Open Access: Green OA

• Authors do not have to pay any charges for 'green' open access, also known as self-archiving.


• Although the publisher may own the copyright in the published work, or an exclusive licence to publish it, the author retains the copyright in their accepted manuscript: the final peer reviewed and revised version, prior to publication.  (Sometimes referred to as the 'post-print' or 'proof copy').


• The author retains the right to distribute their accepted manuscript independently of the published version, with an open licence (i.e. no paywall or restrictive terms of use).


• Green open access is best achieved by depositing the accepted manuscript in a curated research repository hosted by the author's academic institution or a relevant scholarly/professional society. The University of Hull's research repository is powered by Worktribe (see Green OA at Hull).


• Many research funders, including Research England via REF 2029 OA Policy, mandate 'green' OA when 'gold' is unaffordable or unavailable.


• Sharing your accepted manuscript or published work via a scholarly network such as ResearchGate, Academia.edu or LinkedIn rarely meets the definition of 'green' open access, because these platforms don't commit to preserve the outputs with an open licence in a citeable location. 


• Some publishers attempt to restrict authors' rights to distribute their accepted manuscript, by imposing an embargo or a restrictive licence on that version at the point the author signs the Agreement to Publish or Copyright Transfer Form,   For this reason, many universities worldwide have adopted Rights Retention policies, asserting their authors' ownership of the accepted manuscript.

Effective for new submissions from August 2025, the University of Hull has adopted an Institutional Rights Retention Policy for journal articles, enabling our authors to share their accepted manuscript with an open licence, as soon as their work is published.

With the backing of the University's Research and Knowledge Exchange Committee, the University Librarian has notified over 100 academic publishers that our authors retain the copyright in their accepted manuscript, and are not bound by any restrictive terms imposed by the publisher on this version of their work.

On submission, the author may choose to add a rights retention statement to their manuscript, notifying the publisher of their university's position.

Frequently-Asked Questions about the Rights Retention Policy (University of Hull login required)

To take advantage of your right to share your work openly, complying with the University's Open Access Policy, REF 2029 OA Policy, and any applicable funder policies, create a Worktribe output record for your article, attach your accepted manuscript, and send the record to the Library for review.

As soon as your article is published, Library staff will make the record discoverable in the University's Research Repository, with your manuscript openly accessible, licensed CC-BY.

Each repository record has a citeable url which can be used in social media, press releases, scholarly profiles, CVs, and bibliographies.

Worktribe can be used to record and preserve many different types of research output, including datasets, AV content and artworks as well as text.  More information about University of Hull researchers' options for preserving and sharing research data here.