British Academy urges national long-form OA strategy
The UK’s national academy for the humanities and social sciences, the British Academy, has called for a joined-up strategy, a sustainable financial model and meaningful engagement with authors when it comes to developing long-form open access (OA).
A report by Information Power, commissioned by the Academy, focused on “Green” OA and is one of the first comprehensive analyses of both qualitative and quantitative data on the depositing, discoverability, and use of long-form OA materials in repositories.
Green OA is a way for researchers to share a free-to-read version of their published work online, usually by uploading the peer reviewed manuscript to an institutional or subject-specific repository. This means anyone can read and benefit from publicly funded research without needing a subscription or paying a fee.
The report’s findings show Green OA for long-form works is contested and not yet mature in practice. There is support in the sector for OA, but without a national strategic framework and cross-sector coordination progress will remain slow and fragmented.
Research England’s original plans for consultation back in 2024 relied heavily on Green OA when considering how to introduce longform OA as part of the 2029 REF assessment. The plans were set aside at that point with the intention that this ambition would be met in the next REF cycle.
Professor Lindsay Farmer FBA, Publishing lead for the British Academy said: “Open access is vital to improve the accessibility of academic text and to bring knowledge and understanding to more people but, sadly, this report is yet more evidence that the systems are not currently in place to make it work.
“Research England made the right call in 2024 to exclude OA for books for the 2029 Research Excellence Framework (REF). However, if we are going to be ready for the target of including long-form publications in the next REF cycle the work needs to start now. We want the institutions, publishers, policy makers, academic, libraries, funders and everyone else involved in meeting this long-term ambition to work together on a plan.
“This means a national strategy for long-form OA, a conversation about funding challenges and solutions, and a clear approach to make sure no academics are left behind because of these changes”