Open University Campaign/Open Access
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Open University Campaign Criteria #1: Open Access
Contents |
What Is Open Access?
An Open Access Publication has two criteria:
1. The author(s) and copyright holder(s) grant(s) to all users a free, irrevocable, worldwide, perpetual right of access to, and a license to copy, use, distribute, transmit and display the work publicly and to make and distribute derivative works, in any digital medium for any responsible purpose, subject to proper attribution of authorship[2], as well as the right to make small numbers of printed copies for their personal use.
2. A complete version of the work and all supplemental materials, including a copy of the permission as stated above, in a suitable standard electronic format is deposited immediately upon initial publication in at least one online repository that is supported by an academic institution, scholarly society, government agency, or other well-established organization that seeks to enable open access, unrestricted distribution, interoperability, and long-term archiving.
Why Is Open Access Important?
Digital technologies, especially the Internet, have radically reduced the cost of publication and dissemination of knowledge. The burgeoning possibilities of world-wide publication align nicely with the ethos of scholarly publication. For centuries, scholars and scientists have shared their discoveries not for monetary compensation, but with the understanding that their ideas are more valuable when shared. By exposing as many people as possible to new knowledge, the accumulative progress of academia will continue; open access will accelerate research, enrich education, and ensure all parties, regardless of material wealth, benefit from scholarship.
What Can A University Do?
1. Hire faculty who publish OA
2. Adopt OA principles for faculty publishing
3. Support OA journals
(Primary source: Bethesda Statement on Open Access Publishing)
Committee Steps
-Draft a one page document outlining the importance of open access
-Determine what makes an "A" open access policy - is Harvard an "A" or should they improve? What else goes into this ranking: library support for OA journals, faculty working on OA proposals, etc.
-Draft letters/questionnaires for relevant departments - library, faculty senates, provosts, etc.
Further Material
There is a handbook on Open Access published by the German-UNESCO Commission (DUK) that is also available in English.
open-access.net provides a lot of general informations on Open Access in German and English.