Open access
Open Access is a set of principles which makes research outputs available to anyone at no cost
We offer a number of services to help you make your research available open access in line with University, REF and funder open access requirements.
Research articles authored or co-authored by Brunel research staff should be made available open access in line with Brunel University of London's Open Access Mandate, first implemented in 2009, with the last revision approved by the Research and Knowledge Transfer Committee (RKTC) in October 2021.
Our Open Access Mandate aims to make Brunel research free to read and download by anyone, anywhere in the world. Immediate open access, under a CC BY licence which supports maximum reuse and dissemination is preferred. Outputs made available under a CC BY licence also comply with the open access policies for Research England, UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), and many other public funders.
In 2024, the University approved an institutional rights retention policy which complements the Open Access Mandate, and aims to make it easier for Brunel researchers to make their research open access on publication.
Requirements for all Brunel authors
Steps to take before submitting a research article manuscript for publication
Before submitting a manuscript to a publisher, all Brunel corresponding authors, irrespective of publishing route, must first complete a pre-submission form. Authors should wait for confirmation that the target publishing venue will allow the article to meet all University, REF and funder obligations and to be informed of any steps they need to take on submission. Where publishing charges are incurred, Open Access will also check whether funds can be made available for that purpose.
The Open Access Publishing Fund will be unable to support publishing charges for articles which do not follow this procedure, and authors will then need to secure alternative funding, or meet the open access requirements through compliant deposit in the institutional repository - the 'green open access' route.
Authors are asked to identify their target journal and declare direct funding, where applicable, and verify that the output and corresponding author meet eligiblity requirements. See our guidance on how to apply for open access publishing funds.
The application will then be reviewed by Open Access to:
- Check whether the selected publishing venue and licence allow the output to meet REF and funder open access policies.
- Verify author and output eligibility for access to the Brunel Open Access Publishing Fund.
- Check availability of funds, as well as access to any alternative funding, discounts or waivers.
This process helps Open Access identify any steps which must be taken on submission, on acceptance and on publication to ensure compliance to give authors advice tailored for their output and in consideration of all open access mandates.
Selecting a suitable publication venue
Authors who are publishing peer reviewed research articles, should first use the Journal Checker Tool as a guide when selecting a target journal and before manuscript submission, before applying for APC funding, to check whether the preferred journal and route will allow the Brunel corresponding author to meet REF and funder open access requirements. See Plan S and publishing your research.
Open Access will advise authors on any necessary steps required to comply with open access policy and publish in the preferred journal and any alternative publishing and APC funding options. This may be for one or more of the following reasons:
- the selected journal and publishing route do not allow the output to meet REF or funder open access requirements, e.g. hybrid journals which are not covered by a Jisc-approved Transformative Agreement.
- the corresponding author is not a current member of academic research staff and is ineligible to access the fund
- dedicated funds are fully committed for the relevant period
- the publication venue does not meet agreed publishing standards - see our guidance on Choosing a genuine publisher.
Rights retention
Where a journal doesn't allow the output to comply with the conditions, but is the most suitable venue for the research, authors are required to follow Rights Retention processes when submitting the manuscript. The new institutional rights retention policy applicable from 1 October 2024, legally reserves author rights and allows authors and the University to make the final Author Accepted Manuscript (AAM) available without embargo in an institutional repository under a CC BY Licence. Articles can then be uploaded to the University's institutional repository, BURA, complying fully with REF and funder open access policies.