Automating depositing research to the institutional repository and reshaping the 'call to action' for authors

Recent internal reports have shown conclusively that researcher engagement with the University of Oxford's green Open Access (OA) service, consisting of Symplectic Elements and Oxford's institutional research repository, ORA, has reduced since the last REF period ended in 2021. Around 30% of articles follow the University's 'Act on Acceptance' (AoA) policy, which asks authors to deposit a digital copy of the accepted manuscript of journal articles and conference papers within three months of acceptance. Many funder policies are now out of step with AoA; action within three months is no longer sufficient as they require immediate OA on publication. The forthcoming Research Excellence Framework OA Policy also sees a move towards publication as the point for action. Publisher Transformative Agreements (TAs) have also had an impact on the decline in reliance on 'green' open access due to the wider inclusion and greater coverage of OA publishing through TAs, whether or not the author has been in receipt of research funding. This presentation explores the challenges for institutional repositories in ensuring that they can continue to collect OA content through innovative technical developments whilst providing value and vision to the academic community, using Oxford as a case study.