Hybrid Open Access position statement
Answer
The University of Manchester’s position on hybrid Open Access
Since 2021, Gold Open Access funding is no longer available for subscription-based journals outside of Transformative Agreements.
The University no longer supports Open Access (OA) payments for articles in subscription journals (known as ‘hybrid OA’) which have not demonstrated a plan for moving to a fully OA model.
The change applies to ‘hybrid’ journals only. It does not affect researchers' ability to submit to their chosen journal because Open Access can be achieved by depositing the peer-reviewed article to Pure. The Library's Open Access Gateway service [link to Gateway] makes this process simple for authors.
Payments related to publication in fully OA (Pure Gold) journals are unaffected and will continue to be paid from the UKRI block grant or University Open Access Fund.
This change does not apply to CRUK and BHF funded publications. Please see this article for funder-specific eligibility criteria.
Why was this change introduced?
This change is needed to enable the University to continue to support more innovative OA business models.
This change is consistent with a sector-wide shift away from the subscription journal business model as funders and universities put pressure on publishers to stop restricting access to articles by placing them behind expensive paywalls. It is also consistent with Plan S, a coalition of funders launched in 2018 with the aim of accelerating the transition to OA. As a Plan S signatory, UKRI confirmed that, from April 2022, it will no longer fund publication charges in hybrid journals unless covered by a Transformative Agreement established via Jisc.
In response, the Library is committed to only establishing Transformative Agreements with publishers where there is a clear commitment to shift expenditure from subscriptions to OA. Transformative Agreements allow full read access to all published content whilst allowing Manchester authors to publish OA at no extra cost. More information on agreements currently available to Manchester authors is available via our Introduction to Open Access agreements page.
Further support
Need any help? You can find more articles about other Open Access-related topics or get in touch with the team.