UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) has an open access (OA) fund for monographs, book chapters and edited collections. This is a national fund which supports the payment of book and chapter processing charges for publications in scope of the long-form part of their OA policy. Applications to the fund must be made by Library Services on behalf of the author. UKRI will not permit authors to make applications directly.
How to apply for UKRI funding
If you are planning to publish a long-form publication in-scope of UKRI’s open access policy and expect to pay for open access (note conditions below), you should first confirm that your output is eligible for funding (see below for 'What the UKRI fund will support' and 'What the UKRI fund will not cover'). Once confirmed, complete a University Book Processing Charge (BPC) request form as early as possible as it may take up to 20 working days for UKRI to confirm eligibility. Any uncertainty regarding eligibility of the request prior to submission to UKRI will be reviewed via the OA Monograph Oversight Group.
When Library Services receives and confirms your request is eligible, the application to UKRI will be made on your behalf. This is a three-step process:
- Library Services registers the output with UKRI for funding. A publishing contract does not need to have been signed at this stage. Successful applications will need to demonstrate a substantial link between the publication and UKRI research funding, as well as between the author and UKRI research funding. Please do not commit to paying a BPC or CPC before the Library confirms that UKRI have approved the application.
- Author proceeds with an open access publishing contract. Library Services will arrange for payment of the BPC or CPC invoice up to the total agreed by UKRI when it is received.
- Author confirms publication with Library Services who in turn provide confirmation of publication to UKRI to enable the release of the funds back to the University. This stage will be completed via UKRI’s Funding Service.
What the UKRI fund will support
Funding is available to support the immediate publication of the Version of Record under a Creative Commons licence. The UKRI fund for monographs has maximum funding levels (inclusive of VAT where applicable):
- Book processing charges: £10,000.
- Chapter processing charges: £1,000.
In addition, for monographs and edited collections a claim up to £2,000 can be made to clear rights for third party materials if needed (however, these costs should be accounted for in grant applications, where possible).
At the present time, there is no University of Birmingham central fund for book or chapter processing charges. If your chosen publisher charges more than the maximum UKRI will pay per claim, you must demonstrate that alternative funding is available for any additionality before an application will be approved. If no other funds are available your choice will be to negotiate the cost with the publisher, find an alternative publisher or find a non-paid self-archiving route to open access instead.
Authors and research organisations can comply with the policy by making either the Version of Record or the Authors Accepted Manuscript (AAM) open access within 12 months of publication. More information on the policy can be found on our webpage and the UKRI website.
What the UKRI fund will not cover
- Any publication that is not in scope of the UKRI long-form OA policy.
- Any publication that is eligible for funding through from the UKRI OA block grant for open access. This would be a journal article or conference proceeding and not a long-form publication.
- In-scope outputs published seven or more years after the formal end of a UKRI-funded project, unless there are mitigating circumstances. UKRI will not expect such outputs to be made open access. This threshold recognises that long-form outputs can be published many years after the end of a UKRI-funded project and over time the link between them will likely become less substantial.
If your chosen publisher is not eligible for funding and does not permit a compliant route to self-archive your AAM, contact Library Services as early as possible.
If you are unsure whether your output is eligible for the fund, contact Library Services before proceeding further.