Late in October, at the end of International Open Access Week, University Libraries faculty voted to approve an open access policy for their own scholarly articles.
The new policy follows in the footsteps of numerous other North American and international academic institutions with open access policies. By passing this policy, faculty recognize the importance of sharing their research publications with readers who do not have subscriptions or institutional access to library science research. The policy is also in line with the University Libraries 2019-2021 Strategic Plan in which the Libraries “champion and support the open sharing and reuse of research.”
Key Elements of the Policy
- Prior to transfer of copyright to a publisher, library faculty grant a non-exclusive license to the library for hosting the peer-reviewed (final) manuscript in the repository.
- The faculty commit to placing a peer-reviewed manuscript of each new publication into the Library Faculty Publications Series of Digital Scholarship@UNLV.
- Upon request, waivers from the policy are automatically granted for any individual publication — no questions ask, no reasons needed.
- No limitations on publication venue. Library faculty have complete freedom to publish in any journal they wish.
- A commitment to reviewing the policy after three years to gauge impact, or to make changes and improvements.
- More about the policy, including the policy language itself, is available online.
Why is an open access policy important?
- Many faculty authors on campus will have heard someone from the University Libraries talk about open access. The Libraries takes open access seriously and are supporting the same open access efforts with our own publications.
- Library faculty at UNLV are experts in information literacy, archives and special collections management, digital collections, library systems, scholarly communication, and much more. Access to research in these areas can benefit peers, potential library job applicants, and aspiring library school students.
- Wide dissemination is part of UNLV’s Top Tier Initiative and open access increases dissemination of research results.
For more information, contact Andrea Wirth at andrea.wirth@unlv.edu or 702-895-1974.
