SUBJECT:

Open Access Policy

On July 24, 2013, the systemwide Academic Council voted to adopt an Open Access Policy for scholarly articles published by Senate faculty across the University of California system. An article deposit system to support the policy was released on a pilot basis, at UCLA, UC Irvine and UC San Francisco on November 1, 2013, and will be officially rolled out at the other campuses on November 1, 2014, pending the outcome of the pilot.

The Open Access Policy allows faculty members to maintain legal control over their research articles while making their work much more widely available to the public. The policy does not require faculty to publish in open access journals, or to pay fees or charges to publish; instead it commits faculty to making a version of each article available publicly in an open access repository.

Faculty can take advantage of this right by using UC's eScholarship digital repository via http://www.escholarship.org/ (or any other open access repository) to make a version of any article publicly and freely available worldwide. While it is expected that faculty at UCLA, UC Irvine and UCSF will make their articles freely available (via eScholarship or another OA Repository) effective immediately, faculty at the other 7 UC campuses are also free to begin depositing their articles now if they wish. Faculty authors may opt out of the policy for any given article, may delay the date of appearance of the article ("embargo" it), and may choose the terms of use that will be applied to each article (for example, whether it is for commercial or non-commercial reuse).

This policy has been under review by the Senate divisions and committees for two years and its implementation is a move of major significance. Policies like this one have been adopted by more than 175 universities but none as large, influential or productive as the University of California. The move signals to publishers that UC faculty want to see open access implemented on their own terms.

The California Digital Library and the campus libraries have developed a streamlined eScholarship deposit system and tools for obtaining waivers and embargoes to assist faculty in complying with the policy. The CDL has also contacted over 600 publishers to alert them to the policy and encourage their cooperation with its terms. Faculty on all campuses may receive questions about compliance from publishers and can consult the resources listed below (including an FAQ) for assistance.

At UC San Diego, Library staff and members of the Senate Committee on the Library have been working to train library liaisons who are available to conduct departmental presentations to inform faculty about the new policy. For local assistance, please contact:

Nancy Stimson, Scholarly Communications Coordinator The Library, UC San Diego,(858) 534-6321, nstimson@ucsd.edu

Learn more about your rights and responsibilities under this policy at the UC Open Access Policy website:

http://uc-oa.info

Watch a 90-second video about the policy:

http://osc.universityofcalifornia.edu

Discover how easy it is to deposit your articles in eScholarship:

http://osc.universityofcalifornia.edu/open-access-policy/deposit/

Suresh Subramani Executive Vice Chancellor Kit Pogliano Chair, Academic Senate