University of Windsor Senate Passes Open Access Policy

University of Windsor Senate Passes Open Access Policy 

Momentum for open access has been growing as numerous funding agencies and institutions worldwide implement open access policies.  In Canada, the recent release of the Tri-Agency Open Access Policy on Publications requires grant recipients, as of May 2015, to take steps to ensure that peer-reviewed journal publications arising from supported research are made freely accessible within 12 months of publication. As a means of supporting open access initiatives, in 2012 the Leddy Library launched a digital institutional repository Scholarship at UWindsor, which is available to assist Windsor researchers in meeting the requirements of the Tri-Council (CIHR, NSERC, SSHRC) and other funding agencies.  

In recognition of the importance of providing open access to Windsor research and building on the momentum of the Tri-Council Policy, on Friday May 8th, University Senate passed the University of Windsor's own open access policy. All authors across campus are strongly encouraged to post a copy of their peer-reviewed journal articles in Scholarship at UWindsor. ​Author’s whose articles must be made available open access as a result of the Tri-Council OA policy are also required to place a copy of those articles in Scholarship at UWindsor.

The University of Windsor Open Access Policy can be downloaded here.

A flowchart outlining the process for following the Tri-Council and UWindsor OA Policies can be downloaded here.

Key Takeaways

(1) The new Windsor OA policy simply ensures that a copy of all Tri-Council funded Windsor research is showcased and preserved in one place. This is vital for creating a strong infrastructure for open access research. It also enables authors to comply with the requirements of the Tri-Council. 

(2) The new Windsor policy does not preclude authors from publishing or disseminating their work in any other venue they deem appropriate. The Windsor OA policy simply requires Tri-Council funded authors to also provide a copy of their work to place in Scholarship at UWindsor.

(3) The new policy strongly encourages all researchers to post their articles and benefit from having a copy of their work in Scholarship at UWindsor regardless of funding. 

(4) Content in Scholarship at UWindsor has already been downloaded nearly 500,000 times. Authors benefit from monthly reports about the use of their work and can connect to Altmetrics, a service that provides an overview of the early social impact of their work. 

(5) Adding your content to Scholarship at UWindsor is simple. Authors can send us a copy of their accepted manuscript or publishers PDF where permitted to post or they may easily post on their own by filling out a simple standard form. The latter will make it easier for authors to provide their own detailed metadata which is important for visibility. This process takes only a few minutes of your time.

Questions and feedback about the policy can be directed to Dave Johnston (djohnst@uwindsor.ca).

More information can be found at http://leddy.uwindsor.ca/open-access.