THE UNIVERSITY of EDINBURGH
COLLEGE OF HUMANITIES AND SOCIAL SCIENCE
School: HEFCE Open Access post-2014 REF Compliance
Open Access School Plan with Risk Assessment
School Name to be added here
HEFCE Open Access Compliance Overview
Definition of outputs within scope
• Output is a journal article or a conference proceeding with an ISSN*
• Output was accepted for publication after 1 April 2016
* Conference proceedings that form part of a book series are out of scope.
The following outputs are therefore out of scope:
• Monographs and other long-form publications
• Non-text, creative and practice-based research
• Research data
However, where an institution can demonstrate that it has taken steps towards enabling open
access for outputs outside the scope of this definition, credit will be given in the research
environment component of the post-2014 REF.
Outputs meeting the definition must satisfy all of the following requirements to be treated as
open-access.
Deposit requirements
• Output must be deposited in an institutional* or subject repository within three months of
being accepted for publication.
*UoE preference, for audit purposes, is deposit of all outputs in PURE in the first instance.
• Output must be deposited as the final, peer-reviewed text (as a minimum).
Discovery requirements
• Output must be discoverable to anyone with an internet connection, and to search engines.
Access requirements
• Output must allow anyone with internet access to search electronically within the text, read
it and download it without charge.
• The access requirements must be fulfilled as soon as any embargo period has elapsed.
Embargo periods should not exceed the following maxima:
o 12 months for REF main panels A and B
o 24 months for REF main panels C and D
Text-mining
Outputs do not need to allow text-mining to fulfil the open access criteria.
However, where an institution can demonstrate that outputs are presented in a form that allows
text-mining, credit will be given in the research environment component of the post-2014 REF.
Exceptions to the Requirement
Occasionally, it will not be possible for an output to fulfil the criteria. An exception is allowed in the
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following cases.
Deposit exceptions (these outputs are considered out of scope of the policy):
• Individual was not employed by a UK HEI at the point of acceptance
• Individual was unable to secure the use of a repository
• Individual experienced a delay securing the final peer-reviewed text (e.g. for multi-authored
papers)
• It would be unlawful, or present a security risk, to deposit the output
Access exceptions (these outputs must still be deposited):
• Output depends on third party content for which open access rights could not be granted
• The publication concerned requires an embargo period that exceeds the stated maxima, and
was the most appropriate for the output
• The publication concerned actively disallows open-access deposit, and was the most
appropriate for the output
Technical exceptions (these outputs are considered out of scope of the policy):
• At acceptance, the individual was at a different UK HEI that failed to comply
• A short-term technical failure within the repository prevented compliance
• An external service provider failure prevented compliance (e.g. a subject repository ceased
to operate)
Other exceptions
• There may be very unusual cases where an output could not meet the criteria for a reason
not covered above.
Exception expectations
• A short written explanation will be required
• Such cases should be extremely rare
• A process for considering these ‘other’ exceptions will be established in due course
What does non-compliance mean?
If an output is submitted to the post-2014 REF that was:
• within the definition
• not compliant with all of the criteria
• and no valid exception was recorded
then that output will receive an unclassified score in the REF.
The following pages show the School Plan, Author and Administrative responsibilities for compliance
with the above policy.
Space for statement from School, if required
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School Plan to Assist with Compliance
(bullet points are indicative and not exhaustive)
Author’s Responsibility
Please delete bullet points not applicable to your School’s agreed processes
Prior to acceptance of publication, Authors:




Check publisher policies
Contact publisher for clarification, if required (local administrative assistance available)
If negotiation with publisher is required, and with support from the Scholarly
Communications Team, complete the ‘University of Edinburgh Amendment to Publication
Agreement’
Create record in PURE (use ‘History and Comments’ to show outcome of negotiations, if
applicable)
On acceptance of publication, Authors must:
 Create/Amend Publication Record in PURE, include last date of acceptance.
Where there has been communication over a period of time with the publisher to reach the
final accepted version*, the last communication date is used
 Upload final, peer reviewed text
*This is the version in response to reviewers’ comments, but prior to copy-editing or layout by
publisher.
 Link output to other activities in PURE (eg. funding, impact, etc)
 Change output record workflow to ‘record complete’
 Email xx@ed.ac.uk attaching final, peer reviewed text (as described above)
Following publication, Authors must:
 Update output metadata in PURE
 Email xx@ed.ac.uk
 Email xx@ed.ac.uk with publishers pdf
Administration Process (to be carried out by Open Access Facilitators)
(bullet points are indicative and not exhaustive)
Please delete bullet points not applicable to your School’s agreed processes
Prior to acceptance of publication if contacted by Author:



Check publisher policies
Contact publisher for clarification of policy, if required
If negotiation with publisher is required, direct Author to the Scholarly Communications
Team for support to complete the ‘University of Edinburgh Amendment to Publication
Agreement’
An acceptance:
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








Create/amend publication record in PURE
Evidence final date of acceptance
Add and check all available meta-data for record
Link output to other activities in PURE (eg. funding, impact, etc)
Upload author’s final, peer reviewed text
Add relevant narrative to ‘History and Comments’ section within PURE
Record expected date of publication in ‘History and Comments’ and flag for follow-up
Once complete, move workflow status to ‘record complete’
Contact Scholarly Communications if publication it to be classed as an exception
Record Validation:

Check and validate PURE record
(Responsibility limited to ‘output editors’ across the College)
Output status:

Regularly check if output has been published (eg. check on-line and/or ask author)
Following publication:
 Complete metadata
 Add statement of rights (APA format) and any other copyright statements required by
publisher
 Add applicable embargo periods
 Set open access options
 Upload publisher’s pdf to records, if available (back-ended unless publishers policies allow to
be made open access)
Record Validation:

Check and validate PURE record
(Responsibility limited to ‘output editors’ across the College)
Monitoring and Progress Reporting (to be carried out by Open Access Facilitators /
College Research Office / Scholarly Communications team)
Managed Reports to be created centrally at University level
(bullet points are indicative and not exhaustive)
Monitoring:





Check weekly for new output records in PURE (with and without full text documents)
Check weekly for records requiring validation
Every 6 weeks – Check compliance for HEFCE Policy
Frequency – Check that School targets are being met (Are you setting School-level targets?
College targets are 100% deposit of all research outputs)
Please list other reports you would like and frequency
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Risk Assessment for Journal Articles and Conference Proceedings (with ISSNs)
from 1st April 2016 being adopted by Schools from 1st January 2015
This is a guide to the potential risks, please amend relevant to your School’s requirements
Item Risk
Consequences
Mitigation
Responsibility
(in order of priority)
Disastrous Possible
1
Academics unaware of
Academic does not
Increase outreach
1. Scholarly
HEFCE OA REF Policy and
engage with School
activities to
Communications
School procedures for
process
regularly highlight
2. College Research
compliance
policy and processes
Office
– include induction
3. School Open Access
for all new staff
Contact
2
Authors fail to create PURE
Failure to comply with
Awareness raising of 1. Scholarly
entry or notify Open Access HEFCE policy leading to
implications
Communications
contacts
outputs being
Escalate to School
2. College Research
‘unclassified’ for postDirectors of
Office
2014 REF
Research
3. School Open Access
Contact
3
Failure to deposit final,
‘Unclassified’ output for
Work closely with
1. School Open Access
peer-reviewed text on
post-2014 REF
Authors to
Contact
publisher acceptance (time
understand versions 2. Scholarly
limit is maximum 3 months)
and processes
Communications
3. College Research
Office
4
Lack of staff with specialist
Reliant on authors fully
Make case to recruit 1. College Research
OA and HEFCE awareness
understanding and
new staff
Officer
complying with all open
Ensure existing
2. School Director of
access requirements and administrators have
Professional Services
processes
training to fill gaps
Draft in resource
from other Schools
Critical Possible
5
Authors on sabbatical
Failure to comply with
Set up procedure
1. Directors of
HEFCE policy leading to
within School ….
Research/HoS/DoPS?
outputs being
Expand wording
2. School Open Access
‘unclassified’ for postContact
2014 REF
6
Authors on maternity,
Failure to comply with
Set up procedure
1. Directors of
paternity or adoption leave HEFCE policy leading to
within School ….
Research/HoS/DoPS?
outputs being
Expand wording
2. School Open Access
‘unclassified’ for postContact
2014 REF
7
Sudden long-term illness
Failure to comply with
Set up procedure
1. Directors of
HEFCE policy leading to
within School ….
Research/HoS/DoPS?
outputs being
Expand wording
2. School Open Access
‘unclassified’ for postContact
2014 REF
8
New Staff Members
Failure to comply with
Set up procedure
1. Scholarly
HEFCE policy leading to
within School to
Communications
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outputs being
‘unclassified’ for post2014 REF
ensure this is
covered within first
month of
employment
2. College Research
Office
Write into new staff
members contracts
Include with HR
information pack on
offer of
employment
Moderate Possible
9
Copyright violation due to
incorrect version being
uploaded
Removal of output from
repository/no longer
publically available
Increase training for
administrators with
Editor rights
Default setting
within PURE to be
backended – only
made visible after
validation.
Further training for
staff with editor
rights
Awareness raising of
implications.
Repeated incidences
need to be
escalated to School
Directors of
Research
10
Copyright violation due to
meta-data being made
discoverable prior to
publication – where
publisher prohibits
Meta-data to be backended/no longer
publically available until
allowed by publisher’s
policies
11
Date of acceptance not
recorded
Failure to comply with
HEFCE policy leading to
outputs being
‘unclassified’ for post2014 REF
1. Scholarly
Communications
2. College Research
Office
1. Scholarly
Communications
2. College Research
Office
1. Scholarly
Communications
2. College Research
Office
3. School Open Access
Contact
Please can this Open Access School Plan be signed at the agreed School level
Signature
Name and Designation
Date
Head of School
Director of Research
Director of Professional Services
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