Plan S is an initiative to bring about full and immediate Open Access to journal articles that result from publicly funded original research. A key part of Plan S is the “Rights Retention Strategy” that aims to restore intellectual control of these publications to the authors themselves.
At their 4th February meeting, the University Research Committee approved this supportive position statement:
The University of Stirling Research Committee supports the accelerated transition towards Open Access of scholarly publications as outlined in Plan S. The Committee supports the requirement that research outputs are published under a CC BY licence in order to promote maximum discovery and use, whilst ensuring the original author is credited. The Committee approves the use of the Plan S Rights Retention Strategy by the University’s researchers in order that, upon publication, scholarly publications can be made immediately Open Access in a repository and so reach wider audiences more quickly.
From 1st January this year, a number of Stirling’s research funders have become Plan S compliant, or soon will be. For example: The Wellcome Trust and UKRI Funders (AHRC, BBSRC, ESRC, EPSRC, MRC, NERC and STFC).
If you are a researcher or postgraduate student and are planning to publish peer-reviewed articles from your Wellcome or UKRI funded work, then from now on you should include the “rights retention” statement in the funding acknowledgement section of the manuscripts you submit to publishers.
For more details see our quick Plan S guide and Plan S web pages.
Clare Allan
Senior Research Librarian