Open Access Policy Town Hall
On Sept. 18 at 10 am, please join us for a Virtual Town Hall with Peter Suber, who literally wrote the book on Open Access (OA). We will be talking about the future of AYS’s OA policy, which is based on Harvard’s Model Open Access Policy. An ad hoc AYS committee developed the draft policy. It protects your publications from embargoes and other unwanted copyright restrictions. Now the college needs your thought and feedback. The Town Hall is a forum for learning, asking tough questions, and figuring how best to proceed. Below, please find a little more background info, the draft policy, and some supplemental resources.
AYS is not unique in its pursuit of an OA policy. Currently over 75 schools and universities, worldwide, have rights-retention OA policies. The best policy is one that retains rights with the option of an author waiver (Suber 2012). AYS’s OA policy, which is currently under consideration, will be this type of policy.
Draft AYS Open Access Policy
The faculty, staff, and students (FSS) of the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies (AYS), Georgia State University (GSU), are committed to disseminating their research and scholarship as widely as possible. In keeping with that commitment, the FSS adopts the following policy:
- Each FSS member grants to GSU permission to make available his/her/their scholarly writings and to exercise the copyright in those writings. More specifically, each FSS member grants to AYS a nonexclusive, irrevocable, worldwide license to exercise any and all rights under copyright relating to each of his/her/their scholarly writings, in any medium, provided that the writings are not sold for a profit, and to authorize others to do the same.
- The policy applies to all scholarly writings authored or co-authored while the person is a member of the FSS, except for any writings completed before the adoption of this policy and any writings for which the FSS member entered into an incompatible licensing or assignment agreement before the adoption of this policy.
- The Dean’s designate will waive application of the license for a particular scholarly writing or delay access for a specified period of time (i.e., embargo) upon express direction by an FSS member.
- The Dean’s designate may make the scholarly writing available to the public in one or more open access repositories.
- The Dean’s designate will be responsible for interpreting this policy and resolving disputes concerning its interpretation and application. The policy will be reviewed after three years and a report presented to the FSS.
Supplemental Resources
To learn more about OA policies, read SPARC’s “Responses to Common Misperceptions about Campus Open-Access Policies” and Peter’s “Good Practices for University Open-Access Policies”.