Open access publications policy
Document type
Scope (applies to)
Applicability date
Review / Expiry date
Approved date
ApproverDocument owner
School / unit
Document status
Information classification
EDI review/Equality impact
assessment
Key terms
Purpose

PolicyAll staff
01/02/2023
31/07/2025
15/07/2024
Professor
Head of Open Research
Libraries and Museums
Published
PublicNone
Research/Open research
Detailing the University’s approach to open
access to ensure the widest possible access to
its research publications.

Version Purpose / changes
numberDocument
statusAuthor ofchanges, roleand school /
unit

Date

3.5

For publication

Prof. Tom Brown,
VP Research,
Collections andInnovation
Head of Open
Research
Head of Open
Research

14/12/2022

3.6
3.7

Approval by Academic
Senate including
implementation date forarticles (14.6).
Clarification of 19.1 and
19.2, updating URLs
Updating review datePublished
Published

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24/07/2023
15/07/2024

Table of contents
Glossary ............................................................................................................................................... 2
Statement............................................................................................................................................. 3
Purpose and scope.............................................................................................................................. 4Intellectual Property and Copyright ..................................................................................................... 5
Practical application / procedures ....................................................................................................... 5
Additional publishing and open research practices ............................................................................ 8
Support, Monitoring and Reporting ..................................................................................................... 9
Related documents and resources ..................................................................................................... 9
Responsibility and governance ......................................................................................................... 10
Contacts ............................................................................................................................................. 10
Appendix 1: Frequently Asked Questions......................................................................................... 11
Glossary
TERM
Open
accessGreen OAGold OA

Diamond OA

Hybridjournals
APC / BPC

REF
DORA

Institutional
Repository

Pure

Preprint

EmbargoArticles andproceedings

DEFINITION
Open access (OA) refers to research outputs that can be freely accessed by anyone in
the world via the internet so that it can be used without licensing restrictions forresearch, teaching or other purposes. Scholarly norms including proper attribution
apply.
‘Green’ OA means a version of the work is made available through a public repository‘Gold’ OA means the final version of the work is immediately open upon publication via
a publisher’s website. Different business models can apply, sometimes but not always
reliant on publication fees (see APC / BPC).
‘Diamond’ OA is a subset of Gold OA to describe publications which are fully open
access from a publisher website without payment of individual publication fees.
Diamond journals are often supported by sponsorship, membership or partnershipmodels.
Hybrid journals are those which operate a mixed model, with some content only
available to subscribers or via a paywall, and some articles open access. The OA
content requires payment of publication fees (individually or via publisher agreements)
Some publishers operate models which require payment of publication fees to achieve‘Gold’ OA, called Article Processing Charge (APC) or Book Processing Charge (BPC).
APCs can range from £500 - £9000, BPCs can range from £3000 - £12000
A form of regular research assessment exercise which takes place in the UK, the mostrecent exercise being the Research Excellence Exercise (REF) 2021
San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA) is a set ofrecommendations to improve the ways in which the output of scientific research isevaluated by funding agencies, academic institutions, and others.
An institutional repository is a platform (and the associated services) provide by an
institution to manage and disseminate content from its academic community. In St
Andrews we use a repository platform called DSpace for publications and e-theses,
linked to our research information system Pure.
Pure is the research information system which brings together key information on all
aspects of research at St Andrews. All researchers have a Pure account and canmaintain a research profile, create records, and upload publications and underlyingdata.
A preprint is a full draft research paper that is shared publicly before it has been peer
reviewed. Most preprints are given a digital object identifier (DOI) so they can be cited inother research papers.
In this context an embargo means a delay to open access of a version of a publication,for example an accepted version released via repository 12 months after publication.
The broad set of publication types which are peer reviewed and published in journals,
on formal publishing platforms and in conference proceedings. The distinguishing

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Books andchapters
Creative
Commons

Data AccessStatement
Third-party
material

Persistentidentifiers
ORCID

First online
publication

feature is the presence of an ISSN (International Standard Serial Number) on the
publication. Does not include edited collections with an ISBN
Scholarly works defined in the policy as ‘books and chapters’ are formally published withan ISBN (International Standard Book Number) with some publication types defined asout of scope, including creative writing and textbooks.
Creative Commons (CC) is an organisation and de facto standard for open accesslicensing, using a set of standard licences to express the terms of reuse for end users.
The licence required by most funders has a basic ‘Attribution’ requirement (CC BY) andother licences introduce restrictions such as ‘non-commercial’ (CC BY-NC). See licence
explainer: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/
Data access statements allow users to discover, access and cite the data underpinninga publication. Statements should always be included in articles to make it clear if andwhere data exists, as well as any valid reasons why it must be restricted.
The copyright in content such as images or figures contained within a publication may
be owned by others. Inclusion of this material may be covered by ‘fair use’ undercopyright law or may require additional permissions. Third-party material may be subject
to different licences for reuse from the licence of the containing publication.
A persistent identifier is a way to identify a digital item permanently and uniquely. The
most widely used identifier is a ‘Digital Object Identifier’ (DOI) commonly assigned to
articles, books, preprints, and datasets.
Open Researcher and Contributor ID (ORCID) provides a persistent digital identifier that
distinguishes you from every other researcher. ORCIDs are often required by research
funders and publishers and are used in other systems to uniquely identify authors.
This refers to the date the final, publisher’s ‘version of record’ is first made available,
such as on a publisher’s website. This usually means an ‘early online’ date rather thandate of a print publication.

Statement
1. The University of St Andrews is strongly committed to ensuring the widest possible access to
its research and maintaining the ability for researchers to publish in the venue best suited toensure effective communication of research results. Making research outputs more readily
available to read and share increases the potential for community engagement, citation, reuse
and impact.
2. Open access (OA) must be globally sustainable and equitable and make the best use ofresources, with innovative business models and community approaches encouraging a vibrantpublishing ecosystem, thus making scholarly research more open and accessible to the public.
The University recognises scholarly research as a collaborative endeavour transcending
national borders, for which communication and discourse are essential. We are committed tosocial responsibility and will make our research findings widely available for local, national andglobal benefit (University Strategy).
3. The University encourages, and in some cases requires, researchers to provide open accessto published research, to meet our ambitions for open research, enable compliance withresearch funders who mandate open access to the work they support, and ensure policiesalign with rules for REF or future research assessment exercises.
4. The University supports a variety of approaches to open access, enabling academics,
researchers, staff and students to publish in the venue of their choice. As a signatory to DORA,
the University is fully committed not to judge research works by their venue of publication. This
policy embeds our preference for ‘green’ open access via our institutional repository.

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Purpose
5. This policy is designed as an enabling mechanism, supporting good research practice andbeing of benefit to authors and readers. We aim to:
5.1. Enable the University and its researchers to disseminate scholarly research results as
widely as possible.
5.2. Raise awareness of the need to retain sufficient author rights and embed practice of ‘act on
acceptance: deposit in Pure’.
5.3. Support researchers to achieve compliance with funder requirements.
5.4. Maintain choice of where to publish, retaining quality and excellence in our outputs.
5.5. Build on the University’s Intellectual Property Policy by setting out the rights retained byauthors, the licensing mechanisms and the practical steps to achieve open access.
5.6. Support and encourage good open research practices for research activity relating to
publishing and dissemination more broadly, including use of preprints, underpinningresearch data, attribution and acknowledgements and use of persistent identifiers.

Scope
6. This policy applies to all staff at the University of St Andrews who produce materials of ascholarly nature created in the course of employment.
7. Materials in scope of this policy include original journal articles, review articles (including
invited and commissioned), published conference proceedings, monographs, edited
collections, and book chapters.
8. Materials in scope will have different requirements, and are separated into 2 types:
8.1. Articles, including reviews, peer reviewed and accepted for publication in a journal or on a
publishing platform, and conference papers accepted for publication in proceedings withan ISSN [hereafter “Articles and proceedings”]
8.2. Long-form works, including academic monographs, book chapters and edited collections:these are scholarly works by one or more authors which are formally published with an
ISBN and intended for an academic audience. They will normally have undergone peerreview or editorial control. [hereafter “Books and chapters”]. The policy for books andchapters currently only applies where funder mandates are in effect (see 15.1)
9. Materials out of scope of this policy include (but are not limited to): book reviews, editorials,
commentary and opinion pieces; conference papers presented at a conference but not
published (whether in proceedings, journals or books with ISSN or ISBN); conference
abstracts; preprints; scholarly editions, trade books, textbooks, creative writing and fictional
works; research data and software (covered by a separate but closely aligned Research DataManagement policy); teaching materials; materials covered under ‘defined exceptions’ insection 16.
10. Policy scope will be kept under review and may be revised in response to institutional
strategic objectives and external funder policies.

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Intellectual Property and Copyright
11. This policy confirms the ownership of copyright as set out in the Intellectual Property Policy.
All staff should ensure they are aware of the rights governing materials of a scholarly
nature, summarised below:
11.1.
Principle 1: Clause 10 of the IP Policy states that as employer the University
generally holds copyright in works produced by employees, however the University
waives ownership of copyright in scholarly materials. This is a long-standing commitment,
enabling authors to enter into agreements with publishers and undertake the standardpractice of signing publication agreements.
11.2.
Principle 2: Waiving of copyright comes with the obligation to grant to the University
a non-exclusive, irrevocable, royalty-free licence including the right for the University to
sub-licence to third parties*. Clause 11 of the IP Policy sets out this ‘grant of rights’ by
authors to the University, which acts to rebalance ownership and rights in scholarly works
regardless of any downstream arrangements between authors and publishers. The sublicence essentially enables dissemination through the University’s repository system(s)which are in turn accessed by third party indexing services as well as researchers.
Sections 14 and 15 of this policy specify the sub-licences and processes required fordepositing accepted manuscripts of journal articles in the institutional repository and / ordepositing other materials of a scholarly nature where required for compliance withexternal funding bodies.
11.3.
The University acknowledges the fact that scholarly works may be the result of
collaboration with researchers who are not employed by the University of St Andrews, andtherefore copyright is sometimes held jointly with co-authors who are not automaticallysubject to this OA Policy. It is endeavoured that all points of our OA Policy are met andUniversity of
St Andrews staff should bring this to the attention of their co-authors as early as possible.
If full compliance turns out not to be feasible, the ‘protocol for alternative options’ laid out
under point 17 should be followed.
* “In return for the University waiving ownership of copyright the owners will grant to
the University a non-exclusive, irrevocable, royalty-free licence including the right to
sub-license to third parties.” [IP Policy]

Practical application / procedures
12. The method of Open Access enabled by this policy is known as ‘Green’ open access and isbased on authors retaining sufficient rights to self-archive a version of the article within an
institutional or other repository for free public use. Works deposited under the terms of thispolicy will be made publicly available as described in sections 14 and 15.
13. The Green approach provides most of the benefits of open access in a cost-effective way
while being globally sustainable and equitable. It builds on our existing research information
management system (Pure) and the institutional research repository. Under the University’s
IP Policy each staff member grants a licence* to the University for ‘reasonable purposes’
which includes deposit to our institutional repository. This mechanism supersedes any
downstream licence that a publisher may try to impose, and researchers will be fully
supported by the University to achieve open access under the terms of this policy.

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14. Articles and proceedings:
14.1.
In the case of articles and conference proceedings with an ISSN, authors grant theright to the University to make accepted manuscripts available under the terms of a
Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) licence immediately following first online
publication.
14.2.
To achieve Green open access, staff will record their articles and proceedings inPure at the time of acceptance and will provide an electronic copy of the author accepted
manuscript (AAM) for deposit in Pure. Researchers should follow the latest deposit
guidance which will be available through the Open access webpages or contact the OA
team for advice: openaccess@st-andrews.ac.uk
14.3.
In order to convey the rights retained by staff in their work, authors should include
the following statement in the acknowledgement section and cover letter of theirsubmission:"In order to meet institutional and research funder open access requirements, any
accepted manuscript arising shall be open access under a Creative Commons Attribution(CC BY) reuse licence with zero embargo."
An alternative statement with the same intended outcome, if required by specific funders
such as UKRI, can be used instead.
14.4.
The University will make the AAM available to the public via the institutional
repository under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) licence immediately following
first online publication.
14.5.
Staff must include a Data Access Statement in all articles to inform readers whether
underpinning data exist and if possible, where data can be accessed. Research data
underpinning the published work should be compliant with the University’s Research DataManagement policy and research funder guidelines. See details in section 22.
14.6.
The policy for articles and proceedings takes effect for articles submitted from 1 Feb
2023. The policy does not apply to articles submitted or accepted prior to the adoption ofthis policy.
15. Books and chapters
15.1.
The policy for books and chapters only applies to those works that have afunder mandate in effect, for example books supported by Wellcome Trust or Horizon
Europe, or long-form publications acknowledging UKRI funding published on or after 1
January 2024. Authors should refer to their grant terms and conditions. For all otherbooks and chapters, open access is encouraged but not required.
15.2.
In the case of monographs, edited collections, and book chapters authors grant theright to the University to make manuscripts available under a choice of Creative
Commons licence including more restrictive variants where necessary, within 12 monthsof publication.
15.3.
Staff will record these works in Pure at the time of acceptance or earlier and will
provide an electronic copy of the author’s accepted manuscript (AAM) for deposit in Pureunless an exception applies.
15.4.
The University will make the AAM available to the public via the institutional
repository under a Creative Commons licence after an embargo period, typically of 12months, or sooner if required by research funders. A Creative Commons Attribution (CCBY) licence is preferred, but other Creative Commons licences are permitted.
15.5.
Third-party material contained in the work can be included under more restrictive
licences or removed from the open access version if rights cannot be obtained for reuse.

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16. Defined exceptions
The OA team will manage defined exceptions following dialogue with authors, without needfor further approval. Authors will be informed if their request for an exception would cause
issues with funder policy compliance.
16.1.
For articles and proceedings:
16.1.1.
an alternative Creative Commons licence may be used on the deposited
AAM where a funder allows it, or if there is no external funder mandate or REF
requirement. The author must inform the OA team of their preference for analternative licence.
16.1.2.
A ‘closed’ deposit of AAMs for articles & proceedings will be required even if
an exception applies.
16.2.
For books and chapters:
16.2.1.
If complete monographs and edited volumes are made fully open access ona publisher’s website under a Creative Commons licence, the creation and deposit of
AAMs may not be required unless there is an external funder or researchassessment mandate in effect.
16.2.2.
If removal of third-party content would make the AAM unsuitable for sharing,an exception will apply and the AAM will be retained as ‘closed’ access in Pure.
16.2.3.
If an existing contract is in place that prevents adherence to this policy,
authors should refer to the ’protocol for alternative options’.
16.3.
Reasonable adjustments
16.3.1.
Exception(s) may apply if an individual is unable to follow this policy due todisability or other protected characteristics. Where requested, and if possible, we will
make reasonable adjustments to ensure all individuals can equitably comply with the
OA policy. Examples may include providing assistance with deposit of AAMs andproviding reminders of timebound elements.
16.3.2.
For advice on reasonable adjustments please contact the Equality, Diversity
and Inclusion team: diversity@st-andrews.ac.uk
17. Protocol for alternative options
17.1.
The University acknowledges that there might be circumstances that call foralternative procedures for in-scope publications and will consider reasonable requests ona case-by-case basis.
17.2.
As stated in the University’s IP Policy “The University will consider requests toterminate or modify licenses on a case by case basis.” This means if a situation arises
outwith the control of authors and an exception does not already apply to material inscope (see sections 8, 15.1 and 16), it will be permissible for staff to consider alternative
options for a specific publication following a request to the OA team.
17.3.
The OA team will advise authors on potential alternatives including negotiating withpublishers on amending copyright licences, and support will be available from the
University’s Copyright Officer and Chief Legal Officer. The University will stand behindstaff who face legal action, and will accept responsibility and liability for such claims,
where staff have properly followed University policy and guidance as set out in this policy
and/or funder’s policies.
17.4.
Requests must be made as early as possible and in all cases before final
publication and may be referred to the Head of Open Research, Head of School, or VP(Research, Collections & Innovation) if necessary. Authors will be informed if analternative option would affect compliance with funder policies.
17.5.
Further guidance is available on OA web pages under Rights retention alternative
procedure.

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18. Publisher-provided open access
18.1.
Publicly funded OA without any fees to authors or readers (Diamond OA) is asuitable alternative to Green OA, also being globally sustainable and equitable.
18.2.
Diamond OA is distinguished from other Gold OA models that are based on
payment of Article or Book Processing Charges (APC/BPCs). The University
acknowledges that such ‘Gold’ open access may be a suitable alternative, for example
when immediate open access of the final published version is covered by a publisher
agreement which constrains costs. In some cases, the most appropriate venue may befully open access (not hybrid) under a model which requires reasonable Article or Book
Processing Charge (APC/BPC) to be paid in order to publish.
18.3.
The OA team administers open access publication funds which are available toacademic authors in certain cases where reasonable APC/BPCs are required to be paid
(i.e., in fully OA venues). Enquiries about funding must be made in advance ofsubmission. See OA web pages for further information about OA costs and criteria.
18.4.
The University does not support payment of APCs in hybrid journals from central
funds unless covered by a transitional agreement. Instead, Green OA is enabled throughthe rights retention strategy in this policy.
Additional publishing and open research practices
19. Required acknowledgements
19.1.
For maximum visibility of our research, the University requires all publications to becorrectly identified and affiliation to St Andrews to be recognised in bibliometric sources
where it is appropriate to do so. [See Publication practice and authorship for further
guidance].
19.2.
This policy requires all staff with a contracted time of at least 0.2 FTE to include
their affiliation on all research publications, using an address which includes the exact
phrase “University of St Andrews” as a minimum, where research is connected to the
University.
20. Persistent identifiers
20.1.
ORCID (Open Researcher and Contributor ID) is a globally recognized persistentidentifier which distinguishes individual researchers and helps to ensure publications are
attributed correctly. ORCID aids discoverability and is a mandatory requirement for somefunders and publishers.
20.2.
The University expects all research staff to have an ORCID, which should becreated and maintained in Pure. Support, training, monitoring and reporting processes arein place.
21. Preprints
21.1.
Preprints are manuscripts prior to formal peer review, typically uploaded by authors
to preprint platforms such as arXiv, bioRxiv or SocArXiv, and may also be submitted tojournals for peer review. Preprints themselves are not in scope of this rights retention
policy; however, the University encourages researchers to share preprints as openly as
possible where appropriate for the discipline. Researchers should also follow any grantconditions on sharing of preprints, for example where there would be public health benefit.
21.2.
Where a preprint is publicly available on a preprint platform with a DOI, researchers
are encouraged to record these in Pure. Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) licences
are recommended for preprints.
22. Open data, software and code
22.1.
As mentioned in 14.5, all articles must include a Data Access Statement.
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Statements should enable citation of underpinning research data by providing a location
with a unique identifier (DOI) and any terms of access. Example DAS are provided on our
RDM web pages.
22.2.
Data Access Statements must be added to all articles even when there are no dataassociated with the article or the data are inaccessible. In the latter case, the Data
Access Statement must state the reason(s) why the data cannot be made available.
22.3.
Research data, software and code underpinning publications should comply withfunder requirements and should follow the principle as open as possible, as closed asnecessary. For further guidance, refer to the University’s Research Data Management
policy.
Support, Monitoring and Reporting
23. The University will support researchers in meeting all requirements under this policy, as wellas mandates imposed by respective funders and rules of research assessment exercises.
Researchers are encouraged to get in touch with the OA Team with any questions that mightarise. Email: openaccess@st-andrews.ac.uk
23.1.
To assist with accessibility of documents uploaded under this policy and to uphold
Digital Accessibility Regulations 2018, we encourage authors to check their manuscripts
meet the University’s Digital Accessibility standards.
24. The OA team will proactively monitor research outputs to identify specific points on whichfurther guidance or support mechanisms might be indicated. Monitoring aims to further ensure
the University’s research is compliant with funder and institutional open access requirements,
and that its policies align with rules of future research assessment exercises. Dialogue will
always take place in the first place with individual authors to resolve any outstanding issues.
25. The OA team will provide quarterly reports to Directors of Research and Heads of Schools on
open access compliance. The OA team will work closely with Schools to identify any potential
risks of non-compliance and provide the opportunity to identify further supporting mechanisms
to help researchers achieve open access.
Related documents and resources

University of St Andrews policies
Intellectual Property Policy:
https://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/policy/research-external-work/intellectual-property-policy.pdf
Research Data Management policy:
https://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/policy/research-open-research/research-data-management-policy.pdf

Using ORCID:
https://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/staff/research/managing/orcid/
Equality, Diversity and Inclusion policy:
https://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/policy/staff-equality-diversity-and-inclusion-review/equality-policy.pdf

Disability policy:
https://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/policy/staff-equality-diversity-and-inclusion-disability/staff-disability-policy.pdf

External policies
UKRI Open Access Policy: https://www.ukri.org/publications/ukri-open-access-policy/

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Concordat for Open Research Data: https://www.ukri.org/wpcontent/uploads/2020/10/UKRI-020920-ConcordatonOpenResearchData.pdf
Webpages and resources
Open access webpages:
https://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/research/support/open-research/open-access/Rights retention guidance:
https://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/research/support/open-research/open-access/rights-retention-strategy/

Copyright guidance:
https://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/policy/library-and-museum-services/copyright-for-teaching.pdf andhttps://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/policy/library-and-museum-services/copyright-for-researchers.pdf

Accessibility guidance:
https://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/digital-standards/accessibility/
Equality, Diversity and Inclusion:
https://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/hr/edi/
Glossary – Provided for terms including Green and Gold OA, Data Access Statements,
Third-party copyright, Creative Commons (see page 2).
Responsibility and governance
The Open access publications policy is overseen and approved by the Research, Impact andInnovation Committee. Strategic management and oversight of open research activities isprovided by the Open Research Working Group, consisting of academic staff representatives
and members of Libraries & Museums, Research and Innovation Services and the Principal’s
Office. Administration of open access compliance, open access funds and local repository
services is undertaken by the Open Access Team under the leadership of the Scholarly
Communications Manager and Head of Open Research.
Contacts
Open Access support openaccess@st-andrews.ac.uk
Head of Open Research open-research@st-andrews.ac.uk
Research Data Management support research-data@st-andrews.ac.uk
Equality, Diversity and Inclusion team diversity@st-andrews.ac.uk
Digital accessibility guidance digitalcommunnications@st-andrews.ac.uk

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Appendix 1: Frequently Asked Questions
1. Why was revised text relating to open access introduced to the University IP Policy?
The IP Policy is the overarching governing policy for IP, including copyright in scholarly materials (clauses
10 and 11). It is designed as an enabling policy, so that the University and its researchers can disseminate
research and scholarship as widely as possible whilst supporting choice of where to publish. The global
research environment also means we need to take steps to meet open research expectations and supportcompliance with funder requirements.

2. Who owns the copyright in scholarly materials?
Under the IP Policy, authors/researchers are the copyright owner. Clause 10 of the IP Policy states that the
University waives ownership of scholarly materials for staff. It explicitly changes the underlying legal
premise (where employers own copyright by default) and enables the standard practice of authors signing
copyright agreements with publishers.

3. Why are authors required to grant a licence to the University?
This is to ensure a binding contract is in place that enables effective sharing, for teaching and otherpurposes. This ‘prior contract’ between the University and employees means publications can be deposited
into our institutional repository. The policy aims to take a balanced approach, with each party having therights needed to avoid publications being locked behind paywalls.

4. Why does the related Intellectual Property (IP) Policy not include specific language about rights andlicences?
The IP Policy aims to be clear and concise, while enabling sufficient rights to be retained for all parties sothat we can achieve our open access aims. The text was initially clarified by a revised Open Access Policy(v2, March 2022), seeking to maximise alignment with major research funders, particularly withrequirements of the new UKRI OA Policy for the types of scholarly publications in scope. Our fully revised
OA Policy (v3) explains in detail how OA compliance requirements such as use of Creative Commons
Attribution (CC BY) licences can be met while avoiding conflicts with publisher-imposed restrictions on
sharing.

5. Why does the ‘grant of rights’ take effect on creation and acceptance, not on final publication?
The version that can be shared via deposit in Pure needs to be the one incorporating all revisions following
peer review, but before the publisher has completed final typesetting (as this process often acquires
additional copyright protection for the publisher). Copyright arises upon creation and thus it is key that thelicence takes effect at this point also.

6. Why are different licence terms mentioned for different types of publications?
Requirements for the sharing of articles and conference proceedings are more mature, have been
expressed as principles by Plan S and are fully embedded in funders’ open access policies. It is widely
recognised that works including books and chapters will require a different approach, and we aim to
maximise alignment with funder policies and potential future REF policies.
Some specifics are included in the revised University OA Policy, such as ‘conference proceedings with
ISSN’ to differentiate from material out of scope. In all cases we seek to align with UKRI wording where
possible.

7. Why is Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) stated as the preferred end-user licence?
A CC BY licence allows the maximum reuse of work while giving appropriate credit to authors. It avoids
limitations on downstream use such as translation or some educational settings. CC BY is the required
licence for most major funders.

8. What changes will researchers need to make when publishing?
Authors will need to be aware of their options at the point of submission and seek advice on rights retention
as early as possible. Authors may need to include specific text in their submitted manuscript or cover letter.
Advice will be available from openaccess@st-andrews.ac.uk

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The embedded practice of ‘act on acceptance: deposit in Pure’ can continue for articles and will be requiredfor other publication types in future. The simple message will be supplemented with advice to ‘think on
submission’ as various options may need to be considered at an early stage.

9. How will this process work with co-authors from several institutions / countries?
As noted in 11.3 of the policy, the University acknowledges the fact that research works are frequently the
result of collaboration with researchers who are not employed by the University of St Andrews. We expect asimilar policy and process will be rolled out in institutions across the UK, and in countries where Plan S
principles are in effect. You should inform your co-authors of your requirements and send appropriate text
to the corresponding/submitting author.
If strict compliance turns out not to be feasible, the procedures laid out under section 17 should be
followed. We will develop further guidance on how this will work in practice.

10. Why can we not rely on funders’ Rights Retention Strategy alone?
Plan S aligned funders have implemented a Rights Retention Strategy which has similar intentions to theinstitutional IP policy changes, i.e. forming a prior obligation regarding open access that is primary to any
downstream publisher licences. However, the IP policy differs by shifting the contractual obligation to theauthor/institution relationship, whereas in the case of Plan S funders’ RRS, the contract lies only between
funder and institution. This shift to rights retention under an institutional IP Policy gives researchers greater
clarity and more assurance that they will be supported through the publication process with regards toretaining their dissemination rights.

11. It is often not possible to make research data immediately OA, why is it included under the ‘scholarlymaterials’ definition?
Research Data is included in Clause 10 of the IP Policy and in the revised OA Policy to clarify the waiver of
copyright and therefore the ownership of these materials. However, there is no expectation that all researchdata must be open under the same terms as publications, and this is clarified in the detail for each type ofmaterial in the OA Policy (sections 14 and 15).
The principle for research data is ‘as open as possible, as closed as necessary’.

12. How will third-party content in publications be affected by the policy?
Materials such as images, illustrations or maps can be included in publications under a more restrictive
licence than the overall work if the relevant rights cannot be secured. In such cases third party material
should display the reuse licence (if any) that applies, to separate the content from the overarching article
licence. Where reuse permissions cannot be obtained at all, exceptions will apply on a case-by-case basis.

13. Will this policy act as a disincentive to submit work to publishers that have default embargo policies?
The intention of the policy is to ensure researchers can select the most appropriate venue for their work,and still meet open access requirements through the retention of their author rights. We would hopepublishers will not try to enforce restrictions on sharing of accepted manuscripts and will continue to accept
submissions with specific text included about rights retention. Jisc, the UK organisation responsible fornegotiating agreements with publishers, is engaged in discussions with the Publishers Association aiming
to ensure this framework of rights retention can work in practice.
The ‘alternative options’ clause (17) is intended to allow for cases where difficult situations arise, and areasonable approach will be taken. Authors will be advised where an alternative option would cause them
to be non-compliant with specific funder policies.

14. Is there a requirement for all monographs and book chapters to be open access?
Not at this stage. Some funders including Wellcome Trust, ERC and EU have OA requirements for all peerreviewed outputs from their grants, including books, so researchers should follow their funders’requirements. UKRI will introduce a requirement for long-form works from January 2024 and we expect thistrend to continue. Until further guidance emerges including for a future REF, we will encourage open
access for monographs, edited collections and chapters, but the policy will not state this as a requirement.

The University of St Andrews is a charity registered in Scotland, No: SC013532

15. What is the position for trade books and creative writing?
Materials out of scope of the institutional Open Access Policy will include trade books, textbooks, creative
writing including poetry and fiction, as well as conference abstracts or papers presented at a conference
and not published in proceedings (see clause 9). Where definitions of publication types vary between
disciplines, we will follow guidance from specific research funders where there is any bearing on OA
requirements and advise accordingly.

16. How should researchers choose between Green and Gold OA if both are available?
The University overall preference is for Green OA however the policy distinguishes Diamond OA (a form ofGold OA without fees to authors or readers) as a suitable alternative. During this period of transition, there
will also be cases where Gold OA under a ‘transformative agreement’ is suitable, provided costs areconstrained. Researchers should bear in mind the questions of global equity and social responsibility when
considering whether Gold OA costs in fully OA venues are reasonable. See section 18 of the policy orcontact the OA team for advice.

17. What is the current position on preprints?
Preprints themselves are not in scope of the Open access policy. However for many research areas, it has
become customary to share manuscripts prior to formal peer review, typically uploaded by authors topreprint platforms such as arXiv, bioRxiv or SocArXiv [for a list of preprint platforms see this open list
(Google doc) or https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_preprint_repositories], and may also be submitted tojournals for peer review. The University encourages researchers to make use of such platforms to shareresearch works as openly and widely as possible for maximal impact and support of global equity inscholarly communication. Such practice might be required by funders, notably if there would be a benefit topublic health.

18. What is the position on rights retention for students?
We will support students to follow similar practices where possible, however the current policy applies tostaff only. We will work towards a future policy that can enable students to retain their author rights andachieve open access in the same way as staff.

Contact for FAQ
If your question is not covered here, contact open-research@st-andrews.ac.uk

The University of St Andrews is a charity registered in Scotland, No: SC013532

Version Purpose / changes
numberDocument
statusAuthor ofchanges, roleand school /
unit

Date

1.1

Extend review date, update OA
web link, amend RCUK to UKRI

Head of Open
Research, RIS

05/04/2021

2

Minor revisions to align with Published
USTAN IP Policy.
Full revision with details on OA DRAFT for
ORWG
requirements and introducing
consultation
additional requirements foropen research practices.
DRAFT for
Amended draft following
academic
ORWG, CLO and RIIC
consultation
feedback
Revised draft
Revisions following academic

Head of Open
Research

12/01/2022

Head of open
Research

12/04/2022

Head of Open
Research

08/06/2022

Head of Open
Research

06/09/2022

Final draft

Head of Open
Research

26/09/2022

Feedback from EDI in relation
to Equality Impact Assessment
16.3, 17.5, 23.1, resources
Approval by Academic Senate
including implementation date
for articles (14.6).

Revised final
draft

Head of Open
Research

04/11/2022

For publication

14/12/2022

3.6

Clarification of 19.1 and 19.2,
updating URLs

For publication

3.7

Updating review datePublished

Prof. Tom Brown,
VP Research,
Collections andInnovation
Prof. Tom Brown,
VP Research,
Collections andInnovation
Prof. Tom Brown,
VP Research,
Collections andInnovation

3

3.1

3.2

3.3

3.4

3.5

consultation, for approval by
ORWG and RIIC
Additional clarifications, FAQ
and Glossary extended.

The University of St Andrews is a charity registered in Scotland, No: SC013532

24/07/2023

15/07/2024