Open Access

SOAS supports the principle of Open Access to ensure our research can be freely accessed by anyone in the world and used without restrictions for research and teaching. 

Researchers at SOAS must ensure that they are familiar with the school's Open Access Policy. It is also vital you comply with the Open Access requirements of the Research Assessment Framework (REF), as well as the Open Access requirements of any external funders. 

The benefits of Open Access for researchers include: 

• Increased citations and downloads compared with subscription articles. 

• Research disseminated faster. 

• A bigger audience for research outputs and an expansion of the visibility and impact of research. 

• Compliance with external funder and REF requirements for Open Access. 

There are also many benefits to society and the global research community, and reasons everyone should be able to access research: 

• Research is accessible to a broader audience, promoting equity. Access is not dependent on paying journal subscriptions; many researchers and practitioners around the world, particularly those outside academia, do not have access to paywalled content. 

• Much research is funded by taxation, so taxpayers should be allowed to freely access the results. 

• Open Access contributes to advancing knowledge and understanding and allows researchers to access and build upon the work of others. 

SOAS Open Access journal articles are consistently growing—in 2014 24% of SOAS articles were published Open Access, while in 2024 this has risen to 56%.

Engaging with Open Access is a good thing for every researcher to do at any stage in their career. These pages include essential information, guides and details of support that are available for Open Access at SOAS. If you need any further support, please email outputs@soas.ac.uk