Welcome slide

Open access and submissions to the REF post-2014 Steven Hill Head of Research Policy, HEFCE 23 May 2013

Summary The policy background Research assessment and the REF Developing policy options

Summary The policy background Research assessment and the REF Developing policy options

The Government View “Removing paywalls that surround taxpayer funded research will have real economic and social benefits. It will allow academics and businesses to develop and commercialise their research more easily and herald a new era of academic discovery. This development will provide exciting new opportunities and keep the UK at the forefront of global research to drive innovation and growth.” David Willetts, July 2012

Policy background: Research is: A process of investigation leading to new insights, effectively shared Dissemination is an integral part of the research process, not an add- on Ensuring that findings are disseminated is the responsibility of all those undertaking and managing research

Policy background (2) Prompt and effective dissemination of research findings has benefits including Improving the efficiency of the research process: researchers have easy immediate access to their colleagues’ findings; and findings are exposed to productive scrutiny, challenge and debate Improving the impact of research findings: actual and potential research “users” can see what work has been done that they might find helpful and who did it Encouraging public support for science: the public who paid for the research can see that their investment is well used to fund robust, timely investigation and what came of this

Policy background (3) UK Funding Bodies are committed to support the development of “open access” research communication in forms that Support our policy aim to maintain an excellent and responsive research base Are robust, sustainable and affordable Meet the needs and command the support of researchers and research users Make it possible for important research findings to be recorded in a peer reviewed, quality badged form

Summary The policy background Research assessment and the REF Developing policy options

Purposes of research assessment To allocate research funding selectively on the basis of performance (~£2bn per year across the UK) To encourage and reward excellence To provide accountability for public funding and demonstrate the benefits of public investment To produce benchmarks and reputational yardsticks, including useful management tools

The REF assessment framework Overall quality Outputs Up to 4 outputs per researcher Impact Impact case studies and general strategy for impact Environment Data and narrative about research strategy, students, staffing, income, facilities and collaborations 65% 20% 15%

Summary The policy background Research assessment and the REF Developing policy options

Timeline Feb 2013: initial policy direction and advice letter Now: developing detailed policy options Jul 2013: consideration by Board Jul-Oct 2013: formal consultation Nov/Dec 2013: finalize policy Jan 2014: agreement by Board Jan/Feb 2014: policy announcement Dec 2019?: ‘outputs window’ closes for next REF

Initial policy direction: key points Objective to increase considerably proportion of outputs published in open-access form All outputs submitted to post-2014 REF to be open access, where reasonably achievable and appropriate for the medium Gold or green open access routes eligible – not appropriate for research assessment to express a preference Advice sought on a number of areas regarding the implementation of the policy Essential for all parties to work together

Institutional repositories ‘All submitted outputs covered by our requirement for open access above, and other submitted outputs that are available electronically, shall be available through a repository of the submitting institution.’ Aim to increase sustainable and convenient public access

Advice received General support for principles of open access Some expressed concern about linking an open access requirement to the REF Concerns expressed regarding mobility of researchers, international journals, licensing, costs Call for ‘flexibility’ on embargo periods Some concerns regarding CC-BY Various views on exceptions Most agree that too early to have mandates on monographs and for open data

Advice received: institutional repositories Position at core of policy welcomed But costs/state of readiness an issue Subject repositories important Issues with staff mobility Emphasised importance of standards, interoperability and search and discovery tools. Further development needed

Consultation: emerging thoughts Criteria for inclusion in policy (noting advice on monographs) Exceptions (noting advice on researcher mobility) Retain openness to ‘gold’ and ‘green’ routes and role of institutional repositories Consistency with wider policy environment on embargo periods and licensing Compliance approach Notice period

Summary The policy background Research assessment and the REF Developing policy options

And finally… None of this has any bearing on REF2014

Thank you for listening openaccess@hefce.ac.uk www.hefce.ac.uk