The following slides were prepared for the BSA Postgraduate Researcher day ahead of the 2014 BSA Annual Conference in Leeds. The information contained herein was accurate at time of presentation; we recommend that readers consult the full policies for full information and updated policy. Please feel free to share and reuse these slides for non-commercial purposes, providing original attribution is given as under the CC BY NC licence.

1. Open Access for
Post Graduates and Early
Career Researchers
22 April 2014 – BSA PG Day, Alison Danforth, BSA Publications Officer
© BSA Publications Ltd – CC BY NC
The following slides were prepared for the BSA Postgraduate Researcher day ahead of the 2014 BSA Annual
Conference in Leeds.
The information contained herein was accurate at time of presentation; we recommend that readers consult the full
policies for full information and updated policy.
Please feel free to share and reuse these slides for non-commercial purposes, providing original attribution is given
as under the CC BY NC licence.

2. Open Access Research
Publication
Open Access (OA) Publishing
• To publish content so that it is available to all readers free of charge (online)
Gold OA
• Version of record is freely available
• May involve a payment of an Article Processing Charge (APC) to the publisher
• If there is a payment, it occurs after acceptance (not a submission fee)
• No fees for the reader
• Colour charges, images/tables charges may be extra
Green OA
• Author makes accepted article (post-peer review version) freely available AFTER the stated
embargo period (usually 12+ months) Some publishers are waiving the embargo period for
deposits in institutional repositories or on personal websites – full details will be given by the
publisher and in the contributor agreement you sign for your article
• Deposit in an institutional or subject repository Many repositories will manage the embargo
periods for you
• Version of record is NOT freely available and may be accessed by subscription Many repositories
will link to the version of record from the repository version, though it is still accessible only to
those with a subscription
• Works in conjunction with the subscription model for journals
• No Article Processing Charges for the author
• Readers may pay fee for the Version of Record or may access the deposited version free
22 April 2014 – BSA PG Day, Alison Danforth, BSA Publications Officer
© BSA Publications Ltd, CC BY NC

3. Green or Gold-
What will you choose?
• Does your research receive public funding? The mandate of your funding body is the first place to start.
Funded Studentships may be subject to the OA policies of the funder. RCUK & HEFCE policies are
described later, but other funding bodies may have slightly different mandates.
• What is your choice? Your department, school or university may have a policy or preference as well. The
discretion of the researcher and his/her research organisation is very important. Many universities
are offering guidance either in workshops or on the web. Your library is a good place to start.
• Is your journal of choice compliant? Many journals are choosing to be ‘hybrid’ – to offer both Green and
Gold routes to OA. The options available may be listed on the journal website, or the publisher
may give a list of its overall policy and all the journals which participate. BSA journals offer both
Gold and Green.
• What APC does the journal charge (Gold model)? The APC will be found either on the journal pages or on
the Publisher’s OA pages. APCs range greatly from US$99 to US$3000; BSA journal APCs are
£800/article.
• What is the deposit policy for the journal? Most publishers state their deposit or self-archiving policies on
their websites. It is also likely to be explained in the publishing agreement you sign for your article
once it is accepted. The BSA journals have a 12 month embargo period. If you are in any doubt
ask the journal administrator. You can also get in touch with me at the BSA
(alison.danforth@britsoc.org.uk) and I will help track down the information.
22 April 2014 – BSA PG Day, Alison Danforth, BSA Publications Officer
© BSA Publications Ltd, CC BY NC

4. RCUK & Open Access
• This policy is relevant for you if your research is funded by a research council.
RCUK Policy: www.rcuk.ac.uk/documents/documents/RCUKOpenAccessPolicy.pdf
RCUK FAQ: http://www.rcuk.ac.uk/documents/documents/OpenaccessFAQs.pdf
RCUK policy guidance states a ‘preference for
immediate, unrestricted, on-line access to peer-
reviewed and published research papers, free of
any access charge . . . .’ (pg 4) However, both
Green and Gold routes are acceptable at the
moment. The choice of Gold or Green OA is ‘at
the discretion of the researchers and their
research organisations’. (RCUK pg 4)
This decision tree was created by the
Publishers Association to understand the
RCUK policy; it has now been widely
adopted and is included in the RCUK policy
guidance (RCUK pg 7). However, it is
advisable to read the RCUK policy for full
details. This version reproduced by Alison
Danforth for these slides.
RCUK requires the CC-BY licence
for articles made OA via the
Gold Route (RCUK pg 7)
Green route licence: RCUK requires
only that there is no restriction on
non-commercial reuse (RCUK pg 8)
Studentship funds & grant
money are not intended for
APCs. Funds generally come
through the HEI.
Embargo period lengths (12 or 24 months)
depend on subject area; check the policy of
the particular Research Council.
22 April 2014 – BSA PG Day, Alison Danforth, BSA Publications Officer
© BSA Publications Ltd, CC BY NC
Gold option available from
your publisher?
Are APC funds available from
research funder?
Research publicly funded?
Yes No
Green OA after 12-24 months
Green OA after 6 months
(AHRC/ESRC 12 months)
Immediate Gold OA
Yes No
Yes No

5. HEFCE & Open Access
• This policy is relevant for you if you want your research articles to be eligible for
submission to the post-2014 REF
• Full policy: http://www.hefce.ac.uk/whatwedo/rsrch/rinfrastruct/oa/policy/
• 1 April 2016 – journal articles and conference proceedings (published with an ISSN) accepted after
this date are affected by the new policy. (HEFCE pg 4) REF 2014 submissions are unaffected.
• To be OA compliant, output must be deposited in an institutional or subject repository (Green OA)
no more 3 months after acceptance. (HEFCE pg 4) Even though the RCUK and HEFCE policies
differ, researchers can comply with both mandates using either the Gold or Green models.
Publishing Gold OA does not prevent deposit of the article in a repository.
• Outputs must be deposited shortly after acceptance but they do not need to be accessible
immediately: HEFCE respects embargo periods of up to 12 months for REF Main Panels A & B and
up to 24 months for Panels C & D. Output under embargo is admissable to the REF provided that
the date of first publication is within the REF publication period. (HEFCE pg 6)
• Institutional repositories (IR) are frequently managed through libraries: speak to your library to find
out more about your institutional repository.
• Some exceptions allow output to be admissable to REF without complying with the OA policy. There
are a number of exceptions but the following may be particularly relevant to PGs/ECRs:
• Individual did not have access to a repository at point of article acceptance (HEFCE pg 6)
• Individual was not employed by a UK HEI at the time of article submission (HEFCE pg 7)
22 April 2014 – BSA PG Day, Alison Danforth, BSA Publications Officer
© BSA Publications Ltd, CC BY NC

6. Copyright Licences
• Published articles have copyright licences setting out permissions and reuse conditions (i.e. contributor agreements signed
with a publisher on publication of an article or book). These licences and the conditions of reuse of research are a feature of
OA policies.
• RCUK requires the CC BY licence for articles published via the Gold route; RCUK does not specify a licence for the Green
route as long as the ‘manuscript is made available without restriction on non-commerical re-use’ (RCUK pg 8)
• About Creative Commons Licences: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/
• Taylor and Francis explanation of licences http://journalauthors.tandf.co.uk/preparation/OpenAccess.asp#link4
Taylor and Francis survey on author licence preferences http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/press/openaccess-28Mar2013.pdf
• HEFEC indicates no licence preference: the article in the repository must be discoverable, readable and downloadable;
CC BY NC ND is acceptable (HEFCE pg 5). (Refer to Creative Commons link above for more about CC BY NC ND and other
licences)
Many individuals and groups have serious concerns about the CC BY licence in relation to misuse of material, unrestricted
commercial reuse, loss of intellectual property rights, the implications for using 3rd party material in research papers (i.e.
photos/images).
Others see it as the simplest, clearest and most effective way to permit wide reuse of research.
What is your opinion? Under what licence are you happy to publish your work?
If your work is funded by RCUK and you choose the Gold publication route, you must use the CC BY licence. However, most
publishers are offering licence options for those who are not mandated to use the CC BY licence.
22 April 2014 – BSA PG Day, Alison Danforth, BSA Publications Officer
© BSA Publications Ltd, CC BY NC

7. OA and the BSA
Recent BSA Actions
• Responded to all consultations
http://www.britsoc.co.uk/about/consultations/bsa-consultations.aspx
• Created a short guide to OA
http://www.britsoc.co.uk/media/49586/Open_Access_Publishing_a_guide_to_recent_policies_web
.pdf
• Complied with the RCUK policy – Cultural Sociology, Sociological Research Online, Sociology,
Work, employment and society (APC of £800, Gold and Green routes available, CC BY licence
where needed)
• Sought member feedback on OA
• Reported on OA in eNewsletters and Network
Future Actions
• Respond to further consultations and reviews
• Monitor the effect of OA policies on the BSA journals
• Coordinate with our publisher, the AcSS, the BA, ALPSP, other Learned Societies
• Monitor the inequality concerns in relation to Gold OA and APC distribution
• Explore innovative ways to publish sociology in an OA environment
• Continue to collect member feedback
22 April 2014 – BSA PG Day, Alison Danforth, BSA Publications Officer
© BSA Publications Ltd, CC BY NC

8. Your Feedback
You can let us know about your experiences of Open Access and your thoughts on how these
developments are likely to affect you.
BSA survey: www.surveymonkey.com/s/bsaoa6
If you have questions, get in touch with me anytime. I’d very much like to hear about your
experiences or the queries that come up as you are making publishing decisions:
Alison Danforth
BSA Publications Officer
0191 383 0839
publications@britsoc.org.uk
22 April 2014 – BSA PG Day, Alison Danforth, BSA Publications Officer
© BSA Publications Ltd, CC BY NC