Open Access Mandates
Charting the Course for Scholarly Dissemination: An authoritative exploration of policies driving open access in academic research.
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What is an Open-Access Mandate?
Policy Framework
An open-access mandate is a policy enacted by research institutions, funding bodies, or governments. It requires or recommends researchers to make their peer-reviewed journal articles and conference papers accessible via open access. This is typically achieved through two primary methods: "Green OA" (self-archiving in repositories) or "Gold OA" (publishing in open-access journals), or a combination of both.
Green vs. Gold OA
Green OA involves depositing the final peer-reviewed manuscript into a freely accessible institutional or disciplinary repository. Gold OA refers to publishing the article directly in an open-access journal. Mandates often specify requirements for deposit timing, repository choice, and sometimes publisher agreements.
Legal and Ethical Underpinnings
These policies aim to broaden the reach and impact of research, ensuring that publicly funded work is accessible to the public. They often include provisions for copyright retention by the author, allowing institutions to exercise rights for dissemination while authors retain ownership.
Key Characteristics
Mandating Bodies
Mandates can originate from various entities:
- Employing Institutions: Universities and research centers requiring faculty and staff to deposit their publications.
- Research Funders: Government agencies and private foundations making open access a condition of grant funding.
Deposit and Access Timing
Policies vary regarding when deposits must occur and when access becomes open:
- Immediate Deposit: Authors must deposit their work upon acceptance or publication.
- Delayed Access: Access may be restricted for a publisher-defined embargo period (e.g., 6-12 months).
Strength and Flexibility
Mandates differ in strength, from mere recommendations to strict obligations. Some include opt-out clauses for authors, allowing exceptions based on specific circumstances or publisher agreements. Rights-retention clauses are a key feature, empowering institutions to ensure open access.
Global Instances
Canadian Agencies
Canada's federal funding agencies, including CIHR, NSERC, and SSHRC, have implemented mandates requiring publications arising from their funding to be made available within 12 months of publication, either through open access journals or repositories.
United States Initiatives
The U.S. government, notably through the NIH Public Access Policy (effective 2008) and a 2013 White House directive, mandates federal agencies with significant R&D expenditures to ensure public accessibility of federally funded research publications, often within 12 months.
European Efforts
The European Commission has consistently promoted open access, recommending mandates for EC-funded research. Initiatives like Horizon 2020 and the OpenAIRE project support open access to publications and data, reflecting a strong commitment to knowledge circulation.
Policy Nuances
Types of Mandates
Mandates can be categorized by their approach:
- Encouragement Policies: Recommendations rather than strict requirements.
- Loophole Mandates: Allow deposit only if publishers permit.
- Limited-Embargo Mandates: Permit a grace period before open access.
- Rights-Retention Mandates: Authors grant institutions a license to ensure open access, often surviving publisher agreements.
Locus and Timing
Policies specify where deposits should occur (institutional vs. external repositories) and when they must be made open (immediately or after an embargo). Immediate deposit, even if access is delayed, is a common strategy to ensure compliance.
Measuring Impact
Increased Visibility
Studies indicate that open-access mandates significantly increase the rate of "Green OA" self-archiving. Research suggests that mandates can triple self-archiving rates compared to institutions without such policies, leading to broader dissemination and potentially higher citation impact.
Researcher Compliance
Surveys consistently show that researchers are willing to comply with mandates. When institutions or funders require self-archiving, compliance rates rise substantially, demonstrating the effectiveness of clear policy directives.
Tracking Mandates
Registries and Databases
Several resources track the growing landscape of open-access mandates:
- ROARMAP (Registry of Open Access Mandatory Archiving Policies): A comprehensive database of institutional, funder, and governmental mandates.
- SHERPA/JULIET: Focuses specifically on funder mandates.
- OpenDOAR: A directory of open-access repositories.
Growth Trends
As of recent data, hundreds of universities and research funders worldwide have adopted open-access mandates. This trend reflects a global movement towards making research outputs more accessible and impactful.
University Policies
US Institutions
Prominent U.S. universities like Harvard, MIT, Stanford, UC Berkeley, and Princeton have implemented faculty-driven open-access policies. These typically involve granting the university a non-exclusive license to disseminate scholarly work via institutional repositories, often with opt-out provisions.
UK and Europe
Institutions such as University College London (UCL) in the UK, and universities in Portugal and Switzerland (e.g., University of Minho, ETH Zurich), have also adopted mandates, aligning with broader European initiatives for open science and research accessibility.
Related Concepts
Core Ideas
Understanding open-access mandates involves familiarity with related concepts such as:
- Self-archiving: The practice of depositing research outputs in repositories.
- Article Processing Charges (APCs): Fees often associated with Gold OA publishing.
- Predatory Publishing: Unscrupulous journals that exploit the OA model.
- Creative Commons Licenses: Tools for managing copyright and permissions for open content.
Broader Movements
Open-access mandates are part of larger movements promoting openness in scholarly communication and research, including:
- Open Science: Encompassing open access, open data, and open methodology.
- Access to Knowledge (A2K): A broader movement advocating for equitable access to information and culture.
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References
References
- Registry of Open Access Mandatory Archiving Policies
- Rentier, B., & Thirion, P. (2011). The Liรยจge ORBi model: Mandatory policy without rights retention but linked to assessment processes.
- CIHR Policy on Access to Research Outputs รขยย CIHR. Cihr-irsc.gc.ca. Retrieved 2011-12-03.
- announcement of the new Tri-Agency Open Access Policy
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Disclaimer
Important Notice
This content has been generated by an AI model and is intended for educational and informational purposes only. It is based on data extracted from Wikipedia and may not reflect the most current information or nuances of the topic.
This is not policy advice. The information provided herein should not be considered a substitute for consulting official policy documents or seeking expert advice from relevant institutions or legal professionals. Always refer to authoritative sources for policy interpretation and implementation.
The creators of this page are not responsible for any errors or omissions, or for any actions taken based on the information provided.