Understanding a Funder policy

Funder policy records contain information on how outputs from funded research should be made open access.

Each funder policy is split into pathways for open access archiving, open access publishing and open data archiving.

Clicking on any pathway will expand the textbox and display the full details of the policy.

If the funder does not have a policy for one of these areas the section will be greyed out.

Understanding a Publisher policy

Our policies relate specifically to journals and books (rather than the publishers themselves) - please see guidance in the journal and book record tabs.

Understanding a Journal policy

Policy records contain information on how articles can be made open access for the published, accepted and submitted versions of an article.

Publisher journal policies are stored as a set of options under the article version, with each option presenting a separate way in which an article version can become open access.

Authors and library staff can refer to these options to understand how to make an article open access.

Understanding options

Each version of an article contains one or more options through which the article can be made open access, which can depend on factors such as funders, publisher requirements, or the availability of the article.

Each option is labelled with the article version that it applies to and summary text describing the pathway e.g. Option with associated OA fees, no embargo & CC BY licence.

Clicking on any option will expand the textbox and display the full details for that option.

Why are there policy URL links for different journals on the journal page?

This is a result of the size of the database we manage. To improve administrative efficiency we set up journal records separately from policy records – so several journals can be attached to the same policy record if they have the same open access policy.

This also means that the same policy URL information will show for each journal attached to the policy. The policy URLs are intended to be used as examples of evidence for where the policy information can be found.

Understanding a Books policy

Understanding a books policy

Policy records contain information on how monographs/edited collection/chapters can be made open access for the published, accepted and submitted versions of these formats.

Open access book policies are stored as a set of options, each option presenting a way in which a document can become open access.

Authors can refer to these options to understand how to make their monograph/edited collection/chapters open access.

If a publisher does not have an expressed policy for a specific output type or version this will be marked as ‘publisher does not have policy for x version’.

Understanding options

Each version of either a monograph/edited collection/chapter may contain one or more options via which they can be made open access.

Clicking on any option will expand the textbox and display the full details for that option.

Typically, publishers offer a direct open access route with a book processing charge payable to the publisher (sometimes referred to as gold open access), or through diamond open access models. These are displayed as ‘standard open access policy’ routes in the results.

Publishers also often offer a self-archiving policy (sometimes referred to as green open access) with some restrictions such as an embargo period and a limited number of permitted repositories. These are displayed as ‘self-archiving’ in the results.

Please check with your institution regarding funding for open access - many publishers will have agreements with universities that will enable authors to publish open access.

Understanding what elements of the policy mean

• What can I archive:
  • This means: What proportion of the manuscript the author is permitted to publish or archive under the policy (complete manuscript, portion of the manuscript, one chapter only etc).
• What licence can I apply:
  • This means: The licence that the publisher permits. Funders sometimes mandate a specific licence for sharing the version of work, so please also check their policy.
• Where can I archive:
  • This means: The permitted archiving locations where the author may deposit their work.
• Where will publisher deposit:
  • This means: The places where the publisher will automatically deposit the work upon publication. We only list platforms that are required by funder policies. In addition to this, the publisher will usually publish the work on their own platform and a number of other open access platforms.
• If funded by, If subject is...:
  • This means: The scope of the policy (specific to funder, subject area etc).