Strategy and policies

This is a mandatory policy and applies to all individuals who wish or are required to publish the outputs from their academic research activity at the University.

The policy applies in respect of:

(i) all original journal articles, research papers, review articles (including invited and commissioned), conference papers intended for publication; and

(ii) all other Scholarly Materials (as defined in the University’s Policy for Intellectual Property and Rewarding Participation in Commercialisation) where a funder of the relevant research has mandated open access in respect of the relevant Scholarly Material.

Materials to which this policy applies are referred to as ‘in-scope works’ for the purposes of the policy. In-scope works include any third-party content where rights in that content have been secured. Any outputs submitted, or accepted, for publication before the adoption of this policy are exempt from the requirements of this policy.

Whilst the policy does not apply to works which are not in-scope works for the purposes of this policy, the University nonetheless strongly encourages researchers to make such works as openly available as possible.

Note: this policy only applies to first copyright in authored research publications. It does not extend to other Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) in research, which is already covered in the University’s Policy for Intellectual Property and Rewarding Participation in Commercialisation.

1.  The University confirms that pursuant to the University’s Policy for Intellectual Property and Rewarding Participation in Commercialisation and subject to the exceptions and retention of rights set out in that Policy, the University waives its right to ownership of copyright in Scholarly Materials created by its employees. That waiver is subject to compliance with the requirements of this policy.

2.  The University acknowledges that in-scope works may be the result of collaboration with researchers from outwith the University, and therefore copyright is sometimes held jointly with co-authors who are not automatically subject to this policy. University researchers are required to ensure that, wherever reasonably practicable, the requirements of this policy are met. University researchers should therefore bring the requirements of this policy to the attention of their co-authors as early as possible.

3.  Each in-scope work submitted for publication must include the following text in the acknowledgement section of the manuscript[1] and/or any cover letter/note accompanying the initial submission:

 For the purpose of open access, the author(s) has applied a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) licence to any Author Accepted Manuscript version arising from this submission.

Alternative wording with the same intended outcome can be used instead, if required by the relevant funder.

4.  Each University researcher who authors (or co-authors) an in-scope work will make the Author Accepted Manuscript (AAM) of the relevant in-scope work publicly available under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) licence, or a more permissive licence.

5.  Each University researcher who authors (or co-authors) an in-scope work will provide an electronic copy of the AAM of the in-scope work to the University Library in an appropriate electronic format (such as PDF).

6.  The University will deposit the AAM in the University’s publications repository, Enlighten, with article metadata usually available immediately upon deposit and the AAM being made accessible to the public on the date of first online publication (or the conference end date for conference proceedings) under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) licence. In addition to this, where required by the relevant funder, the author will be required to ensure that the AAM is deposited in an appropriate digital repository (e.g. Europe Pubmed Central ePMC). For outputs other than articles and conference proceedings, embargoes acceptable to funders will be respected e.g. UKRI allow a 12 month embargo for books published from 2024.

7.  The University recognises that there may be situations where the terms of this policy conflict with those of a publisher with whom a University researcher wishes to publish their work. Where a researcher wishes to opt out of the requirement for immediate open access upon publication, or the application of a CC BY licence (including requesting a different creative commons licence (e.g. CC BY-ND)), they should, as soon as reasonably practicable and prior to submission of the work for publication, contact the Library Open Access Team with details of the intended publication and a request to opt out of the relevant requirement(s) of this policy. Any such request will be reasonably considered by the University but will be granted only in exceptional circumstances and will not be granted where to do so would put the University (or the relevant researcher) in breach of a funder requirement. It is incumbent on University researchers to comply fully with the terms of any funding which gave rise to the relevant work.

[1] A manuscript is the written work that an author submits to a publisher, editor, or producer for publication.

8.  Authors should ensure good practice in authorship affiliation. Authors should ensure that their affiliation to the University of Glasgow is accurately worded in the item submitted for publication, using an address of the format below and a University of Glasgow email address. If publishers place constraints on the available space, the phrase “University of Glasgow” must be prioritised. An example of this format is as follows:

Dr A. N. Other, School of X, College of Y, University of Glasgow, Name.Surname@glasgow.ac.uk.

 9.  The corresponding University of Glasgow author for journal articles or conference proceedings must ensure that a data statement is included in all articles, indicating the funder name(s), the funder’s official award number, and how and on what terms any underlying data can be accessed. A data statement should be included in all published work, including theses.

10.  ORCID provides researchers with a unique identifier that can be kept throughout their career. It distinguishes between researchers with similar names and helps ensure that publications are attributed and recorded correctly, potentially reducing researchers’ workload. ORCID is a global, non-profit organisation supported by its members, including the University. Publishers are increasingly adopting ORCIDs in their journal submission systems. Major research funders, such as Wellcome and UKRI, now require, or recommend the use of ORCID. In addition, external grant application and reporting systems, such as Researchfish and Je-S, now link with and require ORCID identifiers.

11.  The University strongly encourages researchers, if they have not already done so, to claim, create and populate their ORCID record. This can be done automatically via information already held in the institutional repository. The University then asks researchers to use their ORCID in research outputs.