RJ's open access policy does not yet include monographs or book chapters. However, RJ would like to encourage researchers to publish those open access as well. Through the platform Kriterium, researchers can have their monographs scientifically reviewed and make it openly available.

Include all additional costs for the publication when you apply for a grant from RJ.

Choose one of the following alternatives to make the research results openly available:

• Publish in a journal or a platform open access
  There are many open access journals and publication platforms that use experts to assess the quality of the articles.
• Publish in hybrid format
  A hybrid journal is a traditional subscription-based journal that offers authors the option to publish open access in exchange for a fee (see below about agreements with the large journal publishers). Many international publishers offer a corresponding service for books.
• Self-archiving in a freely accessible archive
  Nearly all Swedish higher education institutions have an open digital archive. When the article or book has been published in a journal or by a publisher, the researcher may save a copy in the higher education institution’s open archive. The copy saved must be a version with identical content to the original publication. RJ does not require the self-archived article/book to have the same layout as the journal or the publisher. If the article/book is also published in a non-open access way, there must be no more than twelve months difference (embargo) between the open and the non-open access publication.

Existing agreements on open access

Open access has been negotiated with the major publishers. Therefore, researchers do not have to pay an article processing charge (APC) to fulfil our requirement for open access when you publish articles in many of the journals. Publication is done under CC-BY licence according to most of the agreements,

License for publication

Publish under a license that allows others to access and use the research results. Researchers who pay a publication fee (article processing charge, APC) to publish an article open access must publish under a Creative Commons license, version CC-BY. Under the terms of such a license, those who use, adapt or distribute researcher’s articles are required to credit the author. The researcher will also retain the right to distribute the research. Please note that it must be the CC-BY version, variants as CC-BY NC, ND etc. are not approved.

The CC-BY license is the standard license recommended by several international organisations. Read more on Creative Commons web site.

For questions about publishing open access or need practical help, please contact your HEI.

RJ follows up the policy for open access

RJ monitors that researchers with RJ grants follow the open access policy. As the recipient of a grant from RJ, you are responsible for ensuring that the applicable policy for open access is known and followed within the project.

• At the time of the application, the applicants must include a plan for how research results will be communicated, both within scientific community and society at large. This means that the applicants also must also indicate the costs associated with the planned scientific production, how it should be made openly available and the costs for this.
• At half-time of the project, a mid-term evaluation is carried out where the project manager submits an evaluation report. The requirement for open access is also followed up and the project manager is asked to answer how they will ensure that the project results are published open access. At the actual evaluation meeting, RJ also reminds the project manager that the research results should be published open access.
• At the final report of a grant, the publication list must clearly state which publications that are published open access. Links to the publications must be included and it should be stated how open access has been obtained.