Open Access Information

What is an Open Access Policy?

On November 21, 2011, the University Resources Policy Committee proposed to the Academic Senate that all scholarly articles published by Purdue faculty be deposited also to the Purdue e-Pubs digital repository. Deposit of faculty scholarship into the e-Pubs repository drives traffic to Purdue scholarship and research from outside the academy and internationally. The Senate will vote on the proposal at the January 23, 2012 meeting.

On November 2, 2011, Purdue Libraries invited three faculty members from the University of Kansas, who were instrumental in adopting the first public university Open Access policy, to share their experience and answer questions about Open Access policies and what the implications are for faculty.

Click here to read more about the event and bios on the KU faculty.

Why should Purdue faculty care?

At universities around North America, faculty are adopting policies for depositing their published articles into openly accessible digital repositories, like Purdue e-Pubs. By making their scholarly peer-reviewed journal articles available through such repositories, they are increasing access to their work for scholars, educators, and policymakers worldwide. The establishment of such a policy and its implementation has the potential for transformative positive effects on how research is disseminated and used. It also, however, involves greater awareness among authors about the terms of agreements they are signing with publishers and new responsibilities for the librarians who assist in implementation. While Harvard, MIT and Princeton are among the private universities where faculty have adopted Open Access policies, the University of Kansas was first among public universities, in 2009. The University Senate at Purdue will soon consider adopting such a policy. What do you need to know and why should you care?

Dr. Townsend Peterson presentation slides
Dr. Marc Greenberg presentation slides