Archives: Questions

Yes. Generally universities/institutions have set their policies so that waivers apply at an article level. Faculty members cannot permanently opt themselves out of this arrangement, but they can opt out on an article-by-article basis. This means that, for each article you wish to publish on a subscription basis with IOP Publishing, you will need to request a waiver.

No. For the time being, you do not need to send the waivers to IOP Publishing. However, please retain them somewhere safe as we may need you to send them to us in the future as proof of compliance.

Generally most open access policies apply at an article level rather than author level. If this is how your institution’s or university’s open access policy works, then only one author per relevant institution/university needs to obtain a waiver for the article.

Each relevant Named Author is responsible for obtaining a waiver for the article from their institution or university (as applicable).

The Submitting Author is responsible for checking with all of their co-authors of the article to ensure that they have obtained a waiver if required.

The Submitting Author must then sign the copyright form, including ticking the ‘Please tick this box to confirm that each Named Author, who is affiliated to a university/institution which has an open access policy which is incompatible with IOP’s green open access policy, has obtained a waiver for the Article from their institution or university’s open access policy’ box.

Please obtain all necessary waivers prior to signing the copyright form. They must all be obtained prior to acceptance, at the latest.

Some examples are:

1. If the policy requires the Final Published Version (rather than the Accepted Manuscript) to be deposited; or
2. If the policy requires an open access or any form of Creative Commons licence to be attached to the Accepted Manuscript when depositing it in the repository which does not comply with its copyright status; or
3. If the institution/university repository automatically attaches an open access or Creative Commons licence to the Accepted Manuscript which does not comply with its copyright status

The above list is intended to provide examples only. It is not a comprehensive list of how a policy could be incompatible with IOP’s green open access policy.

*Accepted Manuscripts of subscription articles published by IOP are either fully copyright protected or published under a  CC BY-NC-ND licence. To check the copyright status of the Accepted Manuscript, refer to the cover sheet attached by IOP Publishing.

For more information on open access policy waivers, why they are required, which Named Authors they apply to and how to request a waiver, please refer to this guidance on requesting open access policy waivers.

Each Named Author affiliated to an institution/university, whose article is being published on a subscription basis (i.e. not on a gold open access basis), must obtain a waiver for the article from their institution’s or university’s open access policy, if the policy is incompatible with IOP Publishing’s green open access policy. This must happen before the article is accepted. Without all the relevant waivers being obtained, IOP Publishing may not be able to publish the article.

Green open access is the process of archiving a copy of an accepted manuscript* on an institutional or subject repository in parallel to publishing with IOP Publishing. IOP Publishing believes that gold open access is the most sustainable route to open access but provides green open access options to those authors wanting or needing to share their work in this way.  

IOP Publishing allows authors of articles published on a subscription basis to post an accepted manuscript as follows:  

 Subscription-based journals require the embargo period because immediate free availability of peer-reviewed articles in repositories removes the publisher’s means of covering its costs of operation. For full details on your rights as an author of a subscription-based article, including full details on how and when you can share the accepted manuscript, please refer to our Author Rights Policy (or the relevant partner specific policy, if you have published with one of our society partners).  

Authors publishing an article on a gold open access basis can post the accepted manuscript on a repository immediately if required.  

IOP Publishing will deposit gold open access articles in PubMed Central automatically when funded by one of the following research funding bodies:  

• National Institutes of Health;  

• Wellcome Trust; 

• Arthritis Research UK; 

• Bloodwise; 

• British Heart Foundation; 

• Cancer Research UK; 

• Parkinson’s UK.  

 Authors may be permitted to opt out of an institutional open access policy. Further information on obtaining a waiver from an institutional open access policy can be found here.  

 IOP Publishing supports the sharing of preprints. View our preprint policy.  

*The accepted manuscript is ‘the version of the article accepted for publication including all changes made as a result of the peer review process, and which may also include the addition to the article by IOP Publishing of a header, an article ID, a cover sheet and/or an ‘accepted manuscript’ watermark, but excluding any other editing, typesetting or other changes made by IOP Publishing and/or its licensors’.  

Some universities and institutions  have adopted open access policies, which, in some respects, are incompatible with IOP Publishing’s green open access policy which applies when the article is published on a subscription basis. Please check whether you or any of your co-author(s) are affiliated to a university or institution which has an open access policy which is incompatible with IOP Publishing’s green open access policy. If you are, then we will need you to obtain a waiver for the article from your institution or university. Institutions allow for such waivers in their policies. Institutions with such policies are predominantly in the USA.

For examples of open access policies which are incompatible with IOP Publishing’s green open access policy, see below.