Open access copyright guidance

Material published under Open Access arrangements can be submitted in 2 ways: green or gold.

Green

A Green submission is where an author publishes their paper in a journal but also deposits a copy of the paper into an Open Access Institutional Repository (IR). The journal publishers stipulate restrictions on the use of these papers, such as the format of the article or full-text embargo periods. The Sherpa website provides guidance on the rights that authors have once they have submitted their manuscript to a publisher.

Gold

A Gold submission is where an article processing charge (APC) is paid by the author or the organisation so that the paper published is immediately available and accessible via the journal’s website. Full-text links can be included in the IR.

If including full-text in your IR, then you need to ensure that you are copyright compliant by using the Sherpa website to check for those papers published via the green route, and ensure that APCs have been paid for those published via the gold route.

The National Institute for Health Research (NIHR)

The National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) funds health and care research and involves the patient and the public in all their work. The research focuses on treatments, devices and procedures and ensures that the NHS and its patients can get early access to breakthrough treatments.

The NIHR policy  “applies to any peer reviewed research articles (including review articles not commissioned by publishers, final reports or executive summaries), which are supported in whole or in part by NIHR funding, that are submitted for publication from 1 April 2014, and which are published.” Their preference is for “gold” open access.

This is in line with Research Councils’ and Government priorities for research outputs. Jisc has some useful guides to open access publishing.

The websites of Jisc and UK Research and Innovation regularly discuss the changing landscape of open access publishing. However much of the focus is on discoverability; they are keen for research to be learnt from and shared widely, even if an embargo is necessary. The funders are monitoring organisations receiving funding to ensure they adhere to the minimum standard.

An organisation may want their staff to have access to material they can learn from such as articles and book chapters not published as part of a research grant. Where this research appears in journals or in books that you have in print or electronically, you may be able to provide a link to your online catalogue or to NHS OpenAthens full-text access. Alternatively you could include a link to your online document supply forms, or an e-mail address for requesting a copy.

Note that you cannot add Copyright Fee Paid (CFP) articles to an IR as the NHS' Copyright Licensing Agency (CLA) license does not permit this.

An organisation may want their staff to have access to “grey material” such as presentations, surgical procedures or policies. You will need to have a clear understanding of IPR in your organisation and ensure this material is copyright compliant.

How this material is accessed can also affect copyright compliance. Material made publically accessible has different copyright compliance needs than privately shared materials, either via an intranet or a restricted page created for a community of practice. Your organisation may have a policy of depositing any research and submitted as a thesis in your library and knowledge service, or you could consider including a link to the British Library’s e-theses online service (EThOS).

If you have any queries or your question has not been answered by the above then, visit the Knowledge and Library Service copyright page or contact the NHS Copyright First Responders. Your regional representative on this group aims to respond to you within 48 hours unless your query is very complex.