- Sloyan E, Leddy E, Clark C, Dufour S, Harper R, Dunford A, Elam, Öl. (2026) Antenatal education for labour and postpartum pain: A scoping review of content, delivery approaches, evidence gaps, and lived experiences. PLoS One 21(6): e0330399. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0330399
Tagged / open access
Health promotion paper read 8,000 times
This morning ResearchGate informed us that our paper ‘Understanding health education, health promotion and public health‘ [1] which was published in 2021 has been read 8,000 times. This thinking piece delves into the differences between the concepts of: (a) health education; (b) health promotion; and (c) public health. This confusion does not limit itself to the individual terms,
but also to how these terms relate to each other. Some use terms such as health education and health promotion interchangeably; others see them clearly as different concepts. The paper starts by outlining the authors’ understanding of these individual terms.
They suggest how the five principles of health promotion as outlined by the World Health Organization (WHO, 1984) fit into Tannahill’s (2009) model of three overlapping areas: (a) health education; (b) prevention of ill health; and (c) health protection. Such schematic overview places health education within health promotion and health promotion itself in the centre of the overarching disciplines of education and public health. The authors hope their article helps reduce confusion among all those interested in our discipline, including students, educators, journalists, practitioners, policymakers, politicians, and researchers.
CMWH
Reference:
- van Teijlingen, K. R., Devkota, B., Douglas, F., Simkhada, P., & van Teijlingen, E. R. (2021). Understanding health education, health promotion and public health. Journal of Health Promotion, 9(01), 1–7. https://doi.org/10.3126/jhp.v9i01.40957
Second paper for CMWH MRes student
Congratulations to Maryam Malekian, a MRes student in CMWH, who has just published her second paper as part of her integrated thesis in the highly respected journal Midwifery. Maryam’s paper reports her recently completed scoping review looking at knowledge and attitudes of nulliparous women regarding breastfeeding.
Malekian M, Irving M, Hundley V (2025) Factors associated with breastfeeding knowledge and attitudes among non-pregnant, nulliparous women of reproductive age: A Scoping review. Midwifery, vol 148, September, 104511
The protocol was published earlier this year in MIDIRS Midwifery Digest. She has also presented this work at the Maternal, Parental and Infant Nutrition and Nurture Unit (MAINN) Conference in April.
Malekian M, Hundley V, Irving M. (2025) A scoping review protocol of factors influencing breastfeeding knowledge and attitudes among non-pregnant, nulliparous women of reproductive age. MIDIRS Midwifery Digest, vol 35, no 2, June, pp 179-182.
New paper published on disability in women & girls
Yesterday (25 June) the online journal PLoS One published ‘Life-time experience of violence among women and girls living with disability in Nepal‘ our latest study on disability in Nepal [1]. This cross-sectional study was conducted in 28 municipalities representing all seven provinces as well as all three ecological regions of Nepal. A total of 1,294 women and girls with disability aged 15–59 years participated in 2021. We trained local enumerators using the KoBo application on smartphones or tablets. Both written and oral informed consent was sought from all participants. Cross-tabulations were performed in STATA 18 to determine the distribution of the prevalence of violence. Also, bivariable and multivariable logistic regression models were fitted to establish association between the participants’ characteristics and odds of experiencing violence.
Overall, 457 (35.32%) women living with disabilities had ever experienced violence at a point in their lifetime. Psychological/emotional violence was the most prevalent violence (74.40%) followed by physical violence (31.07%) and denial of services (28.67%). Age was positively associated with the likelihood of experiencing violence. Women belonging to the Brahman/Chhetri ethnic group had reduced odds of violence [AOR = 0.56; 95%CI: 0.37–0.85] compared to Hill Dalits. Divorced or separated women showed a markedly higher likelihood of experiencing violence [AOR = 6.69; 95%CI: 2.31–19.40] compared to currently married women. Participants who had not witnessed violence against other women exhibited significantly higher odds of experiencing violence [AOR = 1.86; 95%CI: 1.20–2.89]. Women living in the Koshi province [AOR = 4.04; 95%CI: 2.54–6.42], Madhesh province [AOR = 2.16; 95%CI: 1.15–4.08] and Bagmati province [AOR = 2.21; 95%CI: 1.41–3.46] reported significantly higher odds of experiencing violence compared to those in Karnali.
The paper concludes oncludes that age, ethnicity, marital status, and provincial residence are significant predictors of violence among women and girls living with disability in Nepal. Interventions aimed at addressing violence against women living with disability in Nepal must prioritize older women and those who were previously married. Also, policy-makers may want to consider giving priority must be given to those provinces where the prevalence and risk of experiencing violence is highest.
The study was funded The United Nations Women Trust Fund, and the paper is freely available in the Open Access journal. We previously published on research into disability in Nepal in 2023 [2].
Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen
Centre for Midwifery & Women’s Health
Visiting Faculty, Centre for Disability Studies, Mahatma Gandhi University, Kerala, India.
References:
- Simkhada P, Basnet S, Sharma S, van Teijlingen E, Wasti SP, Dahal T, et al. (2025) Life-time experience of violence among women and girls living with disability in Nepal. PLoS One 20(6): e0326659. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0326659.
- Simkhada, P, Shyangdan, D, van Teijlingen E, Kadel, S, Stephen, J., Gurung, T. (2013) Women’s Knowledge & Attitude towards Disability in Rural Nepal. Disability & Rehabilitation 35(7): 606-13. http://informahealthcare.com/doi/abs/10.3109/09638288.2012.702847
Open Access Publication Fund open again to new applications
We recently communicated that applications to the BU Open Access Publication Fund were paused due to all of the budget for 24/25 having been committed.
We have since been able to release some funds which are no longer required by authors. Therefore we are pleased to announce that we can once again accept new applications to the fund.
Application to the fund remains highly competitive, and the budget available to support open access through the fund is very limited. Authors are reminded to make use of the transformative deals which BU has with major publishers, which enable BU corresponding authors to publish gold open access for free, or at a reduced cost, in thousands of journals.
Please contact openaccess@bournemouth.ac.uk with any queries.
New Midwifery Publication
Congratulations to Joanne Rack, who is currently undertaking Bournemouth University’s four-year clinical doctorate, on the publication is week in the Canadian Journal of Midwifery Research and Practice. The latest paper “Mapping the Landscape of Canadian Midwifery Research” is Open Access and freely available online. The paper reports on a nation-wide study led by an inspiring team of midwifery researchers exploring the current landscape of midwifery research in Canada—identifying both its strengths and urgent gaps. With insights from over 200 stakeholders, this research calls for enhanced funding, mentorship, and research capacity to advance midwife-led, person-centered care.
Profs. Vanora Hundley & Edwin van Teijlingen
Centre for Midwifery & Women’s Health
Reference:
- Rack, J., Ruby, E., Brunton, G., Al Balkhi, S., Banfield, L., Grenier, L.N., Hutton, E.K, Darling, E.K., Mattison, C., Kaufman, K., Murray-Davis, B. (2025) Mapping the Landscape of Canadian Midwifery Research Canadian Journal of Midwifery Research and Practice, 24 (1).
First paper by PhD student

The systematic review, co-authored with Heidi Singleton, Steven Ersser, Debbie Holley, Ian Pearson, and Abdulrahman Shadeed, rigorously analyzed studies from 1992 to 2024, assessing the role of nurses in diagnosing, treating, and supporting skin cancer patients. The findings demonstrate that nurse-led models can complement or even substitute traditional physician-led care, offering high diagnostic accuracy, improved access to care, and enhanced patient education.
The study also emphasizes the need for further research and standardized national guidelines to scale and integrate nurse-led models effectively into healthcare systems.- Kattach, L., Singleton, H., Ersser, S., Holley, D., Pearson, I. & Shadeed, A. (2025), Nurse-Led Models of Service Delivery for Skin Cancer Detection: A Systematic Review. Journal of Advanced Nursing.[online first] https://doi.org/10.1111/jan.16854
Nepal maternity care paper online yesterday
Yesterday the international journal PLoS ONE published the latest paper of former Centre for Midwifery & Women’s Health (CMWH) PhD student Dr. Sulochana Dhakal-Rai [1]. As in many countries, Caesarean Section (CS) rates are rising in urban hospitals in Nepal. However, the reasons behind these rising rates are poorly understood. Therefore, this study explores factors contributing to rising CS rates in two urban hospitals as well as strategies to make a more rational use of CS. Dr. Dhakal-Rai was supervised by Dr. Juliet Wood, Dr. Pramod Regmi and Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen all based in the Faculty of Health & Social Sciences.
The paper highlights that high CS rates in the private hospital reflects the medicalisation of childbirth, a public health issue which needs to be urgently addressed for the health benefits of both mother and baby. Multiple factors affecting rising CS rates were identified in urban hospitals. This study provides insights into factors affecting the rising CS rate and suggests that multiple strategies are required to stem the rise of CS rates and to make rational use of CS in urban hospitals.
The journal is Open Access and the paper is freely available to read in Nepal (and elsewhere) for anyone with internet access.
Reference:
- Dhakal Rai S, van Teijlingen E, Regmi PR, Wood J, Dangal G, Dhakal KB (2025) Explaining rising caesarean section rates in urban Nepal: A mixed-methods study. PLoS ONE 20(2): e0318489. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0318489
New PhD publication on Caesarean Section
Congratulations to Dr. Soluchana Dhakal-Rai whose latest research paper ‘Explaining rising caesarean section rates in urban Nepal: A mixed-methods study’ has been accepted today by the international journal PLOS One [1]. Sulochana graduated last November with a Ph.D. from Bournemouth University; photo shows her with the BU-based supervisors: Dr. Juliet Wood, Dr. Pramod Regmi and Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen.
Sulochana has been very productive in terms of publications based on her Ph.D., as this is the seventh paper based on her research! She published six previous papers [1-6], in addition during her time as BU Ph.D. student Sulochana also contributed to a book chapter [8[ as part of the textbook Academic Writing and Publishing in Health & Social Sciences.
Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen
References:
- Dhakal Rai, S., van Teijlingen, E., Regmi, P.R., Wood, J., Dangal, G., Dhakal, K.B. 2025 Explaining rising caesarean section rates in urban Nepal: A mixed-methods study, PLOS One (Accepted).
- Dhakal-Rai, S, van Teijlingen E, Regmi,PR, Wood J, Dangal G, Dhakal KB. (2022) Factors contributing to rising cesarean section rates in South Asian countries: A systematic review, Asian J Med Sci 13(2): 143-174.
- Dhakal-Rai, S, van Teijlingen E, Regmi,PR, Wood J, Dangal G, Dhakal KB. (2021) Caesarean Section for Non-medical Reasons: A Rising Public Health Issue. J Karnali Acad Health Sci 2021;4(2)
- Dhakal-Rai, S., van Teijlingen, E., Regmi, P., Wood, J., Dangal, G., Dhakal, K.B. (2021) A brief history and indications for cesarean section. J Patan Acad Health Sci, 8: e1-e10.
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Dhakal-Rai, S., van Teijlingen, E, Regmi, P, Wood, J, Dangal, G, Dhakal, KB. (2021) Classification of Caesarean Section: A Scoping Review of the Robson classification. Nep J Obstet Gynecol. 16(32):2-9.
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Dhakal-Rai, S., Regmi, PR, van Teijlingen, E, Wood, J., Dangal G, Dhakal, KB. (2018) Rising Rate of Caesarean Section in Urban Nepal, J Nepal Health Res Council 16(41): 479-80.
- Dhakal Rai, S., Poobalan, A., Jan, R., Bogren, M., Wood, J., Dangal, G., Regmi, P., van Teijlingen, E., Dhakal, K.B., Badar, S.J., Shahid, F. (2019) Caesarean Section rates in South Asian cities: Can midwifery help stem the rise? J Asian Midwives, 6(2):4–22.
van Teijlingen, E., Ireland, J., Hundley, V, Dhakal Rai, S., Simkhada, P., Sathian, B. (2022) Identifying an appropriate Title, In: Wasti, S.P., et al. (Eds.) Academic Writing and Publishing in Health & Social Sciences, Kathmandu, Nepal: Himal Books: 39-47.
Important announcement regarding publishing in PLOS journals
The decision has been made to not renew our subscription to the PLOS flat fee publishing deal in 2025. This means that authors of outputs accepted for publication in a PLOS journal after the previous agreement end date of 31st December 2024 will be required to pay an open access article processing charge (APC).
Any authors who have already submitted an article to a PLOS journal which is still under consideration should contact openaccess@bournemouth.ac.uk immediately.
Authors who were considering publishing in a PLOS journal, but have not yet submitted their manuscript, should explore the seven other transformative agreements which BU is signed up to, which enable BU authors to publish open access for free or at a discounted rate. Authors that still wish to publish with a PLOS journal must apply to the open access publication fund before submission of their manuscript.
For all related enquiries, please email openaccess@bournemouth.ac.uk
New editorial Journal of Asian Midwives
This weekend a new issue of the Journal of Asian Midwives appeared online [1]. Its latest editorial focuses in part on research ethics. The editors highlight the new World Health Organization (WHO) guidance for best practices in clinical trials [2]. The new WHO guidance was picked up at the 24th FERCAP International Conference “Maximizing Benefits through Responsible Conduct of Research” held in November 2024 in Nepal. FERCAP is the Forum for Ethical Review Committees in the Asian and Western Pacific Region.
FERCAP reminded us that research as a social activity should improve health and quality of life for both targeted and general populations. One notable message from this recent conference was the need for shorter and more comprehensible consent forms to make them user-friendly without sacrificing clarity. The other interesting development is that of so-called “decentralized clinical trials”. Decentralized or point-of-care trials can increase the diversity of clinical trial enrollment by increasing its accessibility, for example where elements of the trial are delivered at home and/or data are collected electronically by trial participants instead of researchers. These are exciting new developments in thinking about research ethics.
The Journal of Asian Midwives is Gold Open Access and hence freely available online.
Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen
Centre for Midwifery & Women’s Health
References:
- van Teijlingen, E., Musaddique, A., Jan, R. (2024) Editorial – Dec 2024. Journal of Asian Midwives, 11(2):1–2.
- World Health Organization (2024). Guidance for best practices for clinical trials. World Health Organization. https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789240097711 (accessed Jan. 2025)
Two new BU midwifery publications
This past week, as part of her work with McMaster University in Canada, Bournemouth University’s (BU) Centre for Midwifery & Women’s Health (CMWH) postgraduate PhD student Joanne Rack published a paper in BMJ Open. This Open Access paper explores the strengths and weaknesses of midwifery research in Canada [1]. Joanne is currently doing a Clinical Doctorate in the specialising in personalised care for women of advanced maternal age. This PhD study is matched-funded by University Hospitals Dorset NHS Foundation Trust and Bournemouth University [BU].
Her PhD is supervised and supported by Professors Vanora Hundley and Edwin van Teijlingen in CMWH, Prof. Ann Luce, deputy dean in BU’s Department of Communication & Journalism as well as Dr. Latha Vinayakarao in Poole Maternity Hospital.
The second midwifery paper ‘Importance of Expanding Midwifery-led Units and Midwifery Care in Reducing Maternal Deaths in Nepal‘, which is also Open Access, has a different international focus, this time on Nepal [2]. The paper is co-authored by Dr. Preeti Mahato and Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen. Dr. Preeti Mahato, formerly in BU’s Faculty of Health & Social Sciences, is currently based at Royal Holloway, University of London.
References:
- Ruby, E., Brunton, G., Rack, J., et al. (2024). Exploring the landscape of Canadian midwifery research: strengths, gaps and priorities – results of a scoping review. BMJ Open 14:e087698. doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2024-087698
- Mahato, P., van Teijlingen, E. (2024). Importance of Expanding Midwifery-led Units and Midwifery Care in Reducing Maternal Deaths in Nepal. Europasian Journal of Medical Sciences 6(1). https://doi.org/10.46405/ejms.v6i1.537
Congratulations to Shafkat Hossain on his first PhD paper
This week the editor of the International Journal of Social Sciences and Management emailed that the paper ‘Drowning Prevention should be a Public Health Issue in Nepal‘ [1] had been published. This is the first paper for our Ph.D. student Md. Shafkat Hossain. Shafkat co-authored this paper drowning prevention experts in Nepal, Dr. Bhagabati Sedain and Dr. Puspa Rai Pant and Prof. Aminur Rahman based at CIPRB (the Centre for Injury Prevention and Research, Bangladesh).
Shafkat’s thesis is part of the interdisciplinary Sonamoni project on drowning prevention in toddlers under the age of two in Bangladesh.
This newly published paper takes lessons learnt from Bangladesh and offers them as ideas to be considered in Nepal. Nepal is prone to a range of natural disasters; earthquakes being the most widely recognised one. However, many people are at risk of drowning as the serious flooding in the autumn of 2024 showed, but this is not recognised as a serious public health risk in Nepal. Drowning relates to people’s everyday activities such as crossing rivers, bathing and swimming and should be treated as a social and public health problem.
The Sonamoni project is being coordinated by Bournemouth University in collaboration with the University of the West of England, Bristol, the University of Southampton, the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI), CIPRB in Bangladesh and Design Without Borders in Uganda. It funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) through its Research and Innovation for Global Health Transformation programme. For more information, visit the NIHR website.
As we are reaching the end of Open Access Week is worth highlighting that this paper is fully Open Access, and hence freely available in both Nepal and Bangladesh!
Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen
Centre for Midwifery & Women’s Health
Reference:
- Hossain, M. S., Pant, P. R., van Teijlingen, E., Sedain, B., & Rahman, A. (2024). Drowning Prevention should be a Public Health Issue in Nepal. International Journal of Social Sciences and Management, 11(4): 83–87.
International Open Access Week: Open Access – facilitating global development
In our final blog post to mark International Open Access Week, Professor Edwin van Teijlingen, Chair of BU’s REF Outputs Sub-Committee, writes about the role of open access research in supporting the REF and facilitating global development…
The REF (Research Excellence Framework) is the periodical (every seven years or so) assessment of the quality of research in the UK at universities and research institutes.
Every university prepares a submission comprising its best publications, evidence of impact in wider society, and a description of its research environment. The next REF – 2029 – will be in just over four years’ time.
The relevance of open access to the REF is that it is a requirement that academics at UK universities and research institutes make their publications in papers open access. This means making publications available to any reader without them having to pay a fee.
The underlying argument is that publicly funded research, be it funded by charities or by the government, should be freely available for all to read, i.e. for the greater good!
One important side effect of the REF’s push for open access is that people who would otherwise not have access can see and use the research.
The three main groups in my view are those not based at universities with subscriptions to loads of scientific journals:
(1) practitioners, in our field health and social care staff who are not working in universities;
(2) members of the public interested in their own conditions and relevant care;
(3) those involved in patient pressure groups and charities; and
(4) students and academics in low-income countries, such as Nepal and Bangladesh.
These groups are now getting access to up-to-date research findings that otherwise would be hidden behind a paywall.
The latter is of key importance, as Bournemouth University colleagues work in many low-income countries.
For me personally, I have been teaching sessions in Nepal on research methods for nearly two decades and I have noticed the enormous improvement in access to up-to-date research publications amongst students during this period, since some many more international publications are now freely available in Nepal.
It is gratifying to know that Bournemouth University academics, together with colleagues all over the world, are contributing to global development through open access publishing.
Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen
Chair of Bournemouth University REF Outputs Sub-Committee
| Visiting Faculty, Centre for Disability Studies, Mahatma Gandhi University, Kerala, India |
| Honorary Professor, School of Health Sciences, University of Nottingham, UK. |
| Visiting Professor, Nobel College, affiliated with Pokhara University, Nepal. |
| Visiting Professor. Manmohan Memorial Inst Health Sci affiliated with Tribhuvan University, Nepal |
Late 2023 paper reaches 400 reads!
Yesterday ResearchGate informed us that our paper ‘The impact of decentralisation on health systems: a systematic review of reviews‘ [1] had reached 400 reads. This paper, published in BMJ Global Health, is one of six papers published from our interdisciplinary research project ‘The impact of federalisation on Nepal’s health system: a longitudinal analysis’, the other five include a methods paper and a public health paper [2-6].
This study was funded by the UK Health Systems Research Initiative [Grant ref. MR/T023554/1]. In this larger Nepal Federal Health System Project we study the consequences for the health system of Nepal’s move from a centralised political system to a more federal government structure in 2015. This joint project was led by the University of Sheffield in collaboration with Bournemouth University, the University of Huddersfield, Canter Bury Christ Church University and two institutions in Nepal, namely MMIHS (Manmohan Memorial Institute of Health Sciences) and PHASE Nepal.
Appropriately on Open Access Week, all six papers are Open Access, i.e. freely available to everyone with internet access in Nepal (and elsewhere in the world).
References:
- Sapkota, S., Dhakal, A., Rushton S., van Teijlingen, E.R. et al. (2023) The impact of decentralisation on health systems: a systematic review of reviews. BMJ Global Health 8:e013317. doi:10.1136/bmjgh-2023-013317.
- Sapkota, S., Rushton, S., van Teijlingen, E., Subedi, M., Balen, J., Gautam, S., Adhikary, P., Simkhada, P., Wasti, S.P., Karki, J.K., Panday, S., Karki, A., Rijal, B., Joshi, S., Basnet, S., Marahatta, S.B. (2024) Participatory policy analysis in health policy and systems research: reflections from a study in Nepal. Health Research & Policy Systems, 22 (No.7) https://doi.org/10.1186/s12961-023-01092-5 .
- Wasti, S.P., van Teijlingen, E., Rushton, S., et al. (2023) Overcoming the Challenges Facing Nepal’s Health System During Federalisation: An Analysis of Health System Building Blocks, Health Research Policy & Systems 21(117) https://doi.org/10.1186/s12961-023-01033-2
- Sapkota, S., Panday, S., Wasti, S.P., et al. (2022) Health System Strengthening: The Role of Public Health in Federal Nepal, Journal of the Nepal Public Health Association 7(1):36-42.
- Adhikary, P., Balen, J., Gautam, S., et al. (2020) The COVID-19 pandemic in Nepal: Emerging evidence on the effectiveness of action by, and cooperation between, different levels of government in a federal system, Journal of Karnali Academy of Health Sciences 3 (3): 1-11.
- Rushton, S., Pandey, S., van Teijlingen, E., et al. (2021) An Investigation into the Impact of Decentralization on the Health System of Nepal. Journal of Manmohan Memorial Institute of Health Sciences, 7(1): 3–14. https://doi.org/10.3126/jmmihs.v7i1.43146
International Open Access Week: Library support for open access
It’s Day 4 of International Open Access Week! Today we are focusing on how Library and Learning Services (LLS) supports Open Access at BU.
LLS plays a key part in promoting open access across the University, managing journal funding deals and making research outputs available via Bournemouth University Research Online (BURO) and the Bournemouth Online Research Data Repository (BORDaR).
Our Open Access guide helps with understanding OA and promoting our funding deals, enabling BU academics to publish Gold Open Access for free (or in some cases for the cost of VAT) in over 10,000 journals.
Gold open access publications will be made available via publisher web pages, and BURO, but it is the work of the BURO and BORDaR Teams that allow your Green open access work to be made publicly available, such as this paper on tourism or this dataset on cyber security.
Populating BURO involves
- Scanning alerting services weekly for BU research outputs to ensure BRIAN is comprehensively populated with records
- Ensuring full text is uploaded to BURO via BRIAN where it is missing (around 20% of all BRIAN records are resolved by LLS)
- Processing all records uploaded by academics and ensuring the correct version is made available and copyright compliant
In the past 12 months 1400+ records were reviewed and processed by the BURO Team. Amongst the 10 most popular downloads over the last 12 months include this Green open access paper from 2019 on social media (4000+ downloads), this BU doctoral thesis from 2015, also on social media.
Join in the conversation around open access week on social media using #OAweek, or contact us at research@bournemouth.ac.uk if you’d like to share your thoughts via the research blog.
Find out more about Open Access at BU on the RKE Sharepoint site
International Open Access Week: BU ranked in top 20 universities worldwide for proportion of open access research outputs
BU has been ranked 13th in the world for the proportion of our research outputs which are published open access.
The CWTS Leiden Ranking provides information about the scientific performance of over 1,500 major universities worldwide – including their scientific impact, collaboration and open access publishing.
In the 2024 rankings, BU is placed 13th for the proportion of research outputs that are published open access – with 91.5% of our publications being freely available.
Around half of all BU publications were green open access publications and around 22% were published gold open access, with biomedical and health sciences, and physical sciences and engineering having the largest proportion of open access publications.
This week marks International Open Access Week, which aims to showcase the benefits of publishing open access and build momentum for the open sharing of academic knowledge.
We are committed to supporting open access research at BU and strive to make our research data as accessible as possible. By having the research of our academics and students online for everyone to access, this enables our research to reach communities worldwide and have greater impact.
Professor Sarah Bate, Interim Associate Pro Vice-Chancellor for Research and Knowledge Exchange, said: “Open science is immensely valued by the BU research community, not only underpinning the integrity and transparency of the research that we do, but allowing this work to be freely accessed by readers from within academia and beyond.
“Our high position in the Leiden ranking is a testament to our researchers and those promoting research excellence in professional services, highlighting the strength of our commitment to open science.”
Join in the conversation around open access week on social media using #OAweek, or contact us at research@bournemouth.ac.uk if you’d like to share your thoughts via the research blog.
Find out more about Open Access at BU on the RKE Sharepoint site
International Open Access Week 2024 – 21-27 October
This week marks International Open Access Week, which aims to drive momentum for the open sharing of research knowledge.
The theme of this year’s International Open Access Week is ‘Community over Commercialisation’, in recognition of a growing need to prioritise approaches to open scholarship that serves the best interests of the public and the academic community.
Open access publishing allows research to be disseminated quickly and widely, the research process to operate more efficiently, and increases the use and understanding of research by business, government, charities and the wider public.
We are committed to open access research at BU and strive to make our research data as accessible as possible.
We’ll be sharing content on the research blog throughout the week so you can find out more about open access at BU and how we support open research.
You’ll also be able to drop in and chat to staff involved in supporting open access at BU in FG19 (Fusion Building) from 12pm – 1pm on Wednesday 23rd October. No need to sign up – just drop by.
A range of other events are taking place nationally and globally as part of the week.
Coventry Open Press will be holding a hybrid event tomorrow from 1pm – 2.30pm tomorrow (Tuesday 22nd October), busting myths around open access and sharing the experiences of authors and publishers.
Publishers Wiley are hosting Publishing Open Access in Wiley Journals and Publication Tips for Authors, which also takes place on Tuesday 22nd October, from 9am – 10am. The event will offer valuable guidance for authors seeking to enhance their writing skills and maximise the impact of their work.
Further events can be found on the International Open Access Week website.
Join in the conversation around open access week on social media using #OAweek, or contact us at research@bournemouth.ac.uk if you’d like to share your thoughts via the research blog.
Find out more about Open Access at BU on the RKE Sharepoint site












Geography and Environmental Studies academics – would you like to get more involved in preparing our next REF submission?
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Boost Your Research Toolkit: Digital Confidence & AI Literacy Workshop – Friday 26 June 10am-12pm
BU students’ publishing success
BU presentation at the University of Bristol
Horizon Europe Cluster 3 (Civil Security for Society) 2026 Calls Now Open
MSCA Doctoral Networks 2026 Call Information Webinar
ESRC Festival of Social Science 2026: Application Deadline Extended to Thursday 25 June 2026
Reminder: Register for the ESRC Festival of Social Science 2026 Information Session
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ERC Advanced Grant 2025 Webinar
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