The new policy isn't public yet but over the weekend we got the first public clue. The ESPRC updated a key paragraph on its OA policy page.
Old paragraph:
In addition, an independent study will start late in 2006 and report in late 2008. Once this has been completed a full assessment of all the factors and implications can be made. This will include the question of whether the mandatory deposit of papers in repositories is a beneficial and cost effective option.
New paragraph:
The independent study commissioned by Research Councils UK was completed in late 2008. The findings from the study are now being taken forward by the Cross-Council Research Outputs Group and will be used to inform future policy on open access. EPSRC Council agreed at its December meeting to mandate open access publication, but that academics should be able to choose whether they use the green option (ie, self-archiving in an on-line repository) or gold option (ie, pay-to-publish in an open access journal). Further details will be published in spring 2009.
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.
