Paper details
UK Policy for Open Access
Author
Otakar Fojt, The British Embassy in Prague, United Kingdom
Documents to download
Full text Foto přednášejícího / Picture Presentation
Abstract
The UK Government is committed to ensuring that publicly funded research should be accessible free of charge. It published its official response to Dame Janet Finch’s 2012 report on Open Access (OA) in July 2013, and accepted all of the main recommendations from Dame Janet Finch’s independent group, established to examine how to improve access to published research findings. The Finch report recommended a mixed model approach (‘Green’ and ‘Gold’ OA), with a preference for Gold over Green, which was accepted by the Government. The Government has been working with UK public research funders (the Research Councils and Funding Councils) and other stakeholders to facilitate the practical implementation of OA policy for a five year transition period commencing April 2013. Funding for Article Publication Charges (APCs) is being made available to over 100 HEIs totalling £17 million in 2013/14 and £20 million in 2014/15, in the form of block grants. The UK Funding Councils, led by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) started a stakeholder consultation in summer 2013 on OA policy for Research Excellence Framework (REF) exercises beyond 2014. The Funding Councils are supportive of the Government and RCUK policy.
Author's professional CV
Otakar works as a Senior Science & Innovation Adviser at the British Embassy in Prague. He is a part of the Science and Innovation Network of the UK Government. In October 2003 he took up this newly created post in Prague and developed it to its current, well-performing state. He has organised and participated at many international conferences covering areas like innovation, technology transfer, intellectual property rights, biomedical research, EU Framework Programme funding, nanotechnologies, and also various Café Scientifiques popularising British science. Open access has been on Otakar’s agenda since 2012. After finishing his PhD in Biomedical Engineering during his Chevening scholarship programme at the University of Oxford in 1997, Otakar worked for four years as a Postdoctoral research fellow at the Department of Mathematics at the University of York. He for a while managed a small technology company in the Czech Republic.
