Policy for open publication at Karolinska Institutet

The policy on open publication concerns all researchers at KI when publishing research results in publications affiliated to KI.

  • Diary number: 2-5813/2020
  • Dnr preg. version: 3-490/1160
  • Decision date:
  • Validity period: Valid until further notice
  • Decision: President
  • Document type: Policy
  • Handled by department/unit: Karolinska Institutet Universitetsbiblioteket
  • Preparation with: The Committee for Research, the Library Advisory Board and the Faculty Board
Open Access logo.
Photo: Art designer at PLoS, CC0 Licens.

Summary of the policy

The policy includes three principles describing how researchers at KI have to publish research publications open access.

  1. KI’s researchers have to make their peer-reviewed publications openly and freely available (open access). Where possible, this has to be done immediately in conjunction with publication. 
  2. Where possible, KI’s researchers have to choose an open license, e.g. a CC BY license, for their publications. A CC BY license without restrictions means that others are allowed to share (copy, distribute and transmit the material irrespective of medium or format) and process (remix, transform and build upon the material) as long as the author is recognized. 
  3. Where possible, publications have to meet the FAIR principles. (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable).

What do I have to do to publish according to the open access policy at KI?

This is in short what you have to consider and how the Karolinska University library (KIB) can help you:

One way is to publish your publication open access. KI, through the library, takes part in several agreements where publishing open access is prepaid. Using the Open Access/APC Checker Tool at the KIB web page on publishing open access you can easily search and see if there is such an agreement with the journal you have in mind.

There is also the option of self-archiving a peer reviewed and accepted version of your manuscript in an open archive, for example KI Open Archive. When self-archiving it is important to make sure the publisher publishing your article approves of this and what conditions there might be.

When an article is published open access an open license should be chosen to make sure you as a publishing researcher keep the copyright to the material and that this may be spread and openly shared as long as you as the author is recognized. KI recommends the CC BY license. 

The FAIR principles were originally designed for research data but have also begun to be applied to publications. There are a few things you as a publishing researcher can do to meet some of the principles, read more here.

Why a policy for open publication?

Both KI and research funders as well as the government advocate that scientific publications should be published openly and freely available (open access). The policy describes how KI’s research publications have to be published in terms of accessibility. Read more about open access on the library's website.

Policy in full