To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether his Department plans to publish its assessment of the wider social and economic implications of UKRI’s proposed Open Access policy.
Answered on
9 November 2020
As outlined in the recently published R&D Roadmap, Open Access is central to the Government’s ambitions for research and innovation, with openness being key to world class research, and to maximise the benefit of public research funding to other researchers, businesses and wider audiences.
As part of the UKRI Open Access review, UKRI is working with BEIS to consider implications for stakeholders. UKRI and BEIS co designed analysis on the social and economic costs and benefits of Open Access, which UKRI commissioned from an independent consultancy. This will assess the possible implications for various groups such as Learned Societies, Research Organisations, Disciplines and Publishers, as well as perspectives of users of Open Access publications including businesses. This independent evidence on costs and benefits, and the responses to the consultation on the proposed policy run by UKRI from Feb-May 2020, now provide the basis for considering the wider social and economic implications.
The UKRI open access review will report in Spring 2021. Together with its final policy, UKRI will publish key pieces of analysis and this will include the assessment of possible implications for stakeholders, and the analysis of consultation responses.
UKRI supported Plan S and joined the coalition because working internationally is important to help achieve open access, and Plan S broadly aligns with UKRI Open Access principles. UKRI is considering the Plan S principles and guidance, including with regards to rights retention, alongside other evidence and inputs within the broader aspects of the Review. The outcomes of the review will determine the decision on the final UKRI Open Access policy.
BEIS continues to work closely with UKRI to ensure that the policy supports economic Open Access models where the fair, transparent and reasonable costs of Open Access publishing are met.