
The call for Open Access to research
Progress on sharing research has been gradual since the Berlin Declaration on Open Access to Knowledge in the Sciences and Humanities (2006) and the San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment – or DORA (2012). Last year’s publication of Open Science and its role in universities: a roadmap for cultural change by LERU, lead-authored by Dr Paul Ayris, has helped shift the debate from theory to practice. In September 2018, cOAlition S – a consortium of 12 European research funders – called for public-funded research to be published in compliant Open Access (OA) journals or platforms by 1 January 2020. The resulting guidance document, Plan S: Making full & immediate Open Access a reality, has been largely welcomed by the research community for its 10 principles:
Plan S principles:
- the author retains unrestricted copyright – a Creative Commons licence where possible
- robust criteria and requirements are in place for OA journal and platform services
- funders collaboratively establish and support OA journals and infrastructures
- funders or universities cover OA publication fees, not individuals as a rule
- standardised funding and capping of OA fees apply across Europe
- universities, research organisations and libraries align their policies and strategies
- monograph and book publishing practices will require more time to change
- open archives and repositories are important
- hybrid Open Access models are NOT compatible with these principles
- funders will monitor compliance and sanction non-compliance
The UCL response to Plan S
Published January 2019, the UCL response to Plan S fully endorses Open Access in scholarly publishing, calling for “a wholesale rethink of the strategy and timelines for moving to 100% Open Access”, with:
- more engagement with universities, learned societies and researchers before implementation
- more detail on how Open Access publishing could work in different subject disciplines
- a more realistic timeline of years not months to allow universities to apply DORA recommendations and set up appointment and promotions frameworks
- more detail and thought on how publishing fees and Article Processing Charges (APCs) could work, with a risk assessment
- worldwide engagement, as Europe is too small a player to make global changes

The Road to Reproducibility: UCL draft Research Reproducibility policy April 2019
Draft UCL statement on reproducibility
On 10 April, UCL colleagues met for a UCL Research Reproducibility Town Hall discussion on the approach and actions needed to improve research standards through replicability. Under specific discussion was a draft UCL statement on reproducibility in research. Email contact: ovpr@ucl.ac.uk
Join us on Thursday 23 May 2019 9.30 – 4pm
Logan Hall, Institute of Education (IOE), 20 Bedford Way, London, WC1H 0AL View Map
This free UCL Library workshop will “explore the facets of Open Science and how these are, or could be, pursued by UCL researchers”, with morning discussions and afternoon workshops offering practical advice.
Morning talks include Registered Reports and the UKRN – Prof Chris Chambers (Cardiff University), cognitive neuroscientist, expert in registered reports and co-founder of the UK Reproducibility Network (UKRN).
Join UCL Reproducibility
Subscribe to the UCL reproducibility mailing list for news and updates, invitations to contribute and training opportunities.
The next talk is on Thursday 23 May and part of the UCL Open Science Day 2019
Attend a Reproducibilitea talk
See more information and 2019 ReproducibiliTea UCL topics and dates.
Colleagues from all disciplines, sceptics and non-UCL, welcome.
ReproducibiliTea UCL talks so far:
- Nosek et al: ‘Estimating the reproducibility of psychological science‘ (Science, 2015)
- Marcus Munafò et al: ‘A Manifesto for Reproducible Science‘ (2017)
- Halsey et al: The Fickle p Generates Irreproducible Results (2015)
The ReproducibiliTea journal club is supported by the UCL Researcher-led Initiative Award, and the UK Reproducibility Network has helped to spread the club to a number of universities.
UCL Open Access policy development:
Key documents in the Open Scholarship movement
Media articles
Resources
This blog was updated 12 June