If you're publishing a journal article or a paper in a conference proceeding with an ISSN, there are some simple but important steps you need to take to ensure your work meets the Open Access criteria to be eligible for submission to the REF 2029 assessment.

What do I need to do?

Lancaster University's Open Access policy has been developed to ensure that authors are able to meet the REF Open Access requirements.

All journal articles, and papers in conference proceedings with an ISSN, must be made Open Access:

· Without an embargo, meaning that the output is available Open Access immediately

· With a Creative Commons CC-BY licence, which informs how others may share or use work

This can be achieved through either the Green Open Access (depositing a version of your manuscript into Pure) or Gold Open Access (where the article is openly available on the publisher's website) routes.

You can use this tool to check if a conference proceeding has an ISSN (International Standard

Serial Number), and papers are therefore in scope of this policy.

Authors need to take action at the following stages:

Before submitting your journal article or paper in a conference proceeding with an ISSN to a publisher:

· You should choose a journal or conference proceeding where an Open Access route (green or gold) is available. Please see the Library's resource 'A Quick Guide on Open Access: Journal Articles and Conference Papers with ISSN' for detailed step by step guidance on how to achieve this.

Once the article or paper in a conference proceeding with an ISSN has been accepted by the publisher:

· You must record details onto Pure for all research outputs immediately upon acceptance.

· Upload the Author Accepted Manuscript (AAM) of the output to the record in Pure immediately upon acceptance and within 3 months at the latest.

You do not need to upload the AAM if output will be immediately Open Access on the publisher’s website through Gold Open Access. However, you must still create a record in Pure.

Detailed guidance on how to add records to Pure can be found here.

What are the benefits of making your work open access

Publishing your work Open Access will allow it to reach wider and more diverse audiences. Open Access publications are read more, cited more and have a greater impact than closed access outputs.

Making your work Open Access ensures access to knowledge is more equitable. It allows your work to be used by anyone with an internet connection who may not have the resources to purchase access to content.

Further guidance

See the library resource "A Quick Guide on Open Access: Journal Articles and Conference Papers with ISSN" for step by step guidance on how to make your work Open Access to comply with the University Open Access policy, thus making your article eligible for submission to the REF2029.

The Open Access team can be contacted at openaccess@lancaster.ac.uk.