There have been some changes to HEFCE’s schedule and policy for the next REF  assessment and Staffordshire University’s Library would like to inform staff about a series of drop-in sessions showing how they can help staff fulfil the requirements by placing their academic research in STORE (Staffordshire University Online Repository).

The requirement to make the content of research articles available via Open Access with 3 months of an article being accepted by a publisher will now be postponed until April 2017.   Instead authors and institutions are now expected to place the full text of their ‘Author’s final  copy’ (Post-print) in their institutional repository within 3 months of publication for any articles/chapters/proceedings published after 1^st April 2016.

Any articles/chapters/conference proceedings published between January 2015 and April 2016 will be able to be submitted to the next REF without needing to adhere to the above criteria – so there is no panic about anything already submitted!

Details of the HEFCE policy changes can be found at: http://www.hefce.ac.uk/pubs/year/2015/CL,202015/

The Library have a new guide on depositing research to STORE and can help with any queries about publishing or Open Access  – please contact STORE@staffs.ac.uk.   There are also some other drop-in sessions running in the iLab at Thompson Library on the following dates for staff seeking advice:

• Wednesday 2^nd  March 2-4pm

• Wednesday 16^th  March 2-4pm

• Wednesday 13^th  April 2-4pm

• Wednesday 27^th  April 2-4pm