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Accelerating open access (OA) in the UK
How our partnership with Jisc is boosting research impact
Publishing open access (OA) increases the visibility and impact of research. It encourages innovation and collaboration and boosts public engagement.
Policymakers recognize these benefits and have created a policy landscape that has accelerated a transition to OA, particularly in Europe.
Driving the transition to OA
One of the key drivers of this transition is Transformative Agreements (TAs) between publishers and institutions.
TAs aim to help institutions to transition to an OA future by enabling more researchers to publish OA and increase their research impact.
Boosting the impact of UK research
This report highlights the key findings of the Jisc and Taylor & Francis Transformative Agreement (TA), launched in early 2021.
It examines the impact on the research communities eligible to publish OA under the Agreement. It also looks at how the Agreement boosted global access to U.K. research.
In particular, we highlight the impact on Humanities and Social Sciences (HSS) research, and the benefits of TA funding for disciplines that traditionally have less access to funding sources. As the largest HSS publisher in the world, we're committed to finding a sustainable route to OA for HSS research communities.
Aims of the Agreement
Jisc and Taylor & Francis signed the Agreement in April 2021 with the following aims:
- Significantly increasing the volume of OA articles from U.K. authors
- Developing a sustainable OA publishing model for increasing the long-term impact of research across all subject areas – especially in humanities and social sciences (HSS), where there has traditionally been a shortfall of OA funding
- Reducing cost and administration barriers to OA publishing by improving article submission workflows and removing the need for authors and funders to pay article processing charges (APCs) when they publish OA
The Agreement supports compliance with U.K. funder policies.
Key findings and stats
432%
The increase in OA articles by authors at institutions supported by the Agreement between 2020 and 2022
16.2 million
The number of global downloads of the Agreement's OA articles in 2021 and 2022, which fueled an 83% increase in downloads of all Taylor & Francis U.K. articles
10,000+
The number of Taylor & Francis articles published OA in 2021 and 2022 via the Agreement
499
The number of articles published via the Agreement in 2021 and 2022 cited in governmental, intergovernmental, and think tank policy documents by May 2023
7,900+
The number of humanities and social sciences (HSS) articles published OA in 2021 and 2022 via the Agreement
2,100+
The number of Taylor & Francis journals that accept OA articles via the Agreement
130+
The number of U.K. institutions supported by the Agreement
600+
The number of global institutions we support via more than 25 similar TAs
83%
The year-on-year increase in downloads to Taylor & Francis journal content published by U.K. researchers in 2021
21,000+
The number of OA articles published in Taylor & Francis journals via TAs in 2021 and 2022
25+
The number of Taylor & Francis journals converting to full OA in 2023
Impact on Humanities and Social Sciences (HSS) research in the UK
Humanities and social sciences (HSS) research helps solve the world's most pressing issues.
This was demonstrated during the COVID-19 pandemic, when publishers made related research free to access in many disciplines.
There are important cultural issues, behaviors around vaccines, people's freedoms, how people live their lives, socio-economic challenges... More than ever, people recognize the importance of social science...
Removing barriers and accelerating OA in HSS
HSS research typically receives less research funding than science, technical, and medical (STM) subject areas.
This makes it more difficult for researchers to publish their OA research.
With more than 1,400 HSS journals that are "hybrid" (offering a mix of OA and subscription articles), we offer many routes to OA for researchers in HSS disciplines.
Through the Agreement, researchers published more than 7,900 HSS articles in 2021 and 2022. This was 80% of all articles published via the Agreement, and more than six times the number published by researchers at institutions supported by the Agreement in 2019 and 2020.
Figure 1: OA articles published in Taylor & Francis hybrid HSS journals by U.K authors at institutions supported by the Agreement – 2019–2022
Figure 1: OA articles published in Taylor & Francis hybrid HSS journals by U.K authors at institutions supported by the Agreement – 2019–2022
As the editor of a Taylor and Francis journal, I have been deeply impressed by Taylor and Francis's careful adoption of open access for some of the essays published in the journal.
Two of our most-read articles – Priyamvada Gopal's "On Decolonisation and the University," and Huw Marsh's essay on Ian McEwan's Atonement – have been published as open access. This has allowed this work to reach a much wider readership – both essays have been downloaded in excess of 30,000 times.
Professor Peter Boxall, Editor-in-Chief of Textual Practice
Top HSS subject area
At the end of 2022, the top HSS subject area by number of OA articles published was history, with more than 250 articles published OA via the Agreement.
The proportion of history articles published OA in Taylor & Francis journals by authors at institutions supported by the agreement increased from 10% in 2020 to 74% in 2022.
Figure 2: % of history articles published OA in Taylor & Francis journals by authors at institutions supported by the agreement – 2020 and 2022
Figure 2: % of history articles published OA in Taylor & Francis journals by authors at institutions supported by the agreement – 2020 and 2022
I am delighted to see U.K. scholars in the arts, humanities, and social sciences realizing the full benefits of publishing open access via our arrangement with Jisc. We have seen articles gain considerably more impact by being published OA in subject areas that would not have traditionally had any funding, such as literature, history, and politics.
Growing HSS subject areas
The Agreement also accelerated OA in specialist areas where there were no Taylor & Francis OA articles in 2020 from authors at institutions now supported by the Agreement:
|
% OA articles published by authors supported by the Agreement in 2020 |
% OA articles published by authors supported by the Agreement in 2021 |
% OA articles published by authors supported by the Agreement in 2022 |
|
|---|---|---|---|
|
Marketing and advertising |
0 |
58 |
70 |
|
Teacher education |
0 |
52 |
81 |
|
Physical education |
0 |
72 |
69 |
|
Middle East studies |
0 |
55 |
74 |
|
Sexual diversity studies |
0 |
76 |
77 |
I didn't know I could publish open access without paying a fee – but I was absolutely delighted when I found out that [my university] had an arrangement that meant that I could...
My key aim is always to get my research 'out' to the communities I work with – both the participant groups I work with, and the research community...
Disability & Society journal author
Spotlight on: "The Impact of long COVID on the UK workforce," by Darja Reuschke and Donald Houston in Applied Economics Letters
This article was published OA by the University of Southampton through the Agreement in July 2022.
The article is in the top 5% of all research outputs, as defined by Altmetric, which measures the impact and reach of research papers by monitoring discussions around pieces of published research from a range of media, including social media, press, blogs, and policy documents.
Impact
The article has been cited by at least one policy document published jointly by the think tank Demos and The Physiological Society.
It also has a diverse audience on social media. By the end of 2022, over 3,600 Twitter users had shared this article in countries including the U.S., U.K., Japan, Australia, and New Zealand. Of these users, 90% were members of the public, compared to 5% scientists, 3% practitioners (doctors and other healthcare professionals), and 2% science communicators (such as journalists, bloggers, and editors).
This illustrates how OA enables public access to critical research, which is vital in a global emergency like the COVID-19 pandemic.
Impact on STEM research in the UK
Research in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) also benefited from the Agreement.
Growth of OA articles in STEM
In 2021 and 2022, more than 2,100 articles were published OA via the Agreement in life, earth and environmental sciences, physical sciences and engineering, and medicine and health disciplines.
There was a significant rise in OA articles from U.K. authors in the civil, structural, and geotechnical engineering disciplines. In 2022, 80% of articles in this area were OA compared to just 5% in 2020.
Figure 3: OA articles published in Taylor & Francis hybrid medical and science and technology journals by U.K. authors (2019–2022)
Figure 3: OA articles published in Taylor & Francis hybrid medical and science and technology journals by U.K. authors (2019–2022)
Citation growth in STEM
Citations from OA articles in STEM subjects by U.K. authors grew significantly.
Engineering disciplines that saw a significant increase in citations between 2020 and 2022, according to Digital Science’s Dimensions platform include:
- Control and systems engineering (2,800% increase)
- Transport engineering (533% increase)
- Mechanical engineering (382% increase)
Medical disciplines that saw significant growth in citations include:
- Audiology (225% increase)
- Substance abuse (600% increase)
- Hematology (180% increase)
Full-OA journal growth
The Agreement led to significant growth of OA research in our STEM journals.
This growth, along with the collective impact of other TAs, has supported several STEM journals converting from hybrid to full OA. This is because the growth of OA articles in journals is a metric we use when we decide which journals to convert to full OA.
Journals that converted in 2022 include Human Vaccines & Immunotherapeutics and RNA Biology. Journals converting to full OA in 2023 include Annals of Human Biology and Platelets. These join more than 100 hybrid Taylor & Francis journals across all subject areas that have already converted to full OA.
To make sure a journal is sustainable under a full OA model, other factors we consider before conversion include locations of the authorship, subject area, and availability of funding.
Global reach and readership
A key benefit of OA publishing is that it's easier for anyone to access.
This can lead to a greater and more diverse reach, growing the long-term impact of research in a sustainable way.
Article downloads
By the end of 2022, articles published OA via the Agreement had been downloaded 16.2 million times globally.
This included 3.5 million downloads from the U.S.
And 3.5 million downloads from the U.K.
There were also a significant number of downloads from China (800,000), Germany (650,000), India (630,000), Australia (570,000), and Canada (460,000).
Overall, there were downloads from most countries across the world.
All regions saw growth in readership in 2022 compared to 2020, with Central America seeing the biggest growth (365%) followed by Asia (220%), North America (197%), Africa (186%), and the Caribbean (149%).
Figure 4: Growth in downloads within the year of acceptance to articles by researchers at the institutions supported by the Agreement – 2022 vs. 2020
Figure 4: Growth in downloads within the year of acceptance to articles by researchers at the institutions supported by the Agreement – 2022 vs. 2020
For U.K. OA articles accepted in 2022, downloads within 12 months more than doubled compared to 2020.
These grew from 2.4 million to 5.4 million, with a greater proportion of downloads from outside the U.K. – 80% compared to 70% in 2020.
Influence on other research
The number of citations in other research is an important indicator of the relevance of scholarly work to the research community.
By the end of 2022, 9,423 articles published OA via the Agreement had been indexed by Web of Science and had received 11,827 citations – an average of 1.26 per article.
This rises to 2.18 citations for articles published in 2021, demonstrating how citations tend to grow over an article's lifetime.
By comparison, non-OA articles published in Taylor & Francis journals in 2021 by researchers at the institutions supported by the Agreement had been cited just 1.33 times on average.
Figure 5: Average citations of articles published in 2021
Figure 5: Average citations of articles published in 2021
We expect this gap to grow over time as more people discover and access the research.
Citation growth over time
Citation growth over time allows us to measure the effect OA can have at a subject level.
The subject areas that experienced the most growth in citations of Taylor & Francis journal articles between 2020 and 2022, according to the Dimensions platform, are as follows:
|
Subject area |
Growth in citations (2020–2022) |
|---|---|
|
Palaeobiology |
1,975% |
|
Control and systems engineering |
1,963% |
|
Transport engineering |
1,900% |
|
Mental health |
1,437% |
|
Substance abuse |
1,354% |
Spotlight on: "A new hadrosauriform dinosaur from the Wessex Formation, Wealden Group (Early Cretaceous), of the Isle of Wight, southern England," by Jeremy A. F. Lockwood et al. in the Journal of Systematic Palaeontology
This article was published OA by the University of Portsmouth through the Agreement in November 2021.
Impact
The article was part of a successful media campaign. This resulted in 204 news stories via 175 news outlets, and mentions on Twitter from users in more than 20 countries.
In the 12 months following publication, it received three citations in other research articles, according to the Dimensions platform. This grew to eight citations by April 2023. We expect this to receive many more citations in the future due to the increased visibility and accessibility through OA.
Impact beyond academia
Policy citations
Research published OA via the Agreement is already influencing policy and discourse in many areas, according to the Overton database.
By May 2023, 499 articles published OA via the Agreement in 2021 and 2022 had been cited in policy documents in publications by:
- Governments (e.g. the U.K. Government, Deutscher Bundestag, New Zealand Ministry of Health, U.S. House of Representatives Committees)
- Intergovernmental organizations (e.g. the U.N., WHO, World Bank, OECD)
- Think tanks and repositories (e.g. the Institute of Development Studies in the U.K., the Walter Eucken Institut in Germany, the Norwegian Institute for International Affairs, the Analysis & Policy Observatory in Australia)
Most-cited subject areas
Many policy citations were in HSS subject areas, including the following:
|
Subject area |
Citations by end of 2022 |
|---|---|
|
Sociology and political science |
90 |
|
International relations |
67 |
|
Geography, planning, and development |
57 |
|
Educational research |
55 |
|
Environmental sciences |
36 |
|
Development |
35 |
|
Law |
32 |
|
Economics |
30 |
|
Cultural studies |
28 |
|
Strategy and management |
12 |
|
Anthropology |
11 |
Top five most-cited journals
|
Journal |
Citations by end of 2022 |
|---|---|
|
94 |
|
|
52 |
|
|
49 |
|
|
27 |
|
|
26 |
Policy citations are a less dynamic metric than, for example, article downloads, so we expect further growth over time.
Alignment with U.N. SDGs
The U.N. Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are interconnected policy objectives intended to achieve a sustainable future for the world. OA research related to the SDGs makes an important contribution to solving the most urgent global issues.
1,161 articles (16%) published OA via the Agreement in 2021 and 2022 are aligned with at least one SDG.
The top three SDGs that benefited from the Agreement's OA articles in 2021 are:
|
SDG |
Number of OA articles |
|---|---|
|
Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions (goal 16) |
544 |
|
Quality Education (goal 4) |
307 |
|
Good Health and Well-Being (goal 3) |
162 |
As well as this, 104 articles in 2021 and 2022 align with multiple SDGs, particularly Decent Work and Economic Growth (goal 8), Affordable and Clean Energy (goal 7), Climate Action (goal 13), and Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions (goal 16).
Media coverage
Media coverage is an important way to raise awareness about research, and engage with the public and policymakers. Publishing research OA makes it easier for media professionals and the public to access and distribute.
The 10,108 articles published OA via the Agreement in 2021 and 2022 have a high level of engagement from news sources in particular (source: Altmetric).
For example, by the end of 2022, the articles had been mentioned in approximately 4,170 news stories by about 1,140 outlets in 70 countries.
The most common outlet was The Conversation, with 197 mentions through its syndicate of global news websites, which can be freely reposted under a Creative Commons license to help drive mass readership.
Other outlets to regularly mention articles published via the Agreement were:
- Yahoo! News (188 mentions)
- Foreign Affairs New Zealand (119 mentions)
- MSN (103 mentions)
Other notable coverage came from BBC News, The Guardian, National Geographic, CNN, Times Higher Education, and New Scientist.
Growth year-on-year
The number of mentions of U.K. Taylor & Francis research in news and blogs between 2020 and 2021 rose from 1,924 to more than 2,300.
This was driven by articles published OA via the Agreement on topics such as:
Spotlight on: "Practical, professional or patriarchal? An investigation into the socio-cultural impacts of gendered school sports uniform and the role uniform plays in shaping female experiences of school sport," by Tess Howard in Sport, Education, and Society
This article was published OA by Durham University through the Agreement on 6 April 2023.
Great Britain and England hockey player Tess Howard carried out the research.
Impact
By 26 April, less than three weeks after publication, the article had already been mentioned in 17 news stories, in outlets including The Guardian, The Telegraph, and BBC News in the U.K., and MDR in Germany.
Although it's too early to measure citations in research and policy documents, the research has already led to new inclusive kit regulations in domestic hockey.
Further reflection
This report highlights how we can assess the outcome and impact of a specific TA in the U.K.
There are numerous factors that determine the overall performance of TAs. These all require investment in resources, system development, and the evolution of skills and capabilities for publishers and institutions.
As well as disseminating valuable U.K. research and raising its impact through our partnership with Jisc, we're also aiming to share the knowledge we've gained from this joint OA journey.
Who to contact
For more information about Transformative Agreements and our TA with Jisc, email communications@tandf.co.uk
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