A Break-through Step Toward Open Access and OER Movement?

20 November, 2013

vimeoIn a Memo to the faculty members released on Nov.18, The University of California system informed its faculty that after two years of evaluations and reviews,  the Academic Council voted in July 2013 to adopt a new Open Access Policy for publishing scholarly articles.  The policy was released, on a pilot basis, in three out of ten campuses, on Nov.1, 2013 and will be officially rolled out at the other campuses in one year, if the outcome of the pilot would be positive.

The new policy allows- but does not require– faculty to publish in OA journals;  instead, it commits faculty to making a version of each article available publicly in an OA repository  (UC´s  eScholarship  digital repository  or another  OA repository).It is important that the faculty will keep legal control over their publications, if they  wish, by opting out of the policy for any given article, by delaying  the release of the open version (“embargo” it) or by stating their terms of use (commercial vs non-commercial reuse).

This UC policy might become a vital catalyst to the whole community of informed  but  not convinced researchers who would like to be socially responsible  but to do so on their   own terms.  Policies like this one have been adopted by more than 175 universities and  by larger systems, however, they often remain  an emphatic manifesto  not  provided by means or mechanisms to implement them.  In this case, when a large,  influential  player like the University of California sends a strong signal of commitment   to the cause, it may help the OA and OER Movement  finally break through.

To read more:

UCLA  details on implementing, costs, OA license waivers, embargos, etc

 Watch a 90-second video about the policy.

 How easy it is to deposit your articles in eScholarship

The extensive policy Q&A list

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