Proposed new open access rules for the UK’s next Research Excellence Framework have been clarified after an outcry over the apparent removal of an exemption for trade books that many scholars feared would kill off popular academic titles.
Under new guidelines proposed on 18 March, any scholarly monographs and other long-form outputs submitted to the REF 2029 would have to be made freely available within two years of publication. Unlike the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) open access requirements for books, which took effect in January, there was no clear exemption for trade books that seek to engage a popular audience beyond academia.
Instead, the consultation stated that exceptions could be made if “the only appropriate publisher, after liaison and consideration, is unable to offer an open access option that complies with the REF policy” – a wording that could have applied to more mainstream publishers that do not offer open access options to authors, although some academics feared that they would need to argue this on a case-by-case basis.
The removal of trade books from the list of exceptions sparked fury online, with several university historians claiming that the need to make titles free to read within two years would make it far more difficult for academics to get published, given that books would face a two-year sales window.
