Article written by Dr Christiana McMahon, UCL Research Data Management Team

As we discussed in the blog post on Wednesday, there are ways to share and be transparent about your research without compromising ethical or legal requirements. Did you know that the UCL Research Data Repository (RDR) is a great way for staff and research students to archive, preserve, promote and publish these outputs created as part of the research process?

Have you ever been asked to archive other types of research outputs? UCL has RPS for articles, but did you know that you can also archive and share other outputs of research? Be it a whole dataset, or other types of material supporting your research such as photos, models, software, presentation slides, your Data Management Plan, even a poster.

By using the RDR, you can get a permanent identifier for your work in the form of a DOI and add it to your ORCID. Additionally, as you publish items in the UCL Research Data Repository, these are automatically collated together on a data repository webpage just for you.

With over 580,000 downloads globally, we have published over 950 research outputs that have been viewed in over 180 countries, so start publishing today!

• For more information contact: researchdatarepository@ucl.ac.uk.
• Access the full online catalogue: https://rdr.ucl.ac.uk/

Article written by Dr Christiana McMahon, UCL Research Data Management Team

Writing a data management plan can be difficult task to approach at the best of times. There are lots of things to consider, not just going through your project in detail, you may also need to consider external funding agency requirements, UCL’s research data expectations plus the FAIR data principles, well… advice from the Research Data Support Officers might be just what you need!

There is still plenty of time to get registered for one of the upcoming courses on how to write a data management plan! Book your place online today.

Data management plans (DMPs) describe your data management and sharing activities across the research data lifecycle and are a valuable document for you to refer to throughout your research project that can help you structure and protect your data for the long term. A fully completed DMP is usually 1-3 pages in length and can even be published as an output of your research. We recommend that they are written at the start of the research and are regularly reviewed and updated over the course of your research.

For more information on data management planning and how to get in touch with the team, visit our website.

Article written by Dr Christiana McMahon, UCL Research Data Management Team

“I want to share my data, but I can’t because…” is something we hear often.

Sometimes, it’s not possible to share evidence openly and that’s okay. Let’s take a closer look at what we can do to promote research findings and foster transparency and confidence in the research process

At UCL, staff and students are actively encouraged to share their research outputs openly with the wider academic and public communities. However, openly sharing the research evidence which underpins published findings might not always be possible as there could be ethical, legal or commercial reasons prohibiting you from doing so. Hence the phrase, “as open as possible, as closed as necessary”.

While you may not be able to share your data as an output, there are many other considerations. Can you be transparent about your processes? Can you tell others how you did the research so that they can replicate your methods? Have you considered ways to anonymise or share derived subsets of your data? What about your publications associated with your research, can they be open?

There are a huge amount of options available to you. Check out the Office for Open Science and Scholarship website for advice and support on engaging with open research principles even when the research evidence cannot be made publicly accessible.

Plus, easily access different teams across UCL helping you to engage with open research:

• Open Access,
• Research Data Management,
• UCL Press,
• Metrics and Bibliometrics,
• Transparency and Reproducibility,
• Digital Collections,
• Citizen Science,
• Co-Production and Public Engagement,
• Compliance and Assurance,
• and Copyright.

Guest post by Preeti Matharu, Jack Hindley, Victor Olago, Angharad Green (ARC Research Data Stewards), in celebration of International Love Data Week 2025

Research data is a valuable yet vulnerable asset. Research data is a valuable yet vulnerable asset. Researchers collect and analyse large amounts of personal and sensitive data ranging from health records to survey responses, and this raises an important question – whose data is it anyway?

If data involve human subjects, then participants are the original owners of their personal data. They grant permission to researchers to collect and use their data through informed consent. Therefore, responsibility for managing and protecting their data, in line with legal, regulatory, ethical requirements, and policies lie with researchers and their institution. Hence, maintaining a balance between participant rights and researcher needs.

Under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in the UK and EU, participants have the right to access, update and request deletion of their data, whilst researchers must comply with the law to ensure research integrity. However, under the Data Protection Act, research data processed in the public interest must be retained irrespective of participant rights, including the rights to erase, access and rectify. UCL must uphold this requirement while ensuring participant confidentiality is not compromised.

Information governance consists of policies, procedures and processes adopted by UCL to ensure research data is managed securely and complies with legal and operational requirements.

Support for information governance in research is now provided by Data Stewards within ARC RDM IG. That’s a long acronym, let’s break it down.

• ARC: Advanced Research Computing – UCL’s research innovative centre and provides 1. Secure digital infrastructure and 2. Teaching software.
• RDM: Research Data Management – assist researchers with data management.
• IG: Information governance – advise researchers on compliance for managing sensitive data.

Data Stewards – we support researchers with data management throughout the research study, provide guidance on data security awareness training, data security requirements for projects, and compliance with legal and regulatory standards, encompassing the Five Safes Framework principles. Additionally, we advise on sensitive data storage options, such as a Trusted Research Environment (TRE) or the Data Safe Haven (DSH).

Furthermore, we emphasise the importance of maintaining up-to-date and relevant documentation and provide guidance on FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable) data principles.

As stated above, data can be vulnerable. UCL must implement strong security controls including encryption, access control and authentication, to protect sensitive data, such as personal health data and intellectual property. Sensitive data refers to data whose unauthorised disclosure could cause potential harm to participants or UCL.

UCL’s Information Security Management System (ISMS) is a systematic approach to managing sensitive research data to ensure confidentiality, integrity, and availability. It is a risk management process involving people, processes and IT systems. The key components include information management policy, identifying and assessing risks, implementing security controls to mitigate identified risks, training users and continuous monitoring. The ISMS is crucial in research:

1. It protects sensitive data; without stringent security measures, data is at risk of being accessed by unauthorised individuals leading to potential theft.
2. It ensures legal and regulatory compliance i.e. GDPR and UCL policies. Non-compliance results in hefty fines, legal action and reputational damage.
3. Research ethics demand participant data is handled with confidentiality. The ISMS ensures data management practices, data anonymisation, and controlled access whilst reinforcing ethical responsibility.
4. It reduces the risk of phishing attacks and ransomware.
5. It ensures data integrity and reliability – tampered or corrupted data can lead to invalid research and waste of resources.

UCL practices for Information Governance in research:

• Data security – Use encrypted storage, access controls and secure platforms like TRE or DSH.
• Ethical responsibility – Data protection office and Ethics obtain informed consent from participants and ensure they fully understand how their data will be used.
• Data Security Awareness training – Ensure researchers have completed and regularly review their training.
• Information Security Group – Conduct regular audits, identify vulnerabilities and mitigate potential risks.
• Contract Services – Review all research related contracts.

In response to the question, whose data is it anyway? Data may be generated by participants, but the overall responsibility to use, process, protect, ethically manage lies upon the researchers and UCL. Additionally, beyond compliance and good information governance, it is about ensuring research integrity and safeguarding the participants who make research possible.

In true UCL tradition, we kickstart the week with the annual Research Data Management review so take a look at our poster and see what we’ve been doing in the Library!

Here in the Office for Open Science & Scholarship we like to start every new year by taking a look back over the last and sharing our highlights with you.

In 2024 the Open Access Team facilitated the Gold open access publication of 3,963 papers. UCL Discovery continued to go from strength to strength, with over 53 million downloads. The publications repository now boasts over 185,000 open access items, including 24,900 theses, with over 15,500 uploads in the preceding twelve months.

The Research Data Management Team has had an equally productive year, publishing over 230 items in the data repository which has now exceeded 230,000 views and a similar number of downloads. They have reviewed over 30 data management plans and held classes for over 70 people, both online and in person. There are still seats available for term 2 that can be booked online.

Updates and publications

Across all of the teams that make up the Office we have published a whole host of documents and updates such as:

• New version of research data policy
• New-look RDR website
• Newly launched principles for Citizen Science
• Co-created UCL Principles of Authorship
• Open Science Case Studies

Our blog highlights

The blog has been super busy throughout the year with one of our personal highlights being the brilliant series of posts by Christine Daoutis, UCL’s Copyright Officer that looked at a range of issues around copyright in open science including a deep dive across three posts into Copyright and AI, how copyright exceptions can support your research and how copyright applies to Text and Data mining.

We also had some great events throughout the year that you can catch up on, from our annual Open Science Conference, the second annual Open Science & Scholarship Awards, and our first ever Citizen Science Community Event.

We also had a great time working with the UCL Digital Accessibility team throughout the year, they have been a great support in improving the accessibility of everything we do. We were able to highlight their work in one of our Newsletters and we also interviewed Ben Watson, Head of Digital Accessibility, who was a great sport and is an overall inspirational guy!

Upcoming in 2025

We have a great year ahead in 2025, we have the imminent publication of our next Operational plan, designed to push the team to bigger and better things for the office. We are hoping to get that out in the first quarter of the year, its just going through various stages of internal feedback before we can get it out there! We will be continuing to grow our newest social media channels LinkedIn and BlueSky, and if you don’t subscribe to our newsletter, now’s your chance!

We will also be challenging ourself to bigger and better things when it comes to our conference. You all know that we like to change it up and this year we are reaching out to friends and colleagues to change our conference into our first festival!

We will also be continuing the brilliant series with Ilan Kelman on the Risks and Opportunities of Open Science. We have already shared the first two parts but keep an eye out for the last three parts coming soon!

Post provided by Sheetal Saujani, Citizen Science Support Officer.

This week’s UCL Citizen Science Community Event brought researchers, academics, students and staff from across UCL together to celebrate citizen science and participatory research. The slides and programme are available online so that everyone can follow up with the references.

The morning was packed with engaging talks and workshops, highlighting unique perspectives and approaches to citizen science. From discussions about an innovative mapping tool and the role of the UCL Urban Room in preserving local memories to hands-on workshops that sparked new ideas, the event demonstrated the diversity and potential of citizen-led research. One highlight was seeing the genuine passion from the presenters, whose enthusiasm was contagious.

At the start of the event, the Citizen Science team at the Office for Science and Scholarship and the UCL Co-Production and Public Engagement teams showcased their services and support including training, resources and advice. Their dedication to supporting citizen science and public engagement left everyone excited and ready to get involved. Both teams are eager to hear from the UCL community about their projects and the support they may need, so they encourage everyone to get in touch.

We also heard from Marcos Moreu and Fabien Moustard from the Extreme Citizen Science Research Group (ExCites) about a new tool called Kapta that they have been involved in the design for, allowing mapping data to be collected simply using WhatsApp, allowing small or remote communities to collect data without extensive knowledge or additional training. More information can be found by looking at the slides above or on Kapta.earth.

Professor Muki Haklay delved into the topic of skills and competencies in citizen science, exploring how competency frameworks define the skills, knowledge, and values needed for success in this field. His talk highlighted frameworks like the UCL Academic Careers Framework, Vitae’s Researcher Development Framework, and ECS Academy’s Research Competencies framework, which outline progression paths, accreditation standards, and expectations at foundational to expert levels. These frameworks not only codify what individuals need to know but also guide learning, recruitment, and career development. A live Mentimeter poll engaged attendees, inviting their perspectives on key skills, competencies and areas for development, sparking conversations about advancing expertise in citizen science.

Dr Izzy Bishop led an interactive session where participants contributed their thoughts on the various elements required to include citizen science in a project proposal. The flipchart became a dynamic map, highlighting key areas such as co-design, engagement, training, communications, technology, volunteer management, data analysis, and impact. Each participant helped to identify UCL’s expertise and interest in these areas, promoting collaboration and a shared understanding.

We also discussed strategies for applying for and sustaining project funding, with a focus on Horizon Europe opportunities. Professor Muki Haklay provided valuable insights on successfully navigating the application process and securing support for citizen science initiatives.

Hearing Jo Baines discuss UCL’s Urban Room, and the innovative Memory Workshop was truly inspiring. These projects showcase the power of engaging communities, including underrepresented groups, to explore shared histories and reimagine urban spaces. The Memory Workshop and Memory Bike demonstrate citizen science in action, amplifying diverse voices, and uncovering new insights through creative, participatory research. By equipping participants with skills and tools that extend beyond the projects, they highlight how citizen science connects people and ideas to drive meaningful change.

We were captivated by voices from two remarkable projects Flotilla by Melanie Manchot and Breaking Waves, which highlight the power of art and storytelling to link communities and preserve collective memory. Both reflect the spirit of citizen science by fostering connections and inspiring new perspectives. The links to experience these projects for yourself are available in the slides linked above.

Before the event closed, there was a fun and relaxed speed networking session. The vibrant spirit of session encouraged meaningful conversations and connections, reminding us of the value of sharing knowledge and experiences across disciplines and communities!

A huge thank you to all the speakers, workshop leaders, and participants who made the event so worthwhile. We hope everyone left as inspired as we did to continue championing citizen science!

As part of our Open Access Week celebrations, we were delighted to host the second annual Open Science & Scholarship Awards presentation. This event gave us the opportunity to gather in person, congratulate the awardees, and celebrate their achievements after announcing the winners a few weeks ago.

The event began with certificate presentations, followed by a showcase of the award-winning projects.

First, Enny van Beest and Célian Bimbard, who received an honourable mention in the Open Source Software/Analytical Tools category, shared their project UnitMatch. Designed to track neurons across extensive Neuropixel Recordings, this software accelerates the analysis of large datasets, proving a valuable resource for researchers handling high volumes of neural data.

Next, winners of the Student category, Sophie Ka Ling Lau and Divya Balain, presented Diverse Voices, a website emerging from their project on the impact of COVID-19 on East London communities. Sophie and Divya, both Master’s students from UCL’s Departments of Brain Sciences and Life Sciences, respectively, created this collaborative platform to share insights gained from their research.

In the Advocating for Open Science & Community Building category, Joseph Cook shared his work with the UCL Citizen Science Academy, housed within the Institute for Global Prosperity. The Academy empowers citizens to participate in research projects, offering a structured learning programme and a certificate that recognises their contributions and learning.

The Professional Services Staff category award went to the Understanding Disability Project, presented by Eirini-Christina Saloniki and William Lammons. This project combines lived experiences with broad representation to document perspectives of people living with disabilities across North Thames, aiming for a comprehensive view that highlights the unique challenges they face.

Finally, in the Open Publishing category, Emily Gardner discussed her work with the NCL Mutation Database. This essential resource supports Batten Disease research and therapeutic development, with Emily’s work ensuring metadata accuracy and database reliability for researchers.

In the Open-Source Software category, we also recognised Alessandro Felder and the BrainGlobe Initiative, a collaborative project focused on creating open-access tools that support neuroscientific research worldwide. Although Alessandro couldn’t attend the ceremony, we were proud to recognise this initiative’s impressive accomplishments. Founded in 2020 to advance the handling and analysis of neuroimaging data, the BrainGlobe tools have been downloaded over 2.7 million times around the world!

After the presentations, the audience had a chance to network and enjoy refreshments provided by UCL Press, the event’s generous sponsor.

We would like to extend a special thank you to our other honorable mention recipients: Beth Downe, Gabrielle Pengyu Shao, Deborah Padfield, Dr. Adam Parker, Hengrui Zhang, Mathilde Ripart, Justyna Petke, Claire Waddington, and Fan Cheng. Representing a range of departments, teams, and centres across UCL – from the Slade School of Fine Art to the Dementia Research Centre – we were thrilled to celebrate your work and dedication to advancing open science across disciplines. Thank you for being part of this event!

Our heartfelt thanks go to UCL Press for their support, the Office for Open Science & Scholarship team for organising the awards, and Sandy Schumann and Jessie Baldwin, UKRN local network leads, for managing the submission and peer review process. Special thanks go to Paul Ayris, Head of the UCL Office for Open Science & Scholarship, and David Shanks, UCL’s Institutional Lead for Reproducibility, for their continued support of these awards.

Watch this space for the next Open Science and Scholarship Awards!

We are approaching the end of International Open Access Week, and we have been enjoying a series of interesting insights and discussions across UCL!  Earlier this week, we explored the balance between collaboration and commercialisation, highlighted the important work of Citizen Science initiatives and the growing significance of open access textbooks.

Today, Christine Daoutis, UCL Copyright Support Officer, will build on our ongoing series about copyright and open science, focusing on how we can ensure free and open access to knowledge in the age of AI, by addressing copyright challenges, advocating for rights retention policies, and discussing secondary publication rights that benefit both researchers and the public.

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Open Access Week 2024 builds on last year’s theme, Community over Commercialisation, aiming not only to continue discussions but to take meaningful action that prioritises the interests of the scholarly community and the public. This post focuses on copyright-related issues that, when addressed by both individual researchers and through institutional, funder, and legal reforms, can help create more sustainable and equitable access to knowledge.

Retaining author rights

Broadly speaking, rights retention means that authors of scholarly publications avoid the traditional practice of signing away their rights to publishers, typically done through a copyright transfer agreement or exclusive licence. Instead, as an author, you retain at least some rights that allow you to share and reuse your own research as openly as possible. For example, you could post your work in an open access repository, share it on academic networks, reuse it in your teaching, and incorporate it into other works like your thesis.

Many funders and institutions have specific rights retention policies that address related legal issues. If such a policy applies, and publishers are informed in advance, authors typically need to retain rights and apply an open licence (usually CC BY) to the accepted manuscript at the point of submission.

Rights retention ensures that your research can be made open access without relying on unsustainable pay-to-publish models, and without facing delays or restrictions from publishers’ web posting policies. Importantly, rights retention is not limited to published research—it can be applied to preprints, data, protocols, and other outputs throughout the research process.

Secondary Publication Rights (SPRs)

Secondary publication rights (SPRs) refer to legislation that allows publicly funded research to be published in an open access repository or elsewhere, at the same time as its primary publication in academic journals. Some European countries already have SPRs, as highlighted by the Knowledge Rights 21 study conducted by LIBER, and LIBER advocates for #ZeroEmbargo on publicly funded scientific publications. There are ongoing calls to harmonise and optimise these rights across countries, ensuring that the version of record becomes immediately available upon publication, overriding contractual restrictions imposed by publishers.

SPRs can apply to different types of research output and are meant to complement rights retention policies. However, introducing SPRs depends on copyright reform, which is not an action individual researchers can take themselves, though it’s still useful to be aware of developments in this area.

Artificial Intelligence and your rights

The rise of Generative AI (GenAI) has introduced broader issues affecting researchers, both as users and as authors of copyrighted works. These include:

• Clauses in subscription agreements that seek to prevent researchers from using resources their institution has subscribed to for AI-related purposes.
• Publishers forming agreements with AI companies to share content from journal articles and books for AI training purposes, often without clear communication to authors. A recent deal between Taylor & Francis and Microsoft for $10 million has raised concerns among scholars about how their research will be used by AI tools. In some cases, authors are given the option to opt in, as seen with Cambridge Press.
• For works already licensed for reuse, such as articles under a CC BY licence or those used under copyright exceptions, questions arise about how the work will be reused, for what purposes, and how it will be attributed.

While including published research in AI training should help improve the accuracy of models and reduce bias, researchers should have enough information to understand and decide how their work is reused. Creative Commons is exploring ‘preference signals’ for authors of CC-licensed works to address this issue.

The key issue is that transferring your copyright or exclusive rights to a publisher restricts what you can do with your own work and allows the publisher to reuse your work in ways beyond your control, including training AI models.

Using Copyright exceptions in research

UK copyright law includes exceptions (known as ‘permitted acts’) for non-commercial research, private study, criticism, review, quotation, and illustration for instruction. As a researcher, you can rely on these exceptions as long as your use qualifies as ‘fair dealing’, as previously discussed in a blog post during Fair Dealing Week. Text and data mining for non-commercial research is also covered by an exception, allowing researchers to download and analyse large amounts of data to which they have lawful access.

Relying on copyright exceptions involves evaluating your purpose and, for some exceptions, making a decision around what is ‘fair’. This also involves some assessment of risk. Understanding copyright exceptions helps you exercise your rights as users of knowledge and make confident assessments as to whether and when a copyright exception is likely to apply, and when permission is necessary. [see links for UK legislation at the end of this article]

Engage with copyright at UCL

The conversations sparked during Open Access Week continue throughout the year at UCL as part of ongoing copyright support and education. To engage further with these issues, you can:

• Add your voice to how copyright literacy is shaped at UCL. Provide feedback on the draft UCL copyright literacy strategy and consider joining the new UCL copyright literacy community.
• Attend a copyright training session or email copyright@ucl.ac.uk to arrange a bespoke session. The newly introduced ‘Copyright, Open Science and Creativity’ game is a fun way of engaging with current debates and learning about recent developments. More dates for this will be released soon.
• Follow copyright news on the Open@UCL blog and the Copyright blog.

Useful Legislation

• Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, Section 29: Research and Private Study
• Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, Section 29A: Text and Data Mining for Non-Commercial Research
• Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, Section 30: Text and Data Mining
• Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, Section 32: Copying for non-commercial research

As we continue celebrating International Open Access Week, it’s inspiring to see how open access is shaping research and collaboration across UCL! Earlier this week, we explored the balance between collaboration and commercialisation, and highlighted the important work of Citizen Science initiatives.

Midway through the week, Dhara Snowden, Textbook Programme Manager at UCL Press, shares her insights below on the growing significance of open access textbooks and their role in the broader landscape of open access publishing.

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UCL Press is the UK’s first, and largest, fully open access university press. We have been publishing books and journals for almost ten years, covering a wide range of subjects and formats. In 2021, the press launched a new programme focusing on open access (OA) textbooks. I joined at that time, and over the past three years, I’ve been responsible for managing our progress in this area. As part of this year’s International Open Access Week, I wanted to share some of our thinking and planning around this activity and offer some musings about OA textbook publishing in general and what the future holds.

What are Open Access Textbooks?

Firstly, it’s useful to clarify what we mean by “textbooks.” Through conversations with academics across faculties, I’ve realised this term can mean different things depending on the context and level of study. In the broadest sense, a textbook is a resource that supports the delivery of a course or module. Textbooks can provide a wide-view survey of a field or subject, to be “adopted” as the main guide for study, or they can be part of a reading list that includes chapters from various sources, like journal articles.

Although textbooks were traditionally published in print, there has been increasing demand for digital versions of commercial textbooks, which can be purchased by individuals and licenced to institutions for use for multiple users.

Open access publishing, meanwhile, involves making scholarly content freely available online, removing subscription or purchase barriers. In the context of textbooks, this means students and educators can access high-quality educational resources without significant costs. OA textbooks are typically published under a Creative Commons (CC) licence, which allows for redistribution, adaptation, and modification, promoting a collaborative and inclusive educational environment.

The creation and uptake of OA textbooks has seen a sharp increase in recent years, particularly in the US and UK, with non-profit-funded publishers like OpenStax, collaboratively funded projects like CORE Econ, and platforms like Pressbooks. The Open Textbook Library, supported by Open Education Network, currently indexes 1,542 published open textbooks.

Why do we create them?

The UCL Press textbook programme was set up in direct response to issues around pricing for institutional access to essential e-textbooks, which were exacerbated during the Covid-19 pandemic. The current ecosystem presents an unstable and unsustainable financial model for institutional libraries, as well documented by the eBooks SOS campaign, which calls attention to the lack of regulation in pricing by commercial publishers.

An article published by Insights in 2022, ‘Perspectives on e-books and digital textbooks and the way ahead’, claims that ‘combined spending on book across nationally negotiated library purchasing frameworks increased from £55M in 2019/20 to £73M in 202/21, with e-textbook provision increasing by 281% to £25.1M during that time’.

In addition to concerns about affordability and sustained access, the Insights article outlines that post-pandemic, “shifts in teaching practice are accelerating demand for features that enhance blended learning”, with more flexibility and adaptability in resources being required, which isn’t being delivered by traditional academic publishing.

UCL Press’s aims to disrupt the current academic publishing ecosystem, offering authors and readers an alternative to the commercial model. This connects the theme for OA Week 2024, which calls for community over commercialisation. Bringing publishing back to the hands of academy, we can provide sustainable and high-quality textbooks to facilitate hybrid teaching and remove barriers to access for our content thereby reaching the widest possible audience and increasing chances to impact in scholarly communities.

How do we create them?

The UCL Press textbook programme commissions and publishes textbooks for undergraduate and postgraduate students across a wide range of subjects and topics. Every new proposal (and final manuscript) undergoes a rigorous peer-review process to ensure high-quality and relevant content.

Our approach is to collaborate with lecturers to create resources that provide high-quality guidance for students. Taking a personal and flexible approach to each project, we avoid rigid templates or a one-size-fits-all mentality, tailoring our textbooks to the needs of students and subject matter.

To date, we’ve published two textbooks. The first, An Introduction to Waste Management and Circular Economy, came out in December 2023. This textbook supports a module taught at UCL but also has global relevance for courses in environmental engineering, resource efficiency, bioenergy, and waste-to-energy technologies.

More recently, we published  Methods and Methodologies in Heritage Studies, an edited collection exploring the disciplinary debates, intellectual legacies, and practical innovations that shape contemporary understandings of heritage value.

 

 

Together, these two titles have been downloaded over 12,000 times in 152 countries and territories. Our forthcoming titles include, A Guide to Performing Systematic Reviews of Health and Disease and Fundamentals of Dark Matter, both due to publish early next year.

What are the benefits of writing or using OA textbooks? Where’s the value?

There are many benefits to writing and using OA textbooks and the European Network of Open Education Librarians have created a toolkit to encourage use of OA materials and Open Educational Resources (OER). Some key points are listed below.

• Reaching a Global Audience: downloads and views from readers across the globe, particularly the Global South.
• Cost-Effectiveness: One of the most significant advantages of OA textbooks is their cost-saving potential for both library and student. OA resources can alleviate this burden, allow to redistribution of saved funds and make education more accessible for all.
• Adaptability: open licences enable reuse, modification and adaptation, enabling educators to make the content work best for teaching.
• Showcase Teaching Excellence: OA textbooks can help platform new approaches or area of study, and celebrate examples of teaching excellence.
• Encourage lifelong learning: Provide students with resources they can use and reference after their studies and into their careers.
• Accessibility and Inclusivity: Open access textbooks are available to anyone with an internet connection, supporting diverse learners, including those in remote or under-resourced areas, and those outside academic institutions(e. professionals and policy makers)
• Up-to-Date Content: Traditional textbooks can quickly become outdated. OA textbooks can be updated and revised more readily, ensuring that students have access to the most current information.
• Enhanced Collaboration: Open resources encourage collaboration among educators, fostering a community of shared knowledge and innovation.

To measure impact, we use both qualitative and quantitative measures. Our Statistics dashboard shows the readership and reach of our books, including a map of access. In addition, we are collecting testimonials and feedback from academics and students and engaging with the societal impact of our books (as discussed in a recent article in The Scholarly Kitchen). We interrogate our user analytics to understand which communities are interacting with our content and how they are using it in their own work.

Value in this context is calculated not only in terms of cost-saving on commercial provision, but also in the added value student experience. This includes showcasing teaching excellence to encourage enrolment in a particular course or providing a teaching and learning resources for a module that are underrepresented in commercial provision (i.e. those with smaller cohorts/interdisciplinary topics/less mainstream perspectives).

What does the future hold?

The future of open access textbook publishing in the UK looks promising, with increasing institutional support and growing awareness among educators. As the demand for affordable and accessible educational resources continues to rise, the potential for OA textbooks to reshape higher education is significant.

Open access textbook publishing represents a vital shift in the academic landscape, providing a sustainable, equitable, and collaborative approach to education. As more institutions and publishers embrace this model, we hope to create a future where quality educational resources are accessible to all, empowering students and educators alike.

Significant sea change in the status quo requires a long-term outlook, and significant investment and commitment. If educators, students, and policymakers continue to discover and advocate for the adoption of open access resources within institutions, there is potential to foster an educational environment that fully supports and values accessibility, collaboration, and innovation.

UCL Press will continue to develop its programme of OA textbooks and to keep up to date with our publications, please do sign up to our mailing list or take a look at our website.