The University of Sheffield Open Access Guidance

It has been a requirement for some time that all publications resulting from research funded by the Wellcome Trust or the Research Councils are available Open Access. For Wellcome award holders, when publishing in a subscription-only journal, a copy of the accepted manuscript must be deposited in an Open Access repository such as the White Rose Research Online (more information on this below). This is known as Green Open Access.

Previously this was also the case for the Research Councils but the policy has changed for all articles submitted for publication from the 1st of April 2013 onwards.
RCUK still requires that all articles arising from Research Council funding must be available Open Access. However, from this date, RCUK now stipulates that authors must use the Gold Open Access option where it is offered by journals. This often requires the payment of an APC (Article Processing Charge) by the author to the publisher who then provides unrestricted access to the final version from the journal website. Authors may now only use Green Open Access where a publisher does not offer Gold.
Articles should only be submitted to journals which either offer Gold OA themselves, or allow the author to submit to a repository. (See OA Key Concepts for more information on Open Access models).

Additionally, from the 1st of April 2013, RCUK will no longer provide support for APCs through either direct or indirect costs as part of grant funding. RCUK will provide a block grant to the University of Sheffield to form part of a University Publication Fund. Research grant applications can therefore no longer include provision for Open Access publication charges.

Further information is available in the form of the frequently asked questions below. If you have any questions which are not answered here, please contact the Open Access Coordinator Carmen O’Dell c.odell@sheffield.ac.uk

Open Access FAQS

What is classified as 'open access'?

Publications must be freely available on the internet for anyone to read, download, print or copy; either on the publishers website (Gold OA) or in a repository (Green OA).

Where can I find more information on Green/Gold Open Access?

Further information is available on the University Library web pages.

Where can I find more information about the RCUK and Wellcome Trust requirements?

Summaries of all these policies are available from the SHERPA JULIET website.

More details are published as follows:

What is White Rose Research Online?

The WRRO houses research outputs from the Universities of Leeds, Sheffield and York. The repository aims to:

promote the impact of research output from the White Rose Consortium partners
make research easy to find through Google and other general and academic search service
provide a long term home for research outputs
bring research to new audiences, inside and outside academia
add to the growing, worldwide body of openly available scholarly content
To add your outputs you can either register with WRRO then select 'create account' and upload material yourself, or take advantage of the mediated upload service being offered by the White Rose Consortium by contacting library@sheffield.ac.uk.

All items need copyright clearance for self-archiving. WRRO has a copyright advice page.

I am applying for a Wellcome Trust grant, what do I need to consider?

The conditions of a Wellcome Trust grant require research articles to be deposited in UK PubMed Central within 6 months of publication. Check the Wellcome journal list or SHERPA RoMEO to ensure your preferred journal complies.
Author fees will be reimbursed using the Wellcome OA form administered by the Library. Alternatively Wellcome's advice to self-submit your paper to UK PubMed Central.
Local advice is available from wellcomeoa@sheffield.ac.uk and there is a Wellcome authors' FAQ.

My research is funded by a Research Council grant and I will be submitting a paper for publication before the 1st of April 2013. Should I still use Gold OA?

Until the 1st of April 2013 you can choose whether to pay an APC or deposit in WRRO for free, depending on what the publisher concerned offers/allows. If you would like to pay an APC but have not budgeted for the costs in your grant application, please contact the Open Access Coordinator c.odell@sheffield.ac.uk

My research is funded by a Research Council grant and I will be submitting my paper for publication after the 1st of April 2013. How can I access the University Publication Fund?

Contact the Open Access Coordinator c.odell@sheffield.ac.uk as soon as possible.

My Research Council grant has already been awarded, do I still need to use Gold OA for my publications?

Regardless of when your grant was awarded, if your paper is submitted for publication after the 1st of April 2013 you need to use the Gold OA option (ie. pay an APC to the publisher) if available. If your journal of choice does not offer Gold, you should be able to deposit a copy of your article in WRRO. Check the SHERPA RoMEO database for the particular journals’ conditions.

I have an article accepted for publication in a journal that does not offer Gold? How can I still comply with RCUK requirements?

As above, if your journal of choice does not offer Gold OA, you should be able to deposit a copy of your article in WRRO. Check the SHERPA RoMEO database for the particular journals’ conditions.

I am applying for a Research Council grant, what do I need to consider?

From the 1st of April 2013, RCUK will support the payment of APCs and other publication charges solely through block grants to institutions to create a University Publication Fund. Research grant applications can therefore no longer include provision for Open Access publication charges.