The two most commonly-used mechanisms for achieving open access are often called the ‘gold’ and ‘green’ routes:
Creative Commons is a widely-known licensing scheme for open access works. It enables authors and other rights-holders to specify whether readers are permitted to share, modify and/or commercialise the work without further permission. For more information about the appropriate open licence for your work, start from the Library's guide to Copyright.
Many universities help their successful PhD candidates to make their thesis openly available in their institutional repository, to maximise the audience for this work. They may also preserve the printed and bound volume in the Library for readers. The British Library maintains the EThOS database: records of theses from all UK universities, with the file(s) free to download when available.
University of Hull PhD thesis authors are required to deposit their examined thesis in the University's Hydra repository. Guidance about the process can be found on the Doctoral College Sharepoint site (for Hull students only).
If you received external funding for your PhD, your funder may set a limit on thesis embargo duration, in order to increase the potential for public engagement. Check the terms of your funding award.
The University of Hull Open Access Policy came into force on 1st April 2015 and was last updated in April 2021.
The Policy recognises open access publication as a valuable component of dissemination for research outputs.
The author's responsibilities include:
The University will provide the relevant systems and guidance to facilitate deposit, and support engagement with this process. The University will take responsibility for preserving records and outputs deposited, including making the works public in the University Repository with an open licence where funder/publisher terms permit.
The University provides services and resources to support authors at several key stages of the publishing process:
An increasing number of publishers require authors to make the data which underlies their papers openly available, to maximise the applicability of their research findings.
The international open access advocate CHORUS has created a directory of publisher policies on data availability, updated annually.
Information for University of Hull researchers about options for making your data open:
Open Access to your research publications can bring many benefits.
Wiley and Springer have both carried out analyses in 2021 demonstrating increased readership, social media attention and citation for open access papers published in their journals. (Their financial interest in deriving income from article processing charges should be noted here).