Open access policies
LJMU, major funders and the Research Excellence Framework (REF) all have open access policies which you need to be aware of.
LJMU Open access publishing policy
Read the full LJMU open access publishing policy.
Faq Items
Open access policy for the REF
For journal articles and conference papers (with an ISSN) published between 1st January 2021 and 31st December 2025 the previous REF rules apply: Items should be deposited within 3 months of acceptance (not publication). This should be the final author accepted manuscript where the paper is not published open access. If an embargo is required by the publisher this should not exceed 12 months for REF panels A and B or 24 months for panels C and D.
For journal articles and conference papers (with an ISSN) published between 1st January 2026 and 31st December 2028: Items should be deposited within 3 months of publication rather than acceptance, but we encourage deposit on acceptance to ensure compliance with the policy is met. This should be the final author accepted manuscript where the paper is not published open access. If an embargo is required by the publisher this should not exceed 6 months for panels A and B or 12 months for panels C and D.
If you have any queries about the policy please contact the Library Researcher Engagement Team.
Funder policies
Major funders require outputs and sometimes data produced as part of their funded projects to be made available on an open access basis. Some funders set very specific publishing requirements about what and how outputs are made open access, particularly around copyright, licensing, open access routes and journal funding streams. Before embarking on publication check the funder policy using Open Policy Finder. If in doubt, contact the Library Researcher Engagement Team who will be happy to advise.
UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) Open Access policy
The UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) open access policy applies from the following dates:
- in scope research articles submitted for publication on or after 1 April 2022 (preprints are not in scope)
- in scope monographs, book chapters and edited collections published on or after 1 January 2024 (monographs, book chapters and edited collections arising from training grant funding are out of scope)
- In scope articles must include a Data Access Statement (link to OA publishing page), even where there is no data associated with the article or the data are inaccessible.
Compliant open access routes for research articles
Faq Items
Compliant open access routes for Monographs, book chapters and edited collections
Faq Items
National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Open Access Policy
OA policy from 1 June 2022. This policy supersedes the previous policy from 2014. For detailed guidance see the NIHR Open Access publication policy.
Faq Items
Plan S
Plan S is an initiative to move more quickly to full and immediate open access for funded research. Plan S came into force on 1 January 2021.
Plan S funders, including UKRI and Wellcome, will no longer cover the cost of open access publishing in subscription journals (called 'Hybrid journals').
From 1 January 2021 Plan S funders will not fund APCs for Hybrid journals unless they have signed up to a “transformative agreement” or “transformative journal” to change their business model to full open access. From 2024 Plan S funders will cease funding APCs for hybrid altogether. Find out more about Plans S and the 10 principles on the cOAlition S site.