The Research Excellence Framework (REF) exercises assess the quality of our research by looking at the impact of our research output and the new REF requirements will be published in due course. The advice below assumes that these requirements will not change.
For your research to be included, you'll need to place a copy in Worcester Research and Publications (WRaP), our institutional repository.
This applies to scholarly articles and full conference proceedings that have been published in journals with an ISSN.
Once you’ve completed the peer review process, the journal editor will email to confirm acceptance for publication. The date you receive the email is the date of acceptance.
You must upload your research to WRaP (video 8:05) within three months of the date of acceptance. Usually you will upload your author’s accepted manuscript (AAM). AAMs have been peer-reviewed but not copyedited or formatted by the publisher. They are also known as post-prints, accepted author versions, or personal copies.
We can advise you if your final published version, or version of record (VoR), is permitted instead of the AAM.
Your AAM can be embargoed for up to 12 months (health, science and engineering) or 24 months (arts, humanities and social sciences) and still be eligible for the REF.
From 2024 all UKRI-funded researchers wishing to publish a book will need to use open access publishing options and this may well also be a REF requirement. If you are interested in publishing open access books there is advice for authors from OAPEN.
We have limited funds for article processing charges (APCs) where gold open access is the most appropriate route. You must be the lead, or corresponding, author, with no alternative funding. Your chosen journal must be compliant with current REF policy, and your research funder’s policy if applicable. Please contact us for more information.
We can also fund APCs through our journal subscriptions. Some publishers are flipping reading fees into paying for publishing, or offering APC discounts. We currently have deals with nine journal publishers. Others are currently negotiating similar agreements. We will update this page as new agreements are added.
We are only able to accept APCs whilst you are affiliated with the University; please ensure your paper is submitted before your affiliation is due to end.
ACM OPEN (ACM’s Transformative Model for Open Access Publication)
For your APC to be waived, you must be the corresponding author and want to publish in an eligible ACM research title.
Article types covered by this areement are research papers.
Please contact us before submitting a manuscript with any eligibility queries.
This agreement is in place until 31 December 2025.
UK JISC Open Access agreement information for authors from BMJ Publishing (List of eligible hybrid journals can be found under the "Find out if you are entitled to institutional funding" section via the link above)
For your APC to be waived, you must be the corresponding author and be open access publishing research funded by either the Arts and Humanities Research Council, Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, Economic and Social Research Council, Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, Medical Research Council, Science and Technology Facilities Council, Natural Environment Research Council, Research England, UK Research and Innovation, Blood Cancer UK, British Heart Foundation, Cancer Research UK, Innovate UK, Parkinson’s UK, Versus Arthritis or the Wellcome Trust in an eligible hybrid journal.
Article types covered by this agreement are original research articles.
Please note: Fully open access journals are not covered by this JISC-BMJ Open Access agreement and you must have alternative funding in place before submitting your manuscript with the publisher.
Please contact us before submitting a manuscript with any eligibility or funding queries.
This agreement is in place until 31 December 2025.
UK JISC Read and Publish agreement details for Cambridge University Press
For your APC to be waived, you must be the corresponding author and want to publish in an eligible Cambridge University Press journal.
Article types covered by this agreement are research articles, review articles, rapid communications, brief reports and case reports.
Please contact us before submitting a manuscript with any eligibility queries.
This agreement is in place until 31 December 2025.
UK JISC Read and Publish agreement details for Elsevier
For your APC to be waived, you must be the corresponding author and want to publish in an eligible Elsevier hybrid journal.
Article types covered by this agreement are Case reports, Data in Briefs, Full-length articles, Micro-articles, Original software publication, Practice guidelines, Protocols, Review articles, Replication studies, Short communications, Short surveys and Video articles.
Please contact us before submitting a manuscript with any eligibility queries.
This agreement is in place until 31 December 2025.
UK JISC Read and Publish agreement details for authors from Oxford University Press
For your APC to be waived, you must be the corresponding author and want to publish in an eligible Oxford University Press journal.
Article types covered by this areement are research and review articles.
Please contact us before submitting a manuscript with any eligibility queries.
This agreement is in place until 31 December 2025.
UK Jisc Agreement from Sage Publishing
For your APC to be waived, you must be the corresponding author and want to publish in an eligible Sage Choice journal.
Article types covered by this areement are original research papers, review papers, brief communications, short reports and case reports.
Please contact us before submitting a manuscript with any eligibility queries.
This agreement is in place until 31 December 2025.
Open access agreement for the UK - Information for authors from Springer Nature
For your APC to be waived, you must be the corresponding author and want to publish in an eligible Springer Nature journal.
Article types covered by this areement are original research papers, review papers, brief communications and continuing education (medical).
Please contact us before submitting a manuscript with any eligibility queries.
This agreement is in place until 31 December 2025.
Open access agreement for authors in the UK from Taylor & Francis
For your APC to be waived, you must be the corresponding author and want to publish in an eligible Tayor & Francis Hybrid (Open Select) or Fully OA, F1000 Research, Routledge Open Research journal title. (Please use the filter on this webpage to exclude Dove Medical titles as these are not covered by the agreement).
Article types covered by this agreement are original research articles.
Please contact us before submitting a manuscript with any eligibility queries.
This agreement is in place until 31 December 2025.
Wiley Open Access agreement information for authors from eligible UK institutions
For your APC to be waived, you must be the corresponding author and want to publish in one of Wiley’s hybrid or fully open access journals (includes Gold OA titles published by Hindawi on behalf of Wiley).
Article types covered by this agreement are primary research and review articles.
Please contact us before submitting a manuscript with any eligibilty or funding queries.
This agreement is in place until 31 December 2025.
Annual Reviews "Subscribe to Open" is supported by the University of Worcester.
The journals currently in this "subscribe to Open" program are:
Please contact us before submitting a manuscript with this publisher.
Green open access is free to publish. It works by putting the AAM version of your paywalled article in an institutional repository, an earlier draft in a preprint server, or any free version of your research in a subject repository.
WRaP is our institutional repository, where we collect, preserve and disseminate our research outputs. You can find WRaP records in search engines such as Google, and databases such as WorldCat and CORE.
Subject repositories contain open access research for specific disciplines. Preprint servers can also be subject-specific. Both are great for quickly and widely disseminating results from the early stages of your research. Most publishers will later accept articles based on preprints, although there may be conditions.
You usually must pay an Article Processing Charge (APC) for gold open access. The University, read and publish schemes, and funders can help pay APCs. Your final published article will be immediately and freely available on the publisher’s website.
It will usually be published under a Creative Commons licence that allows re-use of content.
You can improve the reach, and evidence the impact of your research by choosing to publish open access. Another benefit is increased citations. Open access also encourages transparent and reproducible research practices.
Most research funders have an open access policy, and they usually have different requirements. If you do not comply, your existing grant could be withheld and you may not be eligible for future funding.
Open access benefits society by opening research to everyone, rather than only those who can afford it. It is part of a movement which encourages creativity by freely exchanging knowledge and resources.
Participating in the REF improves our reputation for research. Open access might also help address the challenge of journal costs rising faster than library budgets. Our open access policy further details how we will support our researchers in maximising impact and complying with the REF and research funders.
Plan S is a set of open access principles from a group of national funders called cOAlition S. Supported by the European Commission and the European Research Council, they aim to make research immediately, and freely available. Plan S will likely have a large impact on publishing, we will provide updates and guidance as it evolves.
WRaP, University of Worcester
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Worcester, WR1 3PD