Faculty Open Access Resolution

The 2015 Faculty Senate Open Access Resolution

The Faculty Senate Open Access Resolution (FSOAR) was passed unanimously by the Faculty Senate on April 6, 2015, in recognition of the University’s commitment to disseminating published research and scholarship as widely as possible. Public access to this research benefits faculty by promoting greater reach and impact for articles. Open and easily accessible scholarship also serves members of the public, who may be following research discoveries for a wide range of reasons.

A major goal of the FSOAR was to make it as easy as possible for published faculty research to be made publicly available, without creating any additional or undue burden for faculty members. The UDSpace Institutional Repository provides a central location for hosting published faculty research materials, and once placed into the repository, these materials are indexed and findable through Google Scholar.

The FSOAR grants the University of Delaware (and in this instance, the Library) permission to make faculty research openly available via the repository whenever journal copyright policies allow it, and whenever the faculty member does not expressly request that publications not be made open.

The FSOAR and copyright or publisher restrictions

Many researchers are interested in making their publications openly available, but may believe that the only way to do so is to pay the publisher an article processing charge (APC). APCs may range anywhere from $300 to $5,000, depending on the publisher and journal. Researchers may be concerned that other methods of making their research opening available are illegal, or that in signing an Author Agreement or other publishing contract, they have assigned their copyright to the journal and publisher.

In fact, most publishers provide multiple ways for authors to make their research openly available — and paying an APC is only one option. Publishers may set certain conditions for these alternate, non-fee-based methods of making research open. They may require that the open access (OA) version include a link to the version on the journal website; or may require that the OA version not display the publisher’s formatting and typesetting; or may require that the OA version be embargoed for periods ranging from 12-48 months. Information about these conditions is usually included in the fine print of author agreements, but an easier way to determine what is allowed at most journals is to look up the journal at Sherpa Romeo, which distills this fine print into formats that are easier to read and understand.

When executing the directive of the FSOAR, Library staff check the Sherpa Romeo database to understand what is legally allowed for the journal and publisher in question. The only articles that staff flag for deposit into UDSpace are the articles where the publisher specifically allows an OA version to be created. Staff also notify faculty that their publication is slated for deposit, in order to allow faculty to request a waiver to opt out of the FSOAR for the specific publication. UDSpace includes functionality that allows for any article to be embargoed until it is legally possible to make it available.

A few publishers and journals only allow articles to be made openly available if the author(s) pay an APC fee. In these cases, which are fairly rare, Library staff will not attempt to deposit faculty publications into UDSpace. The FSOAR does not require faculty to pay an APC fee in order to make their research openly available. The FSOAR only supports legal methods of making published research open.

What to expect as a UD faculty member

After you publish a research article, if you are the corresponding author or first UD author listed, you will receive an email from the Library’s Open Access Team (openaccess@udel.edu) informing you that your research is eligible to be made openly available under the terms of the FSOAR and the journal/publisher. The email will also state that unless you request a waiver, your article will be deposited in UDSpace (with an embargo, if required). If a copy of the accepted manuscript (AM) is needed, we will ask you to provide a copy at this time.

If your article was not initially published open access but we have a copy of the version needed for archiving, you will have 14 days to respond before it is deposited in the repository. When it is deposited, you will receive a link to the article in the UDSpace Collection for your department/unit, and it will appear in Google Scholar shortly thereafter.

If your article was published open access under a Creative Commons or similar Open Access license, we will deposit it without a waiting period and let you know after deposit that it has been added to UDSpace.

If you’d like to make your recent research article openly available, you can also contact the Open Access Team proactively after it has been accepted for publication. You will likely need to provide the final accepted manuscript version of your article, as this is the version that most publishers allow to be openly shared in the repository. Upon acceptance, contacting the Open Access Team is the fastest way to make it openly and publicly available.