Open Access policies: An Overview.

Iryna Kuchma, eIFL Open Access Program Manager, eIFL.net

Presented at the workshop “Open Access: How to improve accessibility, visibility and impact of your research outputs”, December 22, 2008,

Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia

Open Access policies

Increasing number of Open Access policies from:

Research groupsResearch centers

UniversitiesFunding bodiesGovernments

National and international bodies

Funder policies - mandatesAustralian Research Council

National Health and Medical Research Council, AustraliaFonds voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek (Research Foundation Flanders)

Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR)European Research Council (ERC)

Agence Nationale de la recherche (France)Health Research Board (HRB) of Ireland

Irish Research Council for Science, Engineering & TechnologySwiss National Science FoundationArthritis Research Foundation, UK

Arts and Humanities Research Council, UKBiotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), UK

British Heart FoundationCancer Research UK

Chief Scientist Office (Scottish Executive Health Department)Department of Health (UK)

Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), UKJISC (Joint Information Systems Committee), UK

Medical Research Council (MRC), UKNational Environmental Research Council (NERC), UK

Science & Technology Facilities Council, UKWellcome Trust, UK

National Institutes of Health (NIH), USAHoward Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI)

The USA The U.S. National Institutes of Health, the single largest funder of research in the U.S with an annual budget of $28.9 billion USD, implemented a policy

requiring that its grant recipients make articles resulting from any NIH funding publicly available

within 12 months of publication in a peer-reviewed journal.

This policy, passed by the U.S. Congress and signed into law by the President, went into effect in April of

2008. (Alliance for Taxpayer Access, Worldwide momentum for policies supporting public access

to publicly funded research)

The European Research CouncilIn January of 2008 The European Research Council (ERC) implemented a mandatory public access policy

for its funded researchers. The policy states:

“Requires that all peer-reviewed publications from ERC-funded research projects be deposited on

publication into an appropriate research repository where available, such as PubMed Central, ArXiv or an

institutional repository, and subsequently made Open Access within 6 months of publication.”

(Alliance for Taxpayer Access, Worldwide momentum for policies supporting public access to publicly funded research)

Proposed Funder mandates

European CommissionEuropean Research Advisory Board (EURAB)

European University Association (EUA)National Knowledge Commission, India

Federal Research Public Access Act (FRPAA), USA

European University AssociationUniversities should develop institutional policies

and strategies that foster the availability of their quality-controlled research results for

the broadest possible range of users, maximising their visibility, accessibility and

scientific impact.

The basic approach …should be the creation of an institutional repository or participation in a

shared repository.. http://www.eua.be/fileadmin

/user_upload/files/Policy_Positions/Recommendations_Open_Access_adopted_by_the_EUA_Council_on_26th_of_March_2008_final.

pdf

European University AssociationUniversity institutional policies should require

that their researchers deposit (self-archive) their scientific publications in their

institutional repository upon acceptance for publication. Permissible embargoes should

apply only to the date of open access provision and not the date of deposit.

...It should be the responsibility of the university to inform their faculty researchers about IPR

and copyright management…http://www.eua.be/fileadmin

/user_upload/files/Policy_Positions/Recommendations_Open_Access_adopted_by_the_EUA_Council_on_26th_of_March_2008_final.

pdf

IrelandThe

Irish Research Council for Science, Engineering and Technology

(IRCSET) has adopted an ideal OA mandate. From the policy:

...Where a research publication arises in whole or in part from IRCSET funded research..., the following policy will be adhered to with effect

from 1st May 2008.....1. This publication policy confirms the freedom

of researchers to publish first wherever they feel is the most appropriate.

Ireland2. The effect of the policy is intended to increase the visibility of, and improve access to, the research funded

by IRCSET and the State, where such research is intended to be published by the researcher(s) concerned.

3. The policy is based on recognised best practice. It is in keeping with the recommendations of the European

Research Advisory Board (EURAB) Policy in relation to scientific publication. It is also in keeping with the

combined OECD Ministers’ Declaration entrusting the OECD to work towards commonly agreed Principles and

Guidelines on Access to Research Data from Public Funding.

IrelandConditions to which IRCSET funded Award Recipients

should adhere:1. All researchers must lodge their publications resulting in whole or in part from IRCSET-funded

research in an open access repository as soon as is practical, but within six calendar months at the

latest.2. The repository should ideally be a local institutional

repository to which the appropriate rights must be granted to replicate to other repositories.

Ireland3. Authors should deposit post-prints (or publisher’s

version if permitted) plus metadata of articles accepted for publication in peer-reviewed journals

and international conference proceedings;4. Deposit should be made upon acceptance by the journal/conference. Repositories should release the metadata immediately, with access restrictions to

full text article to be applied as required. Open access should be available as soon as practicable

after the author-requested embargo, or six month, whichever comes first;

Ireland5. Suitable repositories should make provision

for long-term preservation of, and free public access to, published research findings....

HarvardHarvard’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences voted to

adopt a policy under which (1) faculty are required to deposit a copy of their

scholarly journal articles in an institutional repository and

(2) automatically to grant to the University a University License to make those articles

openly accessible on the Internet.

HarvardThe Faculty of Arts and Sciences of Harvard University is committed to disseminating the

fruits of its research and scholarship as widely as possible.

In keeping with that commitment, the Faculty adopts the following policy: Each Faculty

member grants to the President and Fellows of Harvard College permission to make

available his or her scholarly articles and to exercise the copyright in those articles.

HarvardIn legal terms, the permission granted by each Faculty

member is a nonexclusive, irrevocable, paid-up, worldwide license to exercise any and all rights under copyright relating to each of his or her

scholarly articles, in any medium, and to authorize others to do the same, provided that the articles are

not sold for a profit.

ChinaChinese Ministry of Science and Technology

(CHINA)http://www.most.gov.cn/eng/

http://www.codataweb.org/06conf/ Mandate to deposit research data (not yet applicable to research articles themselves)

Hong Kong Universities proposed Open Access policy for publicly funded research

IndiaNational Institute of Technology, Rourkela (institutional-

mandate)http://www.nitrkl.ac.in

http://dspace.nitrkl.ac.in/dspace 10th Senate meeting, NIT Rourkela resolution All

research papers by faculty and students, MTech (Research) and Ph. D. thesis is to be self-archived in

Dspace@nitr or it should be submitted to the librarian for archiving, so that others interested may benefit by referring to these documents. The Administration may use this archive for assessment of faculty performance

when needed.

IndiaNational Knowledge Commission (proposed-funder-

mandate)http://knowledgecommission.gov.in/

http://knowledgecommission.gov.in/downloads/documents/wg_open_course.pdf

On a policy level, all research articles published by Indian authors receiving any government or public

funding must be made available under Open Access and should be archived in the standard OA format on his/her website. Further, as a national academic OA

portal is developed, these same research articles should be made available through this portal.

South Africathe Academy of Science (ASSAF) Committee on

Scholarly Publishing in South Africa (CSPiSA) and the Department of Science and

Technology (DST) has dedicated a substantial three-year budget to fund the implementation

of ASSAF's recommendations for the development of scholarly publication in South Africa - a 'gold route' Open Access approach

to journal publishing in South Africa

South Africa – Why? In a 2006 report, the Academy of Science of

South Africa found that over the past 14 years, 1/3rd of South African journals have

not had a single paper cited by their international counterparts

Fewer than 1 in 10 of South Africa's 255 accredited journals has been cited enough to

feature in the main international research databases, despite South Africa being the continent's leading publisher of research

South Africa – Why? “Visibility for research output from South Africa,

and other developing countries, must be increased dramatically so that research from developing countries is incorporated into the

global knowledge pool, so vital to the resolution of global issues such as climate

change or the spread of infectious diseases.”(http://www.scidev.net/quickguides/index.cfm?

fuseaction=qguideReadItem&type=1&itemid=2828&language=1&qguideid=4)

South AfricaDepartment of Library Services

http://www.library.up.ac.za https://www.up.ac.za/dspace/

UPSpace is a university-based institutional repository which offers a set of services to the reseachers of the

UP Community, for the management and dissemination of digital academic/research materials

(excluding work of administrative or commercial nature) donated to or created by the institution and its community members. The set of services includes

the collection, storage and preservation in digital format, and retrieval of items submitted to UPSpace.

RussiaCentral Economics and Mathematics Institute of Russian Academy

of Sciences (institutional-mandate)http://www.cemi.rssi.ru/

http://socionet.ru/index-en.html http://cemi.socionet.ru/

http://www.cemi.rssi.ru/rus/news/initiat-eng.htm All researchers of the Central Economics and Mathematics

Institute of Russian Academy of Sciences are mandated by director's decree to immediately deposit their papers/articles in

the institutional Open Archive. ["...mandate researchers of CEMI RAS to deposit all completed research (in working paper

form), including the full text, in institutional OA (repository) not later than 6 months after completion."]

UkraineSince January 2007 Ukraine has a law - proposed

mandate for open access to publicly funded research.

The Law of Ukraine On the principles of developing information society in Ukraine for 2007-20015 at

www.rada.gov.ua

Open Access – A Policy IssueOpen Access policies are:

Welcomed by authorsComplied with by authors

Compatible with copyright and respect authors’ moral rights

Compatible with patent registrationRespectful of academic and intellectual

freedomsAligned with the aims of most funding bodies

and institutionsEffective!

Appealing to All the Major Stakeholders

To the funders of researcher – both as a public service and as an increased return on their

investment in research

To the authors – as it gives wider dissemination and impact

To readers – as it gives them access to all primary literature, making the most important

‘research tool’ more powerful

Appealing to All the Major Stakeholders

To editors and reviewers – as they feel their work is more valued

To the libraries – as it allows them to meet the information needs of their users

To the institutions – as it increases their presence and prestige

To small and society publishers – as it gives them a survival strategy and fits with their central remit

Thank you!Questions?

Iryna Kuchmairyna.kuchma[at]eifl.net; www.eifl.net

The presentation is licensed with Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License