Access Keys:
18/07/2017
Research Councils UK are pleased to confirm that the Open Access block grants will be continued at current levels for a further 2 years. The grants fund costs relating to articles published in peer reviewed journals that have resulted from RCUK funded research and which acknowledge Research Council Funding. Since 2013, when the RCUK Open Access policy came into force, RCUK have provided 108 Research organisations with over £73m to pay for Article Processing Charges (APCs) and other linked costs.
Grants will continue to be awarded twice a year. The value of the award is based on the staff effort on active grants and the current Article Processing Charge (APCs) rates, with an adjustment to reflect the amount of unspent RCUK open access block grant funds carried forward from previous financial years.
Alexandra Vincent, Associate Director, Research Councils UK commented: "Our Open Access block grant underpins the RCUK Policy on Open Access and our vision to make the outputs for the publicly funded research invested in by the Research Councils as openly available as possible. I am delighted to have been able to confirm the block grant levels for the next two years, at today's Open Access Practitioner Group meeting and we hope that this ensures that the sector has stability in the underpinning funding for our open access policy as we transition to UK Research and Innovation."
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Contact:
RCUK Communications Team
Tel: 01793 444067 or email: openaccess@rcuk.ac.uk
A set of Frequently Asked Questions for Open Access Block Grants post March 2018 is available.
Open access is about making the products of research freely accessible to all. It allows research to be disseminated quickly and widely, the research process to operate more efficiently, and increased use and understanding of research by business, government, charities and the wider public.