Open Research Coordination Group

The Open Research Coordination Group (ORCG) is UCC's institutional group for Open Research. It brings together colleagues from across the University to set direction, develop policy and support researchers in making their work openly available. OCRG has representation from all Colleges.

What the Group does

The Group's terms of reference are to:

• Set the strategic direction for activities in support of Open Research at UCC.
• Propose, review and update all Open Research related policies and procedures.
• Develop, deliver and monitor a programme of work that supports UCC's strategic objectives and existing obligations in Open Research, and that responds to developments in the wider research landscape, including UCC's commitments under CoARA and the National Action Plan for Open Research (NORF).
• Make recommendations to ULT-RISI and ACRIC on the infrastructure and investment needed to enable Open Research.
• Facilitate engagement and a joined-up approach with all areas of the University relevant to the Open Research agenda, including the wider Research Roots (Research Culture) initiative.

Role Supporting Implementation of the Open Access and Research Outputs Policy

Under the UCC Open Access and Research Outputs Policy, effective September 2026, all research outputs must be made openly available immediately at publication unless an approved exception applies. The ORCG manages the exceptions process set out in Section 4 of the Policy. In practice this means the Group:

• Receives and considers requests for postponement of open availability, which must be made at the time of submission.
• Assesses requests against the grounds set out in Section 4 of the Policy, including ethical concerns, national security, and commercial sensitivity such as the management of intellectual property rights, long-form works and monographs, creative works, other non-traditional research outputs where an open access option is not practical, major digital resources, and publishing with small, not-for-profit or minority-language publishers.
• Aims to reach a decision within 10 working days, so that requests do not delay the publishing cycle.
• Approves postponements only for as long as is strictly necessary, and communicates the decision to the author.
• Monitors exception requests and decisions over time, so that the Policy can be applied consistently and reviewed in light of disciplinary practice.

Membership of the Group includes disciplinary expertise from across all Colleges and relevant functional areas, and is provided below.

Contact

Requests for an exception, and any queries about the work of the group, should be sent to: openresearchgroup@ucc.ie