U Kansas First Public University to Adopt Open Access Policy

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June 26, 2009

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Rebecca Smith, KU Libraries, (785) 864-1761.

KU becomes first U.S. public university to pass an open access policy

LAWRENCE? The University of Kansas has become the nation?s first publicuniversity to adopt an ?open access? policy that makes its faculty?sscholarly journal articles available for free online.

Themove aligns KU with Harvard and Stanford universities and theMassachusetts Institute of Technology, which have similar policies inplace.

Scholarly articles ? the method by which a professorpresents original research results ? normally are published inpeer-reviewed journals and available only through paid subscriptions.

Underthe new faculty-initiated policy approved by Chancellor RobertHemenway, digital copies of all articles produced by the university?sprofessors will be housed in KU ScholarWorks, an existing digitalrepository for scholarly work created by KU faculty and staff in 2005. KU ScholarWorks houses more than 4,400 articles submitted in digital formats that assure their long-term preservation.

Professorswill be allowed to seek a waiver but otherwise will be asked to provideelectronic forms of all articles to the repository. KU?s Faculty Senateoverwhelmingly endorsed the policy at a meeting earlier this year, butadditional policy details, including the waiver process, will bedeveloped by a senate task force in the coming academic year, saidFaculty Senate President Lisa Wolf-Wendel, professor of educationleadership and policy studies. The task force will be led by AdaEmmett, associate librarian for scholarly communications.

?Academicpublishing has become increasingly commercial and unavailable to otherscholars, or to the general public, in recent years,? said A. TownsendPeterson, distinguished professor of ecology and evolutionary biologyand curator at the Natural History Museum and Biodiversity ResearchCenter at KU. ?This new policy offers a voluntary means of openingdoors to much of KU?s journal-based scholarship. This policy representsa first step towards a new means of scholarly communication, in whichthe entire global academic community has access to the totality ofscholarship. We all can participate in the scholarly exchange thatleads to new knowledge creation.?

Peterson said open accesspolicies such as KU?s will bring greater visibility to the authors?work and will showcase the breadth and depth of the faculty?scontributions to academic research and to the university?s mission.

?Grantingthe university the right to deposit a copy of scholarly journalarticles in an open digital repository extends the reach of thescholarship, providing the widest possible audience and increasing itspossible impact,? said Lorraine J. Haricombe, dean of libraries.

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