The Versus Arthritis open access policy applies to:
- Original research articles acknowledging Versus Arthritis funding
- Peer-reviewed publications fully or partially funded by Versus Arthritis
Versus Arthritis require electronic copies of any original research papers that have been accepted for publication in a peer reviewed journal to be made freely available through Europe PubMed Central (Europe PMC) immediately, or within six months of the journal publisher's official date of final publication.
How do I comply?
You must make your work open access via publishing open access in a journal or publishing platform or self-archiving a version of the work (green open access).
- You are required to include funding information within the acknowledgement section of the paper.
- If applicable, you are required to include a statement on how underlying research materials, such as data, samples or models, can be accessed.
Publishing open access in a journal or publishing platform (gold open access)
Check the publishing open access information page to find out if you are eligible to publish OA in a journal or publishing platform (gold OA), and to make an application for funding.
If the chosen journal is not part of an institutional publisher agreement, authors requiring support to publish articles resulting from work funded by Versus Arthritis should apply directly to Versus Arthritis via Grant Tracker on a case by case basis subject to approval.
As Charities Open Access Fund has now disbanded, Library Services will no longer be able to administer or fund APC payments for this charity.
- To request 'gold' OA, authors should apply directly to Versus Arthritis via Grant Tracker.
- If 'gold' open access is approved by the funder, the output should be published with a Creative Commons Attribution Licence (CC-BY). More information on Creative Commons licences.
- On publication, you are also encouraged by the University to deposit a copy of the final PDF of your 'gold' OA publication into University of Birmingham Research Archive (UBIRA), using PURE.
Self-archiving (green open access)
Versus Arthritis permits self-archiving (green open access) with a six-month embargo.
Use Sherpa Romeo to check your publishers’ policy is compatible with your funders self-archiving policy.
To self-archive, deposit the Accepted Author Manuscript (AAM) of your publication using Pure immediately on acceptance. Ensure your publication is linked to the grant using the ‘Projects’ link in PURE.
- The accepted version is also known as the authors final manuscript, or post print.
- It is the version after peer review and before final publisher formatting or copy-editing.
Ensure that you or your publisher has deposited to Europe PMC so it is freely available immediately or within six months on publication.
If your publisher is uncompliant with your funders self-archiving requirements, you will need to email research@versusarthritis.org to apply for an exception to the six-month embargo or gold OA funding.
More information