Open Access

The open science requirements of the current Horizon Europe (2021-2027) is detailed instead of the Horizon 2020 (2014-2020) requirements. If unsure to which open science policy your grant belongs, email rinfo@london.edu.

Open access is mandated for peer-reviewed scientific publications relating to the funds of your ERC-funded project. The mandate can be met by immediate open access in a trusted repository or Open Access via a publisher page with a relevant Creative Commons license. To guarantee open access, the journal either needs to be an Open Access title or if it is a hybrid journal, an APC needs to be paid in advance of first online publication. ERC funded papers can also benefit from Transformative Agreements but it is key that the Corresponding Author belong to an institution with such an agreement. If that does not happen, the options become payment of APC or failure to comply.

The ERC also supports the open access of research data. The open access requirements of your research data will be specific to your grant or data management plan. While ‘Supporting Data’ often accompanies a peer-reviewed paper, it is worth sharing that London Business School is a member of Datacite and we can mint unique digital object identifiers (DOIs) on your behalf with access to your research data.   

The UKRI recently published their new open access policy for grant holders, advocating Transformative Agreements and building upon their previous open access mandate.

For peer-reviewed research articles submitted for publication from April 2022, open access must be ‘immediate’. For this requirement to me met, it is highly likely to involve the use of a Transformative Agreement, payment of an APC or publication in a journal (or proceeding) that is already open access.

UKRI’s mandate now includes monographs, book chapters and edited collections published from January 2024. For these output types, the open access does not need to be immediate – you will need to be open access within 12 months of publication so there is a likelihood of paying a book processing charge (BPC).

For the ‘immediate’ open access requirement to be met, please ‘Act on Acceptance’ and email openaccess@london.edu as soon as you know your paper is getting published. This then gives the Library Team time to ascertain if an APC is required, as it will need to be paid before first online publication.

If unsure about the grant agreement and if an open access mandate applies, email rinfo@london.edu

It’s plausible that there is an open access agreement in place. For clarification, email the Research and Faculty Office at rinfo@london.edu

UKRI and Horizon Europe expect Transformative Agreements to be used in preference to APCs. These agreements provide university libraries with access to the journal and public open access, including downloading, via the publisher page to those articles in scope.

The way to benefit from these agreements is to make sure that the Corresponding Author belongs to an institution with such an agreement in place. If Corresponding Authorship is overlooked and there is a grant in place mandating open access, there is going to be a double-dipping of costs as an Article Processing Charge (APC )may need payment when there is a TA. There is also the risk of the paper failing to meet the open access mandate.

Which publishers does the School have such an agreement with?

The table summarises the current and upcoming Read-and-Publish agreements in place:

For all other publishers, an APC will need to be paid for the article to be immediately open access.