Embedding OA within research practice: The HHuLOA Jisc OA Pathfinder project

The Hull, Huddersfield and Lincoln Open Access (HHuLOA) project is one of nine open access good
practice Pathfinder projects set up by Jisc in 2014 to run over the two-year period leading
up to the introduction of the HEFCE REF open access policy in April 2016. Now over halfway
through, the HHuLOA project has focused on how open access can be embedded within
research practice at the partner institutions, producing a number of tools to assist in planning
and practice:

A baseline assessment of open access activity, to help gauge activity across institutions and
assess local development

An open access lifecycle placing services in relation to each other and facilitating
discussions on open access workflow

An assessment of funder open access policies to inform navigation through these to
facilitate understanding of requirements

Based on these, the project has investigated how open access can be a tool to support the
development of research. Open access offers key advantages in disseminating the research of
our Universities, and yet research strategies are yet to regularly refer to it as a means through
which research activity can grow.

HHuLOA has sought to unpick how open access might support different aspects of research development to help make the case for open access in this context.

The presentation will report on the work of the project to date and highlight current thinking
on supporting institutional research development.
This will be placed in the context of other
Pathfinder projects and the complementary work they are carrying out.