Editor’s Note: Today’s post is by Victoria Ficarra and Rob Johnson of Research Consulting. It was written as a precursor to the CCC Town Hall program webinar “Understanding the new UKRI Open Access Policy’’ on UKRI’s Open Access (OA) policy, which took place on Wednesday 27th October. An archived recording of the meeting is available online.
The drive towards open access presents exciting opportunities in terms of the democratisation of knowledge. Nevertheless, there are not insignificant challenges to work out. Such as the degree to which publication fees will lock out academics from low and middle income countries. These challenges not withstanding, it is an exciting time with exciting opportunities. This policies from the UKRI is a positive move for the UK.
The policy aims to increase opportunities for access, sharing, and reuse of research outputs. It sits in the wider context of an increased investment from the UK government in R&D as part of its plans to build back better following the COVID-19 pandemic. Although final terms and conditions won’t be finalized until late 2021 for articles and 2022 for books, here are five things you ought to know