Open Access Policy
I. PURPOSE
This policy has been developed in accordance with the SUNY Campus Open Access Policies and System Repository Memorandum, March 22, 2018. (See references)
II. POLICY
Publishing in open access journals is NOT compulsory for researchers at SUNY Downstate; this is an opt-in policy. This policy respects and protects the ownership rights of the authors and seeks to create an environment to help them make informed decisions about how their work is published and disseminated. This policy supports the authors’ rights to determine the extent and type of licensing. The commitment to this Open Access policy will not restrict the authors’ rights to pursue publishing in subscription-based journals or other venues.
Commitment:
The faculty, staff and students of SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University recognize the value and benefits of OA publishing.
Among these are:
- Increased visibility and impact of research done by SUNY researchers.
- Compliance with the mandates of Federal funding agencies, e.g. NIH, NSF, and some private funding agencies, e.g. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation,The Wellcome Trust.
- Global, toll-free access to research output.
- Serving the public good.
Authors:
Prior to publishing, authors are urged to confer with the SUNY Downstate Library Staff to determine the “best fit” for their research. They will be provided with applicable outlets/journals and submission guidelines that include information on embargoes, access policies, licensing limitations and article charges to assist in making informed choices.
Authors or co-authors are expected to provide a digital copy of a peer-reviewed, accepted-for-publication version to the Library for deposit into the SUNY repository. This item will be placed in the repository with any publisher access limitations, licensing or embargoes respected.
If the work will be freely available in another repository or OA publication (e.g. PubMed Central), the authors are encouraged to notify the Library and provide information about its accessibility.
Authors or co-authors can elect to publish their scholarly works in any subscription-based publisher or other venue of their choice. A digital copy of the final work is expected to be provided to the Library to store in accord with any publisher licensing requirement.
Authors and co-authors may grant the University permission to make a peer-reviewed, accepted-for-publication version of their scholarly work available in an OA repository. Authors may choose the terms of this licensing in collaboration with the library and in alignment with the publisher’s conditions.
It is recommended that authors notify potential publishers of their intended desire to have a peer-reviewed, accepted-for-publication version of their work placed in their institutional repository.
The policy will apply to works authored or co-authored while the author/co-author is a faculty, staff or student of SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University.
Library:
The Library will confer with authors on determining potential publishers for their work, taking into account the subject matter, relevance, restrictions, embargoes and licenses to enable the author to make an informed decision. The Library can also provide supporting submission forms and documentation for authors to submit to the publisher for retention of their rights over their work.
Once the work is published, the Library will advise what licenses, formats and versions of the author’s scholarly work that are eligible to be stored in the SUNY repository pursuant to the publisher’s guidelines and author wishes.
The Library will collaborate with the author on the format, subject headings, access points (e.g. DOI, PMID, Handle) and search terms of the work to ensure that it is discoverable.
The documents will be housed on the SUNY digital repository and will be accessible via the repository interface, the SUNY Libraries discovery system, Primo, as well as a general web search – as allowed by licensing and publisher limitations.
NOTE
Works created at the direction of SUNY are subject to the SUNY Board of Trustees Patents, Inventions and Copyright Policy.
This policy will develop and change as the publishing environment continues to evolve.
Any proposed changes will be forwarded to the local Faculty Senate for approval before they are implemented.
The SUNY OA repository is currently being developed by the SUNY Office of Library and Information Services (OLIS).
III. DEFINITION(s)
Open Access: Open Access is the free, immediate, online availability of research articles coupled with the rights to use these articles fully in the digital environment.
Repository: A central place where information is stored. In this instance, the repository is a SUNY-wide online database comprised of published research articles freely accessible to all.
IV. RESPONSIBILITIES
The author is urged to confer with the Library to determine the best publication for their research article. Authors or co-authors should provide a digital copy of a peer-reviewed, accepted-for-publication version to the Library for deposit into the SUNY repository.
The author or co-author is encouraged to notify the Library if their research article is going to be freely available through any other resource (e.g. PubMedCentral).
The Library is available to confer with authors on finding an appropriate outlet for their research, it’s format, licensing and limitations on the work’s inclusion in the SUNY repository in accordance with the publisher’s guidelines.
Upon receipt of the finished, peer-reviewed published article, the Library will place it in the SUNY repository with all applicable licensing, embargoes and meta data to enable retrieval through various electronic systems.
V. REFERENCES
Contact the Library
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Creative Commons
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