Open Access in the 
REF: challenges and 
opportunities 
Ben Johnson 
Policy Advisor (Research) 
 
University of Oxford 
21 April 2015 
 
Background  
Efficiency 
Utility 
Quality 
Morality 
Constraints 
Policy: 
 
• Deposit manuscript 
• Make available ASAP 
• Some exceptions to this  
Advantages 
Immediate challenges 
Future challenges 
Monographs 
Journal articles Books 
Digital Print 
Atomised Whole 
"E is better" "E is worse" 
"Text reigns" "Materiality reigns" 
Self-archiving normal Self-archiving rare 
"Low publisher value-add" "High publisher value-add" 
Long history of OA No history of OA 
"OA necessary" "OA not necessary" 
Data 
 
PbR 
Bigger picture 
Thank you for listening 
b.johnson@hefce.ac.uk 
openaccess@hefce.ac.uk 
@ersatzben