A Break-through Step Toward Open Access and OER Movement?
20 November, 2013In 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