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research publications, either via repositories, or (less frequently) through open access publishing funds. It is likely that most universities will respond to changes in Research Council and Funding Council policies by developing and implementing their own policies and systems to promote and support open access, each in accordance with their individual institutional missions and profiles.
9.15. First, universities should establish funds to meet the costs of APCs for open access publishing. A key source of the moneys to flow into such funds will be the amounts identified to support APCs in the grants received from the Research Councils and other funders such as the Wellcome Trust. But universities will need to identify other sources in order to meet the costs of APCs for publications that result from research not supported by such funders. Institutions that receive QR block grant from one of the Funding Councils could use that grant—as well as other resources available to them—to establish publication funds; and they could link provision for APCs through publication funds to transfers from library budgets, as the need for subscriptions falls. But there will be a time lag—because big deals typically last for three years, but also because the UK is likely to be ahead of the rest of the world in take-up of open access publishing—before there is significant scope to reduce expenditure on subscriptions without cutting the number of journals and articles to which their staff and students have access.
9.16. The size of the fund will be related to projections as to the amount of research income that the university expects to receive, in research grants and from other sources; the number of articles and other publications expected to be produced and for which an APC—in full or in part—might be required; and the average level of the likely APCs. There may be a need for a large contingency in the early years, as new policies and arrangements begin to take effect.
9.17. Universities will need to consider carefully, and to consult with their staff about, the policies and procedures surrounding publication funds. For researchers will be nervous about the implications of giving university and departmental managers a greater say in where and how researchers publish their work: the differences in cost of publishing in one journal rather than another will for the first time (outside those domains where page charges are a common feature of publishing) become a significant issue in decision-making. Universities should therefore consult with their staff and develop policies and procedures to set up and administer funds to meet the costs of APCs. Issues they will have to consider will include
- i. whether they should promote publication in open access journals as the principal or default channel for all research publications
- ii. the amount to be taken from QR and other sources (in addition to Research Council and Wellcome Trust grants) to establish the institutional fund for the payment of APCs
