Springing into 2026: Rights retention and Trailblazers

We are now well into the new year, with Spring just around the corner. Just as the snowdrops are starting to appear, so are new shoots of growth relating to Open Research!

The new Open Access Publications Policy and Rights Retention Strategy

The Open Access Publications Policy for the University was recently updated. Part of this was to reflect the new open access eligibility criteria set by REF 2029 that have come into effect for journal articles and conference papers published from 1 Jan 2026, but it also provided the institution an opportunity to introduce a rights retention strategy.

Rights retention strategies have been introduced by the majority of UK universities as a response to funder and national policies looking to accelerate the use of open access as the default method for disseminating research outputs. The strategy allows authors to hold onto rights for their accepted manuscripts that would allow them to reuse works as they wish, and to be REF ready.

For authors at the university, the steps to undertaking rights retention are now accessible on our webpages.

Trailblazers: Open monographs for ECRs

Last year the University of Wolverhampton joined the Trailblazers initiative set up by Liverpool University Press in conjunction with five other universities. Offering an opportunity for Early Career Researchers to gain experience and insights into proposing and writing their first monograph, we are open for applications until 13 April. Applications are a two stage process; we will select the most fitting application to forward to Liverpool University Press who will then make the final decision on whether it will go forward to the initiative.

There will be a webinar later in the month that will include information on what Liverpool University Press is looking for in a proposal. Contact us if you would like to know when this is taking place, or if you have any questions about completing an application.