Â鶹ӳ»­

Exceptions for 1 January 2021 to 31 December 2025

These exceptions allow an author to submit a publication that is not compliant in circumstances where deposit was not possible, or a publication could not be made open access within the criteria required by the framework. For more details . 

Deposit exceptions

In the following cases, the output will not be required to meet any of the open access criteria (deposit, discovery or access requirements).

• At the point of acceptance, a repository could not be used.
• There was a delay to securing the final peer-reviewed text.
• The staff member to whom the output is attributed was not employed by a UK HEI at the time of submission for publication.
• It would be unlawful to deposit.
• Depositing the output would present a security risk.

Access exceptions

The following exceptions deal with cases where deposit of the output is possible, but there are issues to do with meeting the access requirements. The output will still be required to meet the deposit and discovery requirements, but not the access requirements. A closed-access deposit, where allowed, will be required.

• The output depends on the reproduction of third-party content for which open access rights could not be granted.
• The publication concerned requires an embargo period that exceeds the stated maxima.
• The publication concerned disallows open-access deposit.

Technical exceptions

Technical exceptions deal with cases where an output is unable to meet the criteria due to a technical issue. The output will not be required to meet the open access criteria (deposit, discovery or access requirements).

• At the point of acceptance, the staff member to whom the output is attributed was employed at a different institution and compliance could not be confirmed.
• The repository experienced a short-term or transient technical failure.
• An external service provider failure prevented compliance.

Further exceptions

The ‘Other’ exception should be used where an output is unable to meet the criteria due to circumstances beyond the control of the HEI. If ‘other’ exception is selected, the output will not need to meet the open access criteria.