DFID’s “Open and Enhanced Access Policy” covers the whole range of outputs produced by the research it funds. Judgement does need to be exercised over the materials that fall within the policy, but the guiding principle is that the outputs made available will be of value and use to others, erring on the side of inclusion over exclusion. Further information on the policy can be found in the Implementation Guide prepared by DFID[1] and the editorial policy of “Research for Development” (R4D), DFID’s own Research Repository.[2]
For peer reviewed journal articles, PEDL researchers must pursue either “gold” or “green” open access.[3] Researchers are also requested to deposit datasets in a suitable subject or institutional repository such as those listed in the Directory of Open Access Repositories. Where no suitable repository is available, simple datasets may be deposited with R4D. In all cases metadata for datasets should be deposited in R4D.
[1] https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/.../DFIDResearch-Open-and-Enhanced-Access-Policy.pdf
[3] Gold open access refers to the immediate availability of a publication free of charge on the publisher's or journal's website. Green open access means the authors must self-archive a 'post-print' copy of their article within six months of first publication, where "post-print" means a final draft, revised after peer review.
