Strategy and policies

People to whom this policy applies 

This is a mandatory policy and applies to all staff who produce outputs arising from their research activity during the course of their employment at the University.  

Students, emeritus professors, and those with honorary or affiliate positions are strongly encouraged to follow this policy and to include the statement referred to in point 4 of the Policy when submitting work for publication. Their outputs may still require to be made open access e.g. where this has been mandated by a funder of the relevant research or where a co-author is under an obligation to make the output open access. 

Outputs to which this policy applies 

The policy applies in respect of:  

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

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.

Further guidance about this policy and its application can be found at the following link: University of Glasgow - MyGlasgow - Open Research - Open Access - Research Publications and Copyright Policy, or from the University Library Open Access Team. 

1.  In accordance with the University’s Policy for Intellectual Property and Rewarding Participation in Commercialisation and subject to the exceptions and the automatic grant 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 also subject to the terms 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. Upon acceptance of publication, each University researcher who authors (or co-authors) an in-scope work agrees to automatically grant the University of Glasgow a perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide, royalty free, non-exclusive right and licence (with the right to sub-licence) to 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. 

4.  When submitting an in-scope work for publication, for additional transparency, it is recommended that authors include the following text in the acknowledgement section of the manuscript and/or any cover letter/note accompanying the initial submission. Alternative wording with the same intended outcome can be used instead, if required by the relevant funder: 

 In order to meet institutional open access requirements, any accepted manuscript arising from this submission will be open access under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) licence with zero embargo. 

5.  Each University researcher who authors (or co-authors) an in-scope work will provide, at no charge, an electronic copy of the AAM of the in-scope work to the University Library in an appropriate electronic format (such as PDF) which should be sent to research-openaccess@glasgow.ac.uk.  

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 a researcher wishes to opt out of the requirement for immediate open access upon publication, or the application of a CC BY licence. In this situation, as soon as reasonably practicable, and by no later than the point at which they send the AAM to the Library, the University researcher should contact the Library Open Access Team to request an opt-out from 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.  

* A manuscript is the written work that an author submits to a publisher, editor or producer for publication. An Author Accepted Manuscript (AAM) is the version of an article or book manuscript that has been accepted for publication. This is the version following peer review and any subsequent changes, but prior to copyediting and typesetting by the publisher. Author Accepted Manuscript refers to the final peer-reviewed text which may otherwise be known as the ‘author manuscript’ or ‘final author version’ or ‘post-print’.

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 (Open Researcher and Contributor ID) 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 UKRI Funding Service, 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.  

12.  Colleagues who have an ORCID must connect their ORCID to allow it to be added to their Enlighten (online publications repository) record. ORCID support is available from the Library.