'Significant concerns' as UKRI announces Open Access policy

The Publishers Association (PA) and Springer Nature say they are concerned over the new Open Access policy by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), which has been backed with up to £46.7m in funding per year to aid its implementation.

Announced on 6th August, the policy comes after a consultation with the sector and is for research publications that acknowledge funding from UKRI. The new policy requires immediate Open Access for peer-reviewed research articles submitted for publication from 1st April 2022. It also includes a new requirement for monographs, book chapters and edited collections published from 1st January 2024 to be made Open Access within 12 months of publication.

The PA has said it has "significant concerns" over the move, while Springer Nature warned the policy could actually "reverse" progress towards open research in the UK.

UKRI has said it will provide increased funding of up to £46.7m per annum to support the implementation of the policy. Chief executive Professor Dame Ottoline Leyser called it "an important step towards realising our vision of a more open and transparent research culture, which is widely shared across the research and innovation community".

Professor Sir Duncan Wingham, UKRI executive champion for open research, who has overseen the policy development, added: “The UKRI Open Access policy will ensure increased opportunities to access, share and reuse the outputs of research across all of the disciplines UKRI funds, benefiting the research community and generating greater social and economic impact.

“Through the increased funding we are providing in support of the new policy, we aim to ensure researchers and research organisations are sustainably supported to implement Open Access and achieve value for money.”

Science Minister Amanda Solloway said opening up the UK's research system so that it is accessible to all "will be crucial in underpinning collaborative, world-class research and accelerating new discoveries".

Steven Inchcoombe, chief publishing and solutions officer at Springer Nature, said he welcomed elements of the policy including its support for Gold OA (where authors publish their articles in an online OA journal) and the funding commitment. However, he added: "In promoting alongside this a version of OA which is reliant on the continuation of subscriptions and paywalls, this new policy risks reversing the UK’s great progress towards a more successful Open Research system rather than accelerating it.

“It also risks leaving authors behind. Restricting funding only to articles in journals that are either fully OA or form part of a ‘transitional agreement’ (TA) means that it looks like UK authors will not be able to publish in Nature or any other transformative journal where no such agreement is in place. And even if there are TAs in place, by making this new policy apply to all UKRI-funded authors, not just lead (corresponding) authors, it risks other problems like conflict with their international co-authors who may not be covered by TAs, thereby limiting their publishing options.

“With this announcement, UKRI risks undermining the fantastic progress we have collectively made in the UK in ensuring the final version of all primary research is immediately accessible and that authors have the maximum choice of journals in which to publish their research.”

The policy also received a mixed response from the Publishers Association (PA). Earlier this year it commissioned a highly critical report into the proposed new policy, warning some presses could go out of business.

Stephen Lotinga, c.e.o of the PA, said in a statement this morning: “Publishers support Open Access and have ensured that the UK is transitioning faster than anywhere else in the world. In terms of the UKRI policy announced today, we wholeheartedly support full Gold Open Access and welcome the commitment to provide additional funding to achieve this.

“Significant concerns remain about the alternative route to journal publication which UKRI has endorsed today. This Green Open Access route is unsustainably linked to subscription models and could undermine efforts to continue to publish research to the high standards of quality the UK is known for.

“On monographs, it is crucial that sufficient funding is directed to support the transition as the Open Access models are in their infancy and much longer lead times are involved.

“We stand ready to work with UKRI and research institutions in the coming months to ensure sustainable Open Access can be delivered. A particular focus needs to be given to the difficulties many smaller publishers will face in trying to comply with this new policy.”

UKRI said it aims to make the new policy "as easy as possible to implement for all stakeholders", and as well as "substantially increasing" its funding support, it will provide dedicated funding to JISC in support of sector Open Access negotiations, with guidance and infrastructure to aid the up-take of UKRI-compliant options. It added it would continue its work to support "culture change around publication" so that research is recognised "for its intrinsic merit rather than where it has been published".

It said it "recognises the importance of international co-ordination to increase Open Access to research" and stressed that the new policy "aligns closely with those of other international funders", including other members of cOAlition S, an international consortium of research funding and performing organisations.