Open Access Monitoring Review

This report, the second in a series commissioned by the Universities UK Open Access Coordination Group, aimed to build on previous findings, and to examine trends over the period since the major funders of research in the UK established new policies to promote open access.

The research was delivered by a partnership involving Research Consulting, the University of Sheffield and Elsevier, and was led by Jubb Consulting.

Key findings
• More than half of UK-authored articles are made accessible for public view within 12 months, either through Gold or Green OA
• 37% of UK outputs (vs. 25% globally) are freely available to the world immediately on publication, either through Gold or Green OA
• The proportion of UK-authored articles published open access rose from 12% in 2012 to 30% in 2016, an annual growth rate of over 30% sustained throughout the period
• The global proportion of articles accessible for public view after 12 months via Gold or Green OA rose from 25% to 32% between 2012 and 2016; and the UK proportion rose from 37% to 54%
• The proportion of journals indexed in Scopus that offer immediate OA is rising, with over 60% of journals offering the option in 2016
• OA articles are downloaded from publishers’ sites more than non-OA articles