ÐÓ°ÉÂÛ̳

ÐÓ°ÉÂÛ̳ Library's dome viewed from below

ÐÓ°ÉÂÛ̳ Open Access Policy

Making publishing open access simpler

To support ÐÓ°ÉÂÛ̳ researchers meet the requirements of their funders, to broaden the School’s audiences and impact, and to allow authors the freedom to choose the most appropriate place to publish, ÐÓ°ÉÂÛ̳ has adopted an that makes the process of publishing open access simpler.  

Policy summary 

  • Authors must send a copy of their Author Accepted Manuscript (AAM) for journal articles, conference proceedings, book chapters and monographs to ÐÓ°ÉÂÛ̳ Research Online, no later than the date of first online publication: ÐÓ°ÉÂÛ̳ResearchOnline@lse.ac.uk.
  • For publications that will be published Gold OA, the final version can be deposited in ÐÓ°ÉÂÛ̳RO on publication.
  • Researchers will retain the copyright to their papers, but ÐÓ°ÉÂÛ̳ will apply a non-exclusive Creative Commons licence to the AAM.
  • Journal articles, conference proceedings and book chapters will be made available immediately on publication. Monographs and edited collections can have an embargo up to 24 months and will only be made available following consultation with the author.
  • For journal articles and conference proceedings the policy applies to papers accepted from 1 January 2025, for books and book chapters it applies to books contracted from 1 January 2026.
  • Co-authors should be notified of the policy and researchers can opt-out of the policy if they wish using the .

FAQs

About the policy

How does the policy work?

Traditionally, when publishing scholarly articles, staff at ÐÓ°ÉÂÛ̳ have assigned copyright to the publisher via a copyright transfer agreement. As a result, many scholarly articles are under the partial or complete ownership of publishers.

The new Open Access Policy means authors retain copyright to the accepted manuscript and permit ÐÓ°ÉÂÛ̳ to apply a Creative Commons licence and make the AAM available from ÐÓ°ÉÂÛ̳ Research Online.

Why is this being introduced at ÐÓ°ÉÂÛ̳?

The policy will primarily make the process of making your publications open access and complying with funder and REF requirements more simple. You will no longer need to check whether a journal is compliant before submitting, and Library staff will no longer need to check licences and embargo rules from publishers.  

There are also significant financial benefits to not paying high APCs in journals which have only a gold route to funder compliance, which ÐÓ°ÉÂÛ̳ or the funder might pay. Not only does this direct funding away from research, it is not equitable within and across institutions.

What other institutions have implemented a similar policy?

Quite a few! Including Oxford, Cambridge, UCL and Imperial. Internationally, Harvard introduced a similar policy in 2008 and since then over 50 US institutions have followed this example, and they have been joined by over 15 European universities and several others in Canada, Australia and New Zealand. 

Who does the policy apply to?

The policy applies to all ÐÓ°ÉÂÛ̳ staff, as defined in the , and postgraduate research students. 

What publications are in scope of the policy?

The policy applies to all peer-reviewed research outputs including journal articles and conference papers in a publication with an ISSN, monographs, book chapters, scholarly editions and edited collections. 

Does this mean ÐÓ°ÉÂÛ̳ will own the copyright for my outputs?

ÐÓ°ÉÂÛ̳ will be asserting a non-exclusive, irrevocable, worldwide, royalty-free licence to make manuscripts of the scholarly outputs of staff publicly available. This will not affect the copyright ownership of any outputs, but researchers will be strongly encouraged not to sign copyright transfer agreements which assign their copyright to publishers. 

What happens if my co-authors do not agree with the new open access policy?

You can for that paper if your authors will not agree. You will need to ensure your publication meets the requirements of your funder and/or REF2029 via another route. Your funder may choose to sanction authors who do not comply with their open access policies, for example by not awarding future grants. 

What happens if I leave ÐÓ°ÉÂÛ̳?

You will still retain the copyright of your accepted manuscripts, and ÐÓ°ÉÂÛ̳ will continue to apply a Creative Commons Attribution licence and make the outputs freely available from ÐÓ°ÉÂÛ̳ Research Online.

Where can I get help?

 

Journal articles and conference papers

What do I need to do?

Send your accepted manuscripts, along with the date of acceptance, to lseresearchonline@lse.ac.uk on acceptance or not later than the date of online publication. The Open Access team will apply a CC BY licence and make the manuscript open access on publication. 

Will I still be able to publish in my journal of choice?

Yes, we will be contacting publishers in advance of the policy coming into effect. The policy and licence will only apply to the accepted manuscript version of your publication, and you retain copyright allowing you to publish as usual. However, authors are strongly encouraged not to sign copyright transfer agreements which assign their copyright to publishers. 

Will journals reject my submission because of this policy?

Many other institutions have already implemented similar policies for journal articles, and we are not aware of any publications being rejected due to this type of policy.

Do I need to get agreement from my co-authors/corresponding author?

Yes, all co-authors should agree on the publishing strategy for any output. If your co-authors do not agree to ÐÓ°ÉÂÛ̳’s open access policy, . 

What is a CC BY licence?

A Creative Commons Attribution licence, which allows readers of your work to access for free, to copy and share it, to adapt and edit it, including for commercial purposes. The user must always attribute you as the author of the original work.

Are there any exceptions to the policy?

If authors publish in an open access journal, or one that is included in a Transformative Agreement, and the final published version is published under a CC BY licence, that version and not the accepted manuscript will be made available in ÐÓ°ÉÂÛ̳ Research Online.

Other exceptions may be possible in a small number of circumstances. Please get in touch with the team to discuss.

My article includes third party copyrighted material, what should I do?

Third party copyrighted material will not fall under the scope of this policy. An accepted manuscript version of your article can be licenced under a Creative Commons licence and include third party material under a more restrictive licence. But this should be clearly labelled and in some cases you might need to seek permission for this further use of third party material, or remove it from the accepted version.

Will this policy help me to comply with REF open access requirements?

Yes, for journal articles, the ÐÓ°ÉÂÛ̳ Open Access policy aligns with the REF2029 requirements providing you send your articles to lseresearchonline@lse.ac.uk on acceptance.

I am UKRI/ERC/NIHR/Wellcome funded, will this policy help me to comply with their open access policy?

Yes, for journal articles, the ÐÓ°ÉÂÛ̳ Open Access policy aligns with the funder requirements for UKRI, ERC, NIHR, and Wellcome. 

I want to opt out, what do I need to do?

Where a researcher wishes to opt out of the requirement for immediate open access upon publication, or the application of a CC BY licence, they should .

Any such request will be reasonably considered but will not be granted where to do so would put the School (or the relevant researcher) in breach of a funder requirement.  

Please note that where you have opted out of the policy for a specific publication, the accepted manuscript must still be deposited in ÐÓ°ÉÂÛ̳ Research Online, where it will be made open access in accordance with the publisher’s self-archiving policy.

Monographs and chapters

Which version of my monograph should I deposit in ÐÓ°ÉÂÛ̳ Research Online?

The accepted manuscript version. This is the version that has been peer reviewed, revised and copyedited, but has not yet been typeset.

What licence should I apply to my monograph/chapter/edited collection?

We recommend a CC BY licence, but there is flexibility in the policy for other Creative Commons licences. For example, CC BY-NC (non-commercial) or CC BY-ND (no derivatives).

There is third party copyrighted material in my monograph, what should I do?

Third party copyrighted material will not fall under the scope of this policy. An accepted manuscript version of your book or chapter can be licenced under a Creative Commons licence and include third party material under a more restrictive licence. But this should be clearly labelled and in some cases you might need to seek permission for this further use of third party material, or remove it from the accepted version.  

Will my monograph be made open access immediately?

No, whilst the policy permits ÐÓ°ÉÂÛ̳ to make the accepted manuscript available immediately, we will only do this at the request of the author and after a discussion with them.