Connecticut College
AC-11: Open Access to Research

The open access policy was approved by the faculty in 2012. Upon publication of a peer reviewed article, faculty members share a post peer review (but pre-publication) version of the article to the library staff. The library staff then checks copyright policies and adds them to the digital archives. Only a small proportion of faculty opt out, but the biggest issue currently is the lack of a process for library staff to follow up with faculty when new research is published that should be added. The repository used is Digital Commons @ Connecticut College.

The faculty of Connecticut College is committed to disseminating the results of its research and scholarship as widely as possible. In keeping with that commitment, the faculty adopts the following policy: Each member of the Connecticut College faculty grants to the College permission to make his or her scholarly journal articles openly accessible in the College’s institutional repository (Digital Commons @ Connecticut College), subject to the following terms: The permission granted by each faculty member to the College is an irrevocable, nonexclusive, license for purposes of making his or her peer-reviewed scholarly articles openly accessible in the institutional repository, subject to publishers’ terms and conditions. The articles will not be sold for income or profit. This policy will be waived for any article at the request of the author, but once an article is placed in the repository it cannot be withdrawn. Under normal circumstances, each faculty member will, upon publication of an article, provide a copy of the final peer-reviewed version, free of charge and in an appropriate format (such as PDF or MS Word document), along with the relevant bibliographical data, to the Scholarly Communications Officer (SCO), a member of the library staff designated by the Vice President for Information Services and Librarian of the College. The SCO will determine whether or not it is permitted to place the copy on line and will provide links to the final published versions of all publications, subject to publishers’ terms and conditions. The policy will apply to all articles published while someone is a member of the faculty except for articles published before the adoption of this policy, articles for which the faculty member entered into an incompatible licensing or assignment agreement, or articles for which the author requests a waiver. While this policy only covers peer-reviewed journal articles, members of the faculty may also provide bibliographical data and, where possible, the full text, of any other publications (such as chapters and essays in edited volumes, reference articles, non-peer-reviewed articles, creative work, and monographs), for possible inclusion in the institutional repository, subject to publishers’ terms and conditions. The day-to-day administration of this policy will be the responsibility of the SCO. He or she will process the publication data and texts submitted; process any waiver requests; and assist individual faculty in clarifying publishers' policies with regard to repositories, as well as any negotiation with publishers concerning copyright. The Information Services Committee will be responsible for interpreting this policy, establishing guidelines for its implementation and recommending changes. The Committee will review the Open Access Policy three years after its initiation and present a report to the faculty. https://www.conncoll.edu/information-services/libraries/open-access-/open-access-policy/

Library staff research copyright policies and post the research in the digital archives to ensure the process is easy for faculty.