Recognition of Open Subjects Publication 2025-2026

Resources Open Subjects
  • 05 Jun, 2025

This is an automatic translation generated by artificial intelligence. May contain errors.

We answer your questions about the call!

On Tuesday, June 3, a session was held in which we tried to present the call and answer all your questions about it. Whether you are just starting to find out or already have a proposal underway, the video of this session is likely to be of interest to you.

Call

Calls on the University’s virtual headquarters, calls section. (You can also download it directly by clicking here)

Applications

  • First-semester subjects: Until November 17, 2025 for first-semester subjects (but processing is only guaranteed for documents uploaded to BURJC Digital by November 15, inclusive).
  • Second-semester subjects: Until February 16, 2026 for second-semester subjects (but processing is only guaranteed for documents uploaded to BURJC Digital by February 14, inclusive).
  • Application forms: in the calls section, look for “Call for the recognition of open-access publication of teaching materials for the 2025-2026 academic year”, for first or second semester, as appropriate for the subject.

Auxiliary material

Main features

This fourth call is held at Rey Juan Carlos University to promote among teaching staff the creation of quality open educational resources, and to encourage their use in the subjects taught by said teaching staff. The call is an initiative of the Vice-Rectorates for Digital Transformation and Teaching Innovation, Campus Community, Culture and Sport, and Academic Planning and Teacher Training.

The details of the call can be found in the document Call for the recognition of open-access publication of subjects 2025-2026. Below, some of its most important aspects are summarized and explained. In case of discrepancy between this summary and the call, the call shall prevail, as it is the one officially published by the University.

Purpose

This call aims to promote the work of URJC teaching staff to publish their materials in open-access subjects, evaluating this work and, where appropriate, assigning an economic incentive and other benefits and effects, recognizing the effort made in the preparation of materials published during the 2025-2026 academic year.

Participation

Participation in this call is by proposing subjects from the URJC virtual classroom, which must be official teaching in a URJC undergraduate or master’s degree during the 2025-2026 academic year. The teaching materials for these subjects must have been previously published openly.

Open-access publication of materials

The materials submitted for evaluation must have a visible license under which they are published, which must be one of the open-access publication licenses approved by URJC Open Publishing Council, with the consent of all its authors (Attribution or Attribution-ShareAlike Creative Commons licenses).

Bibliographic-format materials (guides, notes, collections of problems and exercises, collections of exams, presentations, etc.) must be published in the institutional open repository, BURJC Digital. Videos and audios must be uploaded to TV URJC.

You can consult the document How to publish teaching materials openly to understand the complete process of open publication of teaching materials. In the specific case of podcasts and videos, you should also consult the Procedure for publishing open-access materials on TV URJC.

In short, you must not be missing this:

a) Title, authors, and date.
b) Text “Open-access teaching material from Rey Juan Carlos University”.
c) Name of the subject or subjects, and corresponding degree or degrees, in which the material is used.
d) Place of deposit (TV URJC or BURJC Digital, along with the link to the platform).
e) Open-access distribution license for the material. It will suffice to include the corresponding icon for the license, when this is clearly recognizable (for example, those of a specific Creative Commons license) and the detailed licensing information is elsewhere in the material.

Submission of applications

Individual subjects may be submitted to the call, understood as those presented as such in the virtual classroom. In the case of groups of subjects that share the same materials (for example, different groups of the same subject, or similar subjects in different degrees) they will be submitted as a single grouped subject.

To formalize the application for a subject or group of subjects, once their materials have been published openly, the person responsible for the minutes group of one of the grouped subjects (as listed in the Teaching Organization Plan) will complete the requested data in the application procedure for this call found on the University’s electronic headquarters (see link at the beginning of this document).

Subjects taught during the first semester may be submitted up to November 17, 2025, and those taught during the second semester, up to February 16, 2026.

Resolving queries

You can consult the most frequently asked questions, with their answers, later in this document. If they cannot be resolved in this way, they can be raised by email to ofilibre@urjc.es, where we will try to resolve them as soon as possible.

Checklist for material deposited in BURJC Digital

For all materials deposited in BURJC Digital with the intention of submitting them to this call, the following checklist can be followed to ensure that what is stated in the call is met, and the recommended best practices for open-access teaching materials:

  • Cover:

    • Material title: Has a title for the material been included on the cover? Normally, this title will refer to the name of the subject and the type of material. For example, “Notes for the student of Telematics Applications Design” or “Slides for the subject Art in the Middle Ages”.
    • Text: “Open-access teaching material from Rey Juan Carlos University”
    • Authors: Is the full name of the persons considered authors of the work clearly indicated?
    • Degree(s) in which it is taught: Has the list of degrees (and, where applicable, specific names of the subject in those degrees) in which it is taught been included? This list can be included in a smaller font size than the title, and not necessarily below it, but it should give a quick idea to anyone looking at the cover of which subjects and degrees the material in question is being used in.
    • Date or year: Is a date, or at least a year of the work, included? This is important so that the reader can quickly see how up-to-date the material may be, and above all to refer appropriately to the version of the material that interests them.
    • Logo of the chosen license: Is the logo of the chosen license included on the cover? It is important that the logo of the chosen license (Creative Commons Attribution or Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike) appears on the cover, if necessary in a small size, so that the reader quickly gets the idea that the document is distributed in open access.

  • On the inside page, normally the first printed page after the cover:

    • Copyright notice: “Has a complete copyright notice been included? A copyright notice must be included, including the word or symbol “Copyright”, the year (or range of years) and the complete list of persons and/or organizations holding the copyright of the work.
    • License reference: Has a precise reference to the license used been included? A detailed reference to the specific license used must be included (Creative Commons Attribution or Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike). In addition, this license must be the same as that indicated, including its logo, on the cover.
    • Example of complete text, including copyright notice and license reference:
Open-access teaching material from Rey Juan Carlos University

©2025 Author Mengánez Zutánez  
Some rights reserved  
This document is distributed under the  
“Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International” license of Creative Commons,
available at  
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.es

  • In the deposit metadata:

    • Same data as on the document cover: Do the data on the cover match those indicated in the deposit forms? In particular, it is important that the title, list of authors and license correspond exactly to what is indicated on the cover of the work.

More details on how to license and mark the license of the work can be found in the document Publication of open-access teaching materials.

Frequently asked questions about this call🔗

If I have already applied in previous calls, can I participate in this one with the same subject?

Only subjects that have not received the open-access subject rating in the calls of the last two academic years may be submitted.

Is there a specific format for documents (presentations, text documents…)?

Although it is not mandatory, OfiLibre has prepared templates that can be used for open-access published materials.

How do I specify the license in my documents?

Depending on the type of document, the license is usually included either at the beginning or at the end. In text documents, it usually appears at the beginning where the copyright notice would normally go. In videos, it can appear at the beginning, where the title appears, or at the end where the credits would appear. In audio narrations, likewise at the beginning or end. The important thing is that it appears within the material in such a way that the license can be recognized. You can see more information in this guide to publishing open-access teaching materials where it is explained in more detail how to include the license in the materials.

This is an example:

©2024 Author Hermenegilda Gómez Stravinsky

Some rights reserved 

This document is distributed under the  

“Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International” license of Creative Commons,

available at  

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.es

This license does not apply to third-party materials that may be included in this work and which retain the rights of the original authors.

How will my open-access subject look?

You can see examples here of subjects published in last year’s call

How do I specify the license in my documents?

There are two licenses that have been approved by URJC Open Publishing Council as valid licenses for open-access materials:

  • Creative Commons BY (Attribution) 4.0
  • Creative Commons BY-SA (Attribution-ShareAlike) 4.0.

Both licenses are explained in more detail in the Guide to publishing open-access teaching materials.

Depending on the type of document, the license is usually included either at the beginning or at the end. In text documents, it usually appears at the beginning where the copyright notice would normally go. In videos, it can appear at the beginning, where the title appears, or at the end where the credits would appear. In audio narrations, likewise at the beginning or end. The important thing is that it appears within the material in such a way that the license can be recognized.

Who can upload the materials of a subject to the open archive?

Any of the authors can upload the materials, after signing and sending a document authorizing open publication signed by the author who uploads the materials, which serves as a declaration of conformity.

Once the materials have the license, how are they uploaded to the open archive?

Instructions for uploading the materials to the institutional open archive can be found on this BURJC page.

Who can submit the application for my subject in the call?

Only the person responsible for the minutes group of the subject, if a single subject is submitted, or of any one of the group of subjects, if a group of subjects with the same materials is submitted.

What happens if my materials do not fit into any of the categories contemplated in the call?

In the case of materials that do not fit into any category, include them in others and justify them appropriately.

Where do I put my open resources in my virtual classroom subject?

You do not need to put them anywhere special, you just need to include the links in the participation form.

How do I upload my videos?

Videos and podcasts must first be uploaded to the TV URJC platform. It is advisable to consult the Procedure for publishing open-access materials on TV URJC. This procedure indicates how videos should be published on TV URJC in a single collection, which will then be indicated in the application form for this call. The procedure also shows how to insert the videos uploaded to TV URJC into the Virtual Classroom.

Videos uploaded from TV URJC to the Virtual Classroom following this procedure are visible to the students of the subject. If the subject is approved to be made available openly, that collection will be opened to the general public, so everyone will be able to see it.

I have already sent the application, but I want to make changes, how do I do it?

Once the application has been sent, it cannot be modified. You can submit another application, and the evaluation committee will always consider the latest version submitted for each subject.

Can I contribute software (computer programs) that I use in my classes in any category?

Free software used in teaching could be contributed in the “Other materials” category of the call, if it meets certain requirements. To explain what these requirements are, and in general for consultation by teachers who are authors of free software used in their classes, we have prepared specific recommendations: Open Subjects Call: software for teaching.

Do I have to change the way I present my materials to participate?

Not necessarily. Although to upload them to URJC Institutional Open Archive (BURJC Digital) they must be grouped. The idea is to maintain the way we teach and make a compilation for deposit.

Can only the CC Attribution and CC Attribution-ShareAlike licenses be used? Why not others?

The accepted licenses are CC Attribution and CC Attribution-ShareAlike. Others are not accepted because they have not been accepted as open-access publication licenses by the Open Publishing Council, following the Berlin Definition of Open Access.

When is the last day to participate in the Call?

The dates can be seen at the beginning of this document. But be careful, in order to be able to submit the application, the materials must have been uploaded, previously, to the corresponding repositories. It is important to take into account that URJC Institutional Open Archive (BURJC Digital) must be able to process the material, accept it and give it a handle (url identifier). Therefore, the deadline for uploading material is two days prior to the deadline for the call. If the material is rejected by the library, the handle will not be obtained and therefore it will not be possible to participate at that point.

This process will be handled by the digital archive itself. When the inclusion in the archive is processed and the link (handle) is generated, the archive itself will include this information in the deposited material.

I want to publish a package of exercises, but many times they are inherited from years and years… can I use them and upload them to the repository?

The call is designed to release and publish materials of one’s own creation, or co-authored with the authorization of the other authors. Publishing something as one’s own, without being sure whether we are the authors or not, is not advisable.

Until last year we were two teachers teaching the subject. For this course only the other teacher will teach it. Can I participate in the call?

No. The call is for teachers who teach it this year. On the other hand, the materials (which may be co-authored with other teachers) if they finally receive economic recognition, will be for the teachers who teach the subject in the current academic year.

If I have my videos on Youtube, does it work for the call?

No. They must be in URJC-TV repository with one of the proposed licenses.

I have a computer program that I would like to participate in the call. How do I include it?

Computer programs can participate in the call. There is a procedure for their storage and in the participation form, it must be included in the category of “Computer programs”.

If I teach classes in the second semester… can I participate now?

Yes, the second-semester call is open at the same time as the first-semester call, although it will close on its own date.

I have uploaded videos to TV URJC and I don’t see them available

This is normal, because the videos are uploaded, but are not yet public. They will be if your subject is finally made open. In the meantime, only the students of your subject will be able to see them, accessing them via a link from the virtual classroom.

I have notes and slides, how do I deposit them?

As they are two PDF documents (each corresponding to a category) they would have to be two entries in BURJC Digital, one for each document.

When uploading my notes to BURJC Digital, do I upload them by topic or by type of material?

In this call, documents must be uploaded in a single PDF per category. This does not prevent you from using them topic by topic in your classes, and having a PDF per topic (or per class session, or whatever you think is best). But at the time of uploading to BURJC Digital, it must be a single document (book). Then, in a visible place in the subject you will link to that document (it can be, for example, “complete collection of notes”), so that when the subject is made open it can be clearly seen where the complete document is.

The complete document (book) can simply be a concatenation of the PDFs (if you need help to compose that concatenation, let us know), if possible with a cover and an index. Or, depending on the tool you use to write them, all the notes in a joint document, from which you will produce a single PDF. But then, if you prefer to upload the materials topic by topic for your students, because you handle them better that way (or because you make small changes to fix errors that you detect when preparing each week’s sessions), there is no problem with that. Only, warn your students that it is better for them to use the topic-by-topic versions.

Is the maximum personal economic incentive for the whole year?

The maximum specified in the call is for the entire academic year.

For an annual subject, in which semester can it be submitted?

You can submit the subject in the call for either of the two semesters, but only in one of them. In any case, the entire subject will be submitted.