Partnering on Copyright

Changing the rights culture in HEIs with Open Access:
An information resource for academic authors, HEI managers and librarians/repository managers

Carrying out and reporting research is a central process in the academic environment. However, this research may not be reaching its full potential as not everyone can access and, therefore, use and build on it. But the scholarly communications community is bucking this trend with its development of Open Access (OA), a potentially revolutionary access model which allows maximum dissemination of research output, making scholarly papers freely available to all with little or no restriction on use of materials for any reasonable purpose. This empowers research institutions and their researchers alike, placing authors in control of how their work can be accessed, used and re-used, rather than signing their rights away.

But while it offers a wealth of benefits, like considerable increases in the citation rates of research articles, and in the visibility and prestige of participating institutions, the move to OA has significant implications for the rights of contributing authors over their work. Copyright of research articles has long been considered something that authors simply sign away to publishers, but OA is moving the goalposts on this issue, and every stakeholder in the academic communication process must now become familiar with its implications.

Whether you are an academic author, a manager in HEI, or a librarian/repository administrator, this site will tell you about the latest developments in OA, about how you can take advantage of its benefits and bring them to your research or institution, through 'self-archiving' in an institutional repository (IR). Most importantly, it will tell you how to protect and maximise your rights in the scholarly publishing process as traditional models change and OA becomes more widespread and visible.

Click on a link above to be guided through the issues from your own perspective, according to the responsibilities of your role as author, manager or librarian. There are also brief general guides to OA, IRs and copyright, which anyone can look at for an overview. All these guides are also available in Microsoft Word format, which can be accessed by clicking here.

The texts found in all these guides may be taken and adapted for use in any OA and self-archiving advocacy initiative to form literature and visual materials.

This Web site also provides information about the five work packages undertaken as part of the JISC-SURF 'Partnering on Copyright' programme. This includes reports, surveys and guidelines produced by the individual projects.

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