Excellent open access news – Springer now allow self-archiving of book chapters to make them open access via the (free) “green” route. Their updated policy is here: https://www.springer.com/gp/open-access/authors-rights/self-archiving-policy/2124
Any Swansea Uni author who has published a book chapter with Springer can now upload the accepted version of a chapter into RIS and make it open access on Cronfa once the embargo has passed. Embargo length depends on the type of book and is either 12 or 24 months.
Springer were one of the few major publishers who did not allow green open access at all for book chapter so it is good to see a positive change that will encourage more open access book chapters! We have just updated our summary post on making book chapters open access to reflect this change.
Book chapters are not covered by the current REF Open Access policy but our university open access policy states “wherever possible researchers will be expected to make all published research outputs available as Green Open Access”. SU authors are welcome to contact iss-research@swansea.ac.uk for guidance and support with making their work open access on RIS/Cronfa.