Open access at GCU

The University is strongly committed to the principle that the outcomes arising from its publicly funded research are a public good that should be made as widely available as possible.

External research funding bodies (such as UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), The Wellcome Trust, and the European Commission) require that the full text of publications arising from funded research projects are made available to the public in an open access text format.

Open access requirement for REF

From 1 April 2016 onwards the Research England policy on open access stipulated that journal articles and conference proceedings with an international standard serial number (ISSN) need to be deposited in Pure to be eligible for the next REF. The REF 2021 Index of revisions to the 'Guidance on submissions', paragraphs 223 to 255 (pages 54 to 59) provides full details of the open access requirements for REF.

Further guidance is available here:

You can also contact the library research team for help, training and advice by emailing libraryresearch@gcu.ac.uk.

The benefits of open access

Image of a diagram detailing the benefits of publishing open access