Notification of exemption applied to a longform publication and trade books not published open access

Overview

The UKRI Open Access policy applies to monographs, book chapters or edited collections published on or after 1st January 2024.

This is the online form where authors or their organisations can notify UKRI when:

• an exemption has been applied to a longform publication that is in scope of our open access policy for longform publications
• a trade book acknowledging UKRI funding is not published open access

Exemptions

There is no requirement to seek UKRI’s approval on the use of exemptions. However, we ask authors or their research organisations to notify us when an exemption is applied using this simple online form. 

This form may be completed by authors or their organisations, but only a single submission should be made for each publication. We would encourage authors to ensure that their organisation is informed where they complete this form for their publication. 

If you have any queries, then please contact us at openresearch@ukri.org. 

Applying an exemption

UKRI recognises there may be rare instances where meeting our open access requirements for long-form outputs may not be possible. There are four reasons where the policy recognises an exemption may be applied. After due consideration, this may mean you need to apply an exemption to a publication that is in-scope of the UKRI open access policy. 

The four reasons are: 

• a contract was signed with a publisher before 1 January 2024, that prevents compliance with the policy
• where the only appropriate publisher, after liaison and consideration, is unable to offer an open access option that complies with UKRI’s policy
• where the only UKRI funding being acknowledged is a UKRI Training Grant (open access is encouraged but not required)
• where reuse permissions for third-party materials cannot be obtained and there is no suitable alternative option to enable open access publication

There are many benefits from publishing open access, and open access is a requirement for monographs, edited collections and book chapters that acknowledge our funding. Therefore, you should seek to publish open access wherever possible, prior to using an exemption. For example, you should consider both routes to open access, either the Version of Record or the Authors Accepted Manuscript, and refer to the guidance on applying exemptions for further information on open access options.

Guidance on when and how to use an exemption is provided in Annex 3 of the UKRI open access policy.

In considering whether you need to apply an exemption where reuse permissions for third-party materials cannot be obtained and there is no suitable alternative option to enable open access publication, you should refer to our guidance on good practice including third-party materials in your publication.

You should make the decision to apply an exemption for your publication following discussion, as appropriate, with your library, research office, or equivalent that is responsible for your research organisation’s implementation of the UKRI open access policy.

Trade books 

Trade books are defined in Annex 1 of the UKRI open access policy. If a trade book is the only output arising from UKRI research funding then the open access requirements apply. A trade book is otherwise out of scope of the policy. This means that open access requirements do not apply to your trade book if you publish another research output open access that: 

• is a peer-reviewed research article, monograph, book chapter, or edited collection in-scope of the open access policy, and 
• acknowledges the same UKRI funding as the trade book. 

You should only use this form when the trade book is not published open access.

How will UKRI use this information? 

UKRI will use the information supplied to understand the number and type of exemptions being applied, as well as trade books resulting from UKRI funding that are not published open access.