Open Access and Data Management

Open Access

The benefits of Open Access for researchers are widely recognised. They include:

More exposure for your work
Practitioners can apply your findings
Higher citation rates
Your research can influence policy
The public can access your findings
Compliant with grant rules
Taxpayers get value for money
Researchers in developing countries can see your work

The two main routes to Open Access are the green and gold routes. We support a green route to Open Access which means the author archives a publisher-approved version of the manuscript, free of charge, in our institutional research repository.

At University of South Wales, Open Access support is part of Library Services. The Research Librarian is happy to help with queries and also provides Open Access training for research staff and PhD students which covers major OA policies, including the Research Excellence Framework (REF) Policy as well as the UKRI Open Access Policy.

Resources

USW Open Access Policy
USW Open Access Quick Guide
Introduction to Open Access (requires USW login)
How to be compliant with the REF / open access (requires USW login)
How to upload a paper to Pure (requires USW login)

Contact

Nicholas Roberts, Research Librarian
[email protected]

Research Data Management

USW expects all researchers to conduct research in a responsible and ethical manner and Research Data Management is an intrinsic element of good practice. Central to the principle of good research practice is the honest, accurate and meticulous recording and storage of research data.

It can include:

Saving work in a format that can be re-opened easily
Naming files so they can be found quickly
Backing up valuable data
Controlling who has access to data
Sharing data to help maximise research impact

Why manage data?

To minimise the risk of data misplacement, data loss, or data corruption
To allow unique research to be repeated
To meet Data Protection requirements or Freedom of Information requests
To avoid risks to the University’s reputation associated with the mis-management of data
To preserve data integrity, and demonstrate data verification and validity
‘Big data’ – to enable re-use
To enable access to data and/or results to other researchers/the public
As part of good practice – to share, cite, re-use, and store data properly
To meet funder requirements
To create citation impact if made available – get credit for your work
To demonstrate value for funding and likelihood of further funding
To facilitate and enable collaboration
The University of South Wales requires academics to manage their data
Research funders are the main drivers of RDM and applications to a research council require a Research Data Management Plan

The USW Research Data Management Policy stipulates that all new research projects must have a data management and sharing plan. These plans must consider copyright, intellectual property, data licensing, data protection, data access & security and data re-use.

The Research Librarian is happy to help with data management plans and queries. They also provide data management training for research staff and PhD students. If you have a query relating to funding requirements for Research Data Management, please contact Research and Innovation Services.

Resources

Researcher Development Programme

Researcher Support

Research Governance