Wednesday 30 March 2016

The HEFCE policy for open access in the post-2014 REF


The HEFCE policy for open access in the post-2014 REF  requires that certain research outputs must be made open access in an institutional repository to be eligible for the next REF. Open access means free to read and download and refers only to journal articles and conference proceedings with an International Standard Serial Number (ISSN). The author accepted manuscript (post-print) must be uploaded within 3 months of the date of acceptance for publication.
York St John is implementing this policy from 1st April 2016.
So as soon as you have an article accepted for publication you should upload the post-print to RaY. If you need any help with this please email RaY


Countdown to HEFCE open access policy for the next REF


Don't get egg on your face!


Be ready for the next REF and submit your accepted articles to RaY from 1st April 2016.


Contact RaY for more information.

Thursday 24 March 2016

Your username and password: they belong to you!


Your York St John IT credentials - username and password - give you access to a host of useful services. For example, you can use email services and access licensed resources such as software, journal articles and databases that the University has purchased for you.

When we purchase these resources, we often sign a legal contract with the provider stating that access will be given to authorised users only. If users from outside of the institution are given access then we would be breaking the terms of our contract.

Publishers keep a close eye on unusual activity, and if they detect password sharing, then they are within their rights to withdraw access to material to the entire institution.

Keep your username and password safe. Don’t share them with others – and don’t ask people from other institutions to share their details with you. Your obligations to the University are outlined in our Acceptable Use Policy for University ICT Systems.

We provide mechanisms to allow our researchers to get access to the material that they need, for example, by providing free inter-library loans. If researchers obtain material by other routes then it is more difficult for us to know of any gaps in our collections, and any information needs that we can meet in future.

So, help us to help you. We’re always keen to hear feedback about our services and how we can improve, and continue to meet your needs.
See ways to contact us here.

Monday 7 March 2016

5 days of open education

It is open education week, so we have teamed up with our colleagues in the Technology Enhanced Learning team to produce a programme called '5 days of open education'. Librarians from ILS have written days 3 and 4, concentrating on Creative Commons licences and open access publishing.  If you think this sounds interesting, you can sign up at
https://blog.yorksj.ac.uk/moodle/2016/02/25/5-days-of-open-education-sign-up-now/ We'll be posting some of the key bits from the programme on here over the next couple of weeks too.