Like the UK Department of Health (DH), whose OA policy I just blogged two days ago, the BHF pledged to adopt an OA mandate back in January 2007, at the launch of UK PubMed Central (UKPMC). (Both are members of the UKPMC Funders Group and all members of the Funders Group pledged or adopted OA mandates.) But it took some time to deliberate and then released its policy without fanfare. I just discovered it. Excerpt:
BHF, as a member of the consortium of major UK biomedical and health research funders, contributes to the funding of UK PubMed Central (UKPMC), with the intention of ensuring that the complete versions of publications derived from their funded research are available freely....
As from 8 January 2007 the BHF requires that a copy of the final version of each peer-reviewed research paper accepted for publication, supported in whole or in part by BHF funding, shall be deposited in UKPMC, to be made freely available within 6 months of publication.
An increasing number of journals will deposit the article on behalf of the authors directly into UKPMC to be available on publication or after an embargo period (or into US PubMed Central, from where they are mirrored to UKPMC). In other cases, journals will not deposit the article but will allow the authors to deposit a copy....
All BHF grant holders submitting manuscripts to journals should find out in advance whether the publisher supports open access and that they can comply with paragraph [2] above.
If extra publication costs are required for open access in UKPMC, BHF will reimburse valid fees on receipt of a copy of the paper and the fee invoice. Where multiple funders are acknowledged BHF will pay a proportion.
If a researcher wishes to publish a paper in a journal that will not allow deposition in UKPMC and open access within 6 months of publication, a case must be made in advance to BHF, which will grant the request only in exceptional circumstances.
Useful information on which publishers are compliant with the BHF policy (in most cases, those listed as Wellcome Trust compliant are also BHF compliant) can be found on the SHERPA/RoMEO website....
For more general information about open access publication, the Wellcome Trust has a well-developed website to guide authors....
This policy document will be updated to include a list of the journals most frequently used by BHF funded researchers and their compliance with our policy. Further updates will follow as needed on BHF's website. Specific queries can be emailed to [this] address....
PS: Kudos to all involved at the BHF.
Posted by
Peter Suber at 5/16/2007 05:08:00 PM.
The open access movement:
Putting peer-reviewed scientific and scholarly literature
on the internet. Making it available free of charge and
free of most copyright and licensing restrictions.
Removing the barriers to serious research.
I recommend the OA tracking project (OATP) as the best way to stay on top of new OA developments. You can read the OATP feed on a blog-like web page or subscribe to it by RSS, email, or Twitter. You can also help build the feed by tagging new developments you encounter.
