A policy change at University of California San Francisco will require that all research articles published by UCSF faculty be made available to the general public for free, making it one of the largest institutions to do so.
Currently, researchers receiving federal funding from the National Institutes of Health are required to make their research findings accessible to the public for free, said Richard Schneider, associate professor of orthopedic surgery at UCSF and chair of the UCSF Academic Senate Committee on Library and Scholarly Communication. State or privately funded research is not required to be free under existing laws, Schneider said.
The recent decision by UCSF would apply to all UCSF faculty research regardless of how it is funded.
The main purpose behind the change is to increase accountability with the public, said Chris Kelty, associate professor of information studies at UCLA and chair of the UC Academic Senate Committee on Library and Scholarly Communication.
Kelty said he was part of the discussion regarding the change.
Other universities, such as Harvard in February 2008 and Stanford in June 2008, have also implemented similar requirements on their faculty.
Since then, the move has garnered support from members of the UCLA community.
The Internet and other technological improvements allow for the possibility to make research accessible worldwide, but journals have restricted this possibility by retaining rights to articles and charging a fee, Kelty said.
“(People) have a right to the research, and the faculty wants that,” Kelty said.
The UCLA Library system supports UCSF’s new policy because it gives more people free access to academic research, said Sharon Farb, associate university librarian for collection management and scholarly communication. The policy helps to fulfill the UC’s commitment to be an institution of teaching, research and public service, Farb added.
So far, UCSF has not heard of opposition to the new policy, Schneider said.
Many journals are already used to dealing with similar policies to provide open access to research articles, Schneider said. Some, however, have reportedly resisted these policies, Schneider added.
Reed Elsevier, a British-Dutch publishing company, recently withdrew support from the proposed Research Works Act after the academic community challenged the company’s opposition to mandates to open access. The act, which was proposed last year, would prevent the federal government from making federally funded research available to the public for free.
“We hope this will address some of the concerns expressed and help create a less heated and more productive climate for our ongoing discussions with research funders,” according to the statement.
Prior to the announcement, more than 5,700 researchers had signed a petition announcing a boycott of Reed Elsevier.
Although UCSF’s recent decision does not directly impact UCLA, Kelty said he hopes that the policy will be implemented across the UC system in the near future.
The system-wide Academic Senate will likely submit a proposal for an open-access policy this month. In order to move forward, the proposal will need to undergo review by individual campuses this fall.