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Open Access Gateway

The Open Access (OA) Gateway helps researchers meet the OA requirements for the next REF and the University's Publications Policy.

When you have a paper accepted for publication, submit your Author Accepted Manuscript (AAM) to the Library for deposit to Pure.

The Library will ensure that your paper meets the OA requirements for the next REF by verifying the manuscript version, checking applicable journal and funder policies and arranging Green OA.

You can also use the OA Gateway to apply for Gold OA funding.

Deposit your paper now

The OA Gateway is primarily intended to be used for the deposit of journal articles and peer-reviewed conference proceedings; however, you can still use the Gateway to deposit other output types, and we will add a record to Pure. The record will appear on your Research Explorer profile. You can also log in to Pure to create publication records yourself for research outputs of any type. The Pure team has a number of user guides available. If you choose to create a Pure record yourself, a member of the OA team may contact you to request information.

More information

Which version of my paper should I deposit?

The REF Open Access policy requires that the Accepted Author Manuscript (AAM) is deposited to a suitable repository within three months of acceptance. 

The AAM is the version of the paper at the point of acceptance, following peer review, but not yet formatted for publication. It may be a Word document or a PDF, and is unlikely to include final formatting such as pagination, DOI, or publisher branding.

Please ensure your AAM contains the article title and author list.

We know that papers may go through several iterations and that it might be difficult to determine which version constitutes the AAM. If you’re unsure, please contact us.

Some publishers allow the final version of record to be made available via a repository. We’ll check this when processing your manuscript and, if this applies to your paper, will update your Pure record to include a copy of the final published version.

Do I need to deposit a copy of my paper if it will be published Gold Open Access?

No, unless your paper acknowledges funding from the ERC (including FP7 and Horizon 2020 grants).

Papers published Gold Open Access (OA) have satisfied the REF OA requirements. However, if you would like your paper to appear in Pure then you're welcome to deposit a copy.

Authors funded by UKRI or certain medical charities* can request use of institutional block grants to publish papers Gold OA by completing the Library’s deposit form.

*Wellcome, Cancer Research UK, British Heart Foundation

What do I need to do if a co-author has already deposited our paper?

Only one Manchester researcher needs to deposit a copy of the Author Accepted Manuscript (AAM). The Library will create a record for the paper in Pure and connect all Manchester researchers to the record.

If your Manchester co-author has already deposited a copy of your AAM, there’s no need to take any further action.

If your co-author is based at another institution, we recommend that you submit a copy of the paper to the Library for deposit, to ensure the paper meets all Open Access requirements for the REF. Use our deposit form to submit your AAM:

What can I do if one of my papers wasn’t deposited or made Open Access in time?

Please contact us so we can investigate for you.

Do I need to make non journal articles Open Access?

There is no requirement for book chapters or monographs to be Open Access (OA) to be eligible for submission to REF but the University encourages authors to make all research outputs OA where possible. N.B. Authors acknowledging funding from The Wellcome Trust are required to make book chapters and monographs OA. See the Wellcome Trust’s Open Access policy for more information. .

Find out how to share your book chapter or monograph:

Conference papers published in formal conference proceedings with an ISSN need to be made OA to be eligible for submission to the REF. Use our deposit form to submit your conference proceedings for deposit to Pure. There is no OA requirement for papers presented at conferences but not subsequently published in formal proceedings.

Further information

Do you need more information? Contact us so we can discuss your enquiry in detail.