Open Access Policy Update

Abstract

This presentation explores the status of open access policy developments internationally, and particularly in Canada, as of April 2007. While open access resources are substantial, and growing rapidly, the primary issue for open access archives (institutional repositories) is content acquisition, and few researchers fully understand open access, illustrating an ongoing need for policy. Open access policy initiatives are happening around the world. Sherpa Juliet lists more than 20 funding agency policies, from at least 10 countries. More than half the policies are by medical research funders. ROARMAP lists at least 40 institutional policies from at least 12 countries. Many more policy initiatives are in the works, such as the European Commission and the U.S. Federal Research Public Access Act. In Canada, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council adopted open access in principle in 2004, and recently initiated an Aid to Open Access Journals program, a one-year bridge program for SSHRC subsidized journals. Genome Canada has a strong open access policy for both published research results and data. Policy development is underway at the Canadian Institutes for Health Research, the International Development Research Centre, and the Canadian Breast Cancer Research Alliance.