff and postgraduate students are accessible to the public and comply with funder requirements. This includes peer-reviewed journal articles and conference papers authored or co-authored by our staff and students that have been accepted for publication.

According to the policy, staff and postgraduate students must submit their journal articles or conference contributions with an ISSN to USIR via Worktribe at the point of acceptance for publication, and no later than three months after that date. The version of the paper that needs to be submitted is the final version submitted by the author(s) before formal acceptance for publication.

When possible and where there is a funding mandate, authors should make their journal articles and conference contributions available under an open license, preferably a Creative Commons (CC-BY 4.0) license. This allows others to freely access, use, and share the work with proper attribution.

Researchers are also encouraged to share other forms of research, such as data, theses, videos, and code, on an open access basis. These outputs should be made available in USIR or other appropriate repositories as soon as possible.

Additionally, researchers must adhere to the policies of all funders who have supported their research.

The policy in full

Purpose

The University of Salford has a longstanding and celebrated tradition of "uniting staff, students, industry and communities in a multi-disciplinary, technology-enabled environment in the pursuit of the shared goals of knowledge, learning and innovation".1 We believe that embracing a culture of open research – sharing the outputs of our research widely and rapidly – is essential to achieving our institutional mission. By providing unrestricted online access, wherever possible, to the full range of our research outputs we aim to maximise visibility, accessibility and use, and help realise their potential to make significant academic, economic, social and cultural impacts. The University is committed to academic freedom, and will support researchers to choose the most appropriate outlet for their work, regardless of career level, discipline or funding source.

1 University of Salford ‘The ICZ Programme’ booklet (2016)

Scope

This policy is relevant to all research outputs produced by staff and postgraduate research (PGR) students at the University of Salford. The scope of this policy reflects the evolving external policy environment which places an increasing emphasis on open access across a widening range of research outputs.

The policy statements in Journal articles and conference contributions apply to all journal articles and conference contributions published with an International Standard Serial Number (ISSN) authored or co-authored by staff and PGR students at the University of Salford.

Other research statements sets out expectations which apply to other research outputs produced by staff and PGR students (including, but not limited to, research data, monographs, PhD theses, video and audio files, code, tools, and creative works). More detailed requirements on the dissemination of research data are set out in the Research Data Management Policy and are therefore outside the scope of this policy. Requirements on the deposit of PhD e-theses are set out in the Academic Regulations for Research Programmes and the Code of Practice for Postgraduate Research Programmes.

The requirements of this policy, in part or whole, may be waived in exceptional circumstances, subject to the approval of the relevant Associate Dean for Research (or nominated representative) and where permissible under any applicable external policies. The Library’s USIR team must be advised of any exceptions within the scope of Journal articles and conference contributions.

Policy Statements

Journal articles and conference contributions

The University of Salford requires that:

Authors deposit into USIR full-text copies of their journal articles and conference contributions in conference proceedings with an International Standard Serial Number (ISSN) at the point of acceptance for publication, and no later than three months after that date.

The full-text output deposited should be the author's accepted and final peer-reviewed manuscript (known as the 'author's accepted manuscript' or AAM), although this may be replaced at a later date by the final version of record.

The full-text output should be made open access, by the USIR team, as soon as possible after publication, and normally within 12 months of publication for articles in health, science and engineering and 24 months in the arts, humanities and social sciences.

Authors must ensure that their journal articles and conference contributions acknowledge the source of funding, institutional affiliation(s), and, if applicable, include a statement on how the underlying research materials – such as data, samples or models – can be accessed.

Authors must ensure that their outputs meet any open access requirements placed on their research by funding bodies or under the terms of a research contract.

Wherever publishing contracts and copyright permit, and in all cases where mandated by funder requirements, authors should make journal articles and conference contributions available under an open license, preferably a Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY 4.0) license which maximises the re-use potential of research (e.g. through text and data mining).

Other research outputs

In accordance with the University’s commitment to open research and knowledge exchange, wherever possible, researchers should maximise the visibility, accessibility and use of other forms of research output by making them available on an open access basis (including, but not limited to, research data, monographs, PhD theses, video and audio files, code, tools, and creative works).

Research outputs should normally be made available in USIR, or (for research data and large audio-visual files) the institutional research data repository, as soon as practically possible.

Research data should be made openly available in an appropriate data repository in accordance with the Research Data Management Policy.

A final copy of University of Salford PhD theses should be deposited in USIR following successful completion of the thesis examination, and will be made openly accessible unless under a moratorium, in accordance with the Academic Regulations for Research Programmes and the Code of Practice for Postgraduate Research Programmes.

When making research outputs openly available, researchers should ensure that they acknowledge their source(s) of funding and institutional affiliation(s).

Wherever contractual agreements, confidentiality, and data protection permit, and in all cases where mandated by funder requirements, other research outputs should be made available under an open license, preferably a Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY 4.0) license which maximises the re-use potential of research (e.g. through text and data mining).

Responsibilities

Within the scope of this policy, the following responsibilities are established.

Staff and postgraduate research students are responsible for:

a. Ensuring that, wherever possible, their research outputs are made available on an open access basis through USIR, or (for research data and large audio-visual files) the institutional data repository, in line with the requirements of this policy.

b. Meeting the open access requirements placed on their research by funding bodies, regulatory agencies or under the terms of a research contract.

c. Depositing in USIR or the institutional data repository research outputs co-authored or co-produced with colleagues from other institutions.

d. Notifying the USIR team, as soon as possible, of any exceptional circumstances affecting their ability to deposit outputs in line with this policy.

e. Working to maximise the visibility, reach and use of their research outputs through effective research communications across different channels and networks (e.g. social media, websites, professional networks and communities).

f. Ensuring that the terms of any agreements regarding copyright, intellectual property and confidentiality are respected when openly sharing research outputs via any channel, including USIR, Figshare, ResearchGate, Academia.edu, etc.

g. Registering for a single ORCID personal identifier, connecting it with USIR, and ensuring all their research outputs are recorded against their unique ORCID ID.

The University of Salford is responsible for:

a. Maintaining and managing the institutional publications and data repositories to support this policy.

b. Ensuring that the full-text outputs in USIR are compliant with publisher policy and copyright permissions, and making them open access at the end of any embargo period.

c. Raising awareness and providing support, guidance and training to staff and postgraduate research students on complying with this policy and those established by funding bodies and regulatory agencies.

d. Promoting and enabling the visibility, reach and use of University of Salford research outputs.

e. Managing the payment of article processing charges where these are paid through institutionally held open access funds.

f. Monitoring the evolving external open access policy environment, e.g. the proposed implementation of Plan S from 2020, and reviewing this policy accordingly.

g. Implementing this policy and monitoring its impact.

Monitoring

The Research and Enterprise Committee will monitor the implementation of this policy on an annual basis.