Policy

As the national library of the United Kingdom, we are an integral part of the national research infrastructure. We have an active approach to research and higher education policy that is related to our purposes and expertise.

We collaborate with cultural organisations, research funders, universities to encourage research and learning use of national collections in UK libraries, archives and museums.

Postgraduate and early career research

Our engagement with doctoral and early career researchers includes work on initiatives and policy related to early career research experience, training and employability. We are interested in expanding the evidence base to understand more about changes in research experience and behaviours, as well as the opportunities provided by new technologies.

One example of our collaborative work in this area is the landmark study about Generation Y research behaviours – Researchers of Tomorrow.

Academic publications

As well as holding the UK’s most extensive collections of academic publications, we also participate in national and international policy debate and development concerned with the production, dissemination and preservation of knowledge in all formats. This includes journal articles, academic books, PhD theses and data, and also investigative work about other publication formats (for example websites, software, film, creative performance and databases).

Our work in this area includes:

EThOS - our free e-theses service
Research into multimedia PhDs and non-text theses
Academic Book of the Future - a project investigating the future of the academic book.
DataCite - we are working with UK research organisations to ensure that their data is findable and citable.

Good research practice

The Library’s Code of Good Research Practice sets out the standards of performance and conduct expected of anyone engaged in research for or on behalf of the Library.

Open access

Our Open Access policy supports the principle that publicly funded and peer-reviewed UK research should be freely available to all.

The San Francisco Declaration of Research Assessment (DORA)

The British Library is now a signatory of the San Francisco Declaration of Research Assessment (DORA). We support the principle of DORA that research should be evaluated based on merit and not based on where it is published.