UKRI Block Grant
The funding currently allocated by UKRI is insufficient to cover the total cost of compliance with their open access policy. For this reason, we have had to adjust our previous policy of managing the block grant on a first-come-first-served basis and move to only paying Article Processing Charges (APCs) for original peer-reviewed research articles and non-commissioned review articles published in fully gold open access journals as listed in the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ). We will no longer be able to pay APCs in hybrid (subscription) journals. The green route to open access must be taken for these journals unless they are included in one of our transformative agreements. This will ensure that we can manage the block grant more effectively and allow authors the freedom to publish in the most appropriate journal while remaining within the constraints of the budget.
In exceptional circumstances, where it is felt that failure to publish gold open access will have a detrimental effect on the impact of the research, it may be possible to cover the APC in a hybrid journal. This must be approved by the Director of Research for the school. We may also cover APCs in hybrid journals for MRC funded research where the green embargo exceeds 6 months.
COAF Block Grant
The COAF block grant will come to an end on 30 September 2020 and whilst the individual charities are committed to open access they will each follow their own procedure for how funds are provided. If you hold a grant from Wellcome or one of the COAF charities please contact openaccess@abdn.ac.uk for advice on how to make your research outputs open access.
For more information please see the library webpages or contact Joanna Adams, Scholarly Communications Officer, j.adams@abdn.ac.uk