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Research Open Access Procedure

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Purpose | Scope | Principles | Procedure statements | Roles and responsibilities | Definitions | Approval information | Version history | References

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1. Purpose

1.1 The Research Open Access Procedure (the procedure) outlines the process for making UTS research outputs open access. 

1.2 This procedure should be read in conjunction with the Open Access Policy (the policy).

2. Scope

2.1 The procedure applies to all those under the scope of the policy. 

2.2 The procedure applies to all research outputs under the scope of the policy. 

2.3 The following are out of scope of this procedure: 

  1. course and educational materials and open educational resources (refer Teaching and Learning Open Access Procedure) 
  2. non-digital outputs, and 
  3. material outside of the scope of the Intellectual Property Policy.

3. Principles

3.1 The principles outlined in the policy apply for this procedure. 

3.2 UTS supports a variety of approaches to open access that enable authors to publish in the outlet of their choice while fulfilling the requirements of the policy.

4. Procedure statements

4.1 The procedure provides UTS authors with a practical framework to: 

  1. support the principles of an international open access research community, and 
  2. achieve maximum reach and impact of UTS research endeavours. 

Research outputs 

4.2 UTS aims to capture a complete record of all UTS created research outputs (both traditional and non-traditional), via author submission of outputs to the UTS digital repository (OPUS via Symplectic Elements) or UTS data catalogue (Research Data Portal). 

4.3 The UTS author named on the output is responsible for the deposit of research outputs. Where there are multiple authors, the corresponding or first named author at UTS is responsible. 

4.4 Table 4.4 outlines examples of research output types and where they should be submitted. Contact the UTS Library (at Contact us) for other output types not listed. 

Table 4.4: Submission of research outputs

Output typeDescriptionSubmit to
BooksBooks that meet the definition of researchOPUS via Symplectic Elements
Book chaptersChapters in research booksOPUS via Symplectic Elements
Journal articles

Peer reviewed articles in scholarly journals: 

  • accepted manuscript 
  • published version
OPUS via Symplectic Elements
Conference proceedingFull paper, peer reviewedOPUS via Symplectic Elements
Report or government submissionIncluding research reports for an external bodyOPUS via Symplectic Elements
Thesis
  • Doctoral 
  • Masters level
Digital Thesis Submission form
Non-traditional research outputs
  • Visual or design creative works 
  • Live performance of creative works 
  • Recorded or rendered created works 
  • Public exhibition or event
OPUS via Symplectic Elements
Data
  • Datasets related to research conducted at UTS 
  • Datasets underpinning UTS affiliated publications
Research Data Portal via Stash

4.5 Works deposited to OPUS are done via Symplectic Elements, UTS’s research outputs management system. Submission to OPUS facilitates global discoverability and access, including, in most cases, to publications where the official published version may be paywalled. Refer OPUS: How to deposit for further guidance. 

4.6 Accepted manuscripts of applicable published research outputs (refer table 4.4 for examples) must be submitted to OPUS via Symplectic Elements. 

4.7 Authors may publish data via the Research Data Portal. Refer Research Data Management Procedure and UTS Library: Publishing Research Data for further guidance on publishing and archiving research data. 

Pathways to open access 

4.8 There are multiple pathways to achieve open access, including: 

  1. journal-based open access 
  2. repository-based open access 
  3. read and publish agreements (also known as ‘transformative agreements’). Refer UTS Library: Open Access Publishing. 

4.9 Certain provisions for achieving open access may be required from the beginning of a research project (for example, budget considerations for article processing charges or appropriate participant consent and de-identification processes for publishing research data). Authors must consider the potential ‘openness’ of research outputs at the outset of their research. 

4.10 Authors must evaluate the quality and reputation of a publisher when selecting an output for publication. Authors may seek advice on strategic publishing and predatory publishers from their research supervisor (refer also Research Policy and UTS Library: Publishing Strategically). 

4.11 It is not recommended to publish open access in a hybrid journal (where an individual journal article is made open access through an article processing charge in an otherwise paywalled journal), other than through read and publish agreements. 

Client requirements 

4.12 Research projects must comply with funder/client and/or contractual requirements on open access as agreed to in the research contract (refer Research Policy). 

Embargoes 

4.13 Where open access is restricted by a publisher embargo, or other condition(s), the output is archived in OPUS or the Research Data Portal for the period of the embargo or other restriction. The metadata will still be accessible for this period. 

4.14 Table 4.14 outlines the embargo categories, conditions and how to apply for a particular embargo. 

Table 4.14 Embargo categories and conditions

Embargo categoryConditionsProcess
PublisherWhere works submitted to OPUS via Symplectic Elements are subject to publisher embargos, the embargo conditions must be adhered to.Publishers may have different embargo requirements for different versions of records. These will be assessed and managed by the UTS Library.
Author

The following exemption conditions apply for assessing embargoes requested by the author: 

  • Legal: where there may be issues with copyright and/or intellectual property rights.
  • Cultural: where outputs contain culturally sensitive materials or have not been cleared by the appropriate community. 
  • Privacy: where the output would identify individuals/parties.
  • Commercial: where the publication of an output could compromise a commercial agreement. 
  • Safety: where publication could compromise the safety of the author or publication affiliates.
Authors who wish to request an embargo on an output submitted to OPUS must do so in writing to the University Librarian at UTS Library: Contact us. The University Librarian will forward requests, along with their recommendation for approval (or otherwise), to the Director, Research Office (in line with the Intellectual Property Policy).
Thesis

The following exemption conditions apply for assessing thesis embargo requests: 

  • Commercial in confidence 
  • Sensitive material
Requests are made via the thesis embargo request form located at Policies, guides and forms. Refer also Rule 11.22.2.

Copyright and licensing 

4.15 The ownership of intellectual property rights, including copyright, in research outputs is governed by the Intellectual Property Policy. Allowing for any exceptions as stipulated in publisher agreements and the Intellectual Property Policy, copyright ownership is as follows: 

  1. For research outputs: Authors 
  2. For student-generated works: Students. 

4.16 On deposit of a research output to OPUS, the Library will assess and ensure compliance with copyright and publisher requirements before making items open access. 

4.17 When signing a publisher agreement, authors should consider their personal, professional and commercial interests. To enable their work to be open access, authors should: 

  1. retain copyright in their works where possible (refer UTS Library: Copyright advice), or 
  2. publish under an open licence (preferably a Creative Commons By License) and ensure they retain the right to use and self-archive without embargo. 

4.18 If UTS staff or affiliates use a Creative Commons By License to allow the sharing of their work, the use of this licence does not remove or modify the separate non-exclusive licence claimed by UTS over the work under statement 4.3 of the Intellectual Property Policy. 

4.19 UTS doctoral and masters by research students grant a licence to UTS to archive, reproduce and communicate their thesis on the terms set out in the Digital Thesis Submission form. 

4.20 Authors (or their publishers) can contact UTS (via this form) if they believe that their copyright has been infringed by content in OPUS. 

4.21 Guidance on access and rights in relation to research data is outlined in the Research Data Management Procedure. 

Access to Indigenous knowledge 

4.22 Access to research outputs, including data, resulting from research that involves Indigenous peoples should reflect best practice and adhere to contemporary standards, principles and national and international guidance, such as AIATSIS Code of Ethics for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Research, CARE Principles for Indigenous Data Governance and Australian Research Data Commons: Indigenous Data, alongside the Indigenous Policy and the Research Data Management Procedure.

5. Roles and responsibilities

5.1 Procedure owner: The Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research) is responsible for enforcement of the procedure, ensuring that its principles and statements are observed.

5.2 Procedure contact: The Director, Scholarly Services is responsible for the day-to-day implementation of this procedure, acting as a primary point of contact for advice on fulfilling its provisions.

5.3 Implementation and governance roles: The UTS Library provides support with strategic publishing (pathways to open access, read and publish agreements and predatory publishers); copyright and licensing (publisher agreements, rights retention and creative commons); and OPUS.

The Research Office: 

  1. Research Knowledge and Insights team provides support with Symplectic Elements 
  2. Grants team provides support with research contracts. 

Research Technology (eResearch team) provides support with the Research Data Portal and Stash. 

The Graduate Research School provides support with theses.

6. Definitions

The definitions outlined in the policy apply for this procedure. The following definitions are in addition to those definitions. Definitions in the singular include the plural meaning of the word. 

Corresponding author is defined in the Authorship Procedure.

Journal-based open access means publishing in a fully open access scholarly journal, one where the publisher of the journal provides free and immediate online access to the full content of the journal and articles have a Creative Commons Licence, which specifies how the article can be used. This form of open access is sometimes referred to as ‘gold open access’. In some cases, the publisher charges an article processing charge (APC). 

Predatory publisher is defined in the Research Policy. 

Read and publish agreement (also transformative agreement) is a contract negotiated between institutions (libraries, national and regional consortia) and publishers that allows authors from participating institutions to publish open access without the cost of article processing charges in select journal titles included in the agreement. Also called ‘transformative agreements’ as they aim to transform the business model underlying scholarly journal publishing. 

Repository-based open access is the practice by which an author-accepted version of a published work is deposited into an institutional repository (such as OPUS) or a subject-based repository (such as arXiv). If the published version of the paper sits behind a paywall, the author accepted manuscript, the peer reviewed and edited but unpublished version of the article, can usually be made available with publisher permission in a repository for public access. An embargo period may apply, as specified by the publisher. This form of open access is sometimes referred to as ‘green open access’. 

Research project is defined in the Research Policy.