Stanford University
AC-11: Open Access to Research

The Stanford Graduate School of Education passed an Open Access policy for all faculty in June 2008 and for all doctoral students in May 2013. These motions commit the faculty and students to making a copy of their peer-reviewed journal articles publicly and freely available through the Stanford GSE Open Archive. The motions exemplify the faculty and student’s commitment to sharing as widely as possible what they've been able to learn about education from their research and scholarship.The doctoral student motion received nearly unanimous support, with over 95% of votes cast in favor (voter turnout of 59%, meaning 56% of total students voted in favor). The open research is now stored in the Open Archive, a digital repository provided by the university to support the Graduate School of Education's Open Access Policy. Stanford also has a university policy on Openness in Research, which prohibits secrecy among faculty and doctoral student research. While this is not a mandatory policy for open access per se, it does promote open access university-wide. The policy is published in the Research Policy Handbook. Stanford also maintains a central digital repository with 28,388 items to which faculty and students have voluntarily uploaded their research in order to provide open access. The university-wide digital repository is available here: https://sdr.stanford.edu/. The Stanford Digital Repository is supported and maintained by Stanford Libraries. Stanford Libraries also support Open Access in other ways and provide incentives and information on Open Access publishing. For instance, Stanford Libraries hosts the Graduate School of Education's Open Archive, which is the institutional repository for the working papers, published articles, and other materials produced by the faculty, staff and students at the Graduate School of Education, discussed above. Additionally, in conjunction with the National Institute of Health Open Access mandate, Stanford's Lane Medical Library offers many tools to encourage Open Access publishing, which can all be found on their Open Knowledge site at: http://openknowledge.stanford.edu/. For example, Lane Medical Library hosts events, such as a presentation by PeerJ, an open Access publisher, a presentation by John Willinsky, Khosla Family Professor of Education at Stanford and Director of the Public Knowledge Project, and an Open Access Panel Discussion. Finally, in Stanford's annual Copyright Reminder, the libraries advocate and provide information on open access publishing: https://library.stanford.edu/using/copyright-reminder/common-situations/publishing.

STANFORD GRADUATE SCHOOL OF EDUCATION OPEN ACCESS MOTION In recognition of its responsibility to make its research and scholarship as widely and publicly available as possible, the faculty of the Stanford Graduate School of Education is determined to take advantage of new technologies to increase access to its work among scholars worldwide, educators, policymakers, and the public. In support of greater openness in scholarly and educational endeavors, the faculty of the Graduate School of Education agree to the following policy: Faculty members grant to the Stanford University permission to make publicly available their scholarly articles and to exercise the copyright in those articles. They grant to Stanford University a nonexclusive, irrevocable, worldwide license to exercise any and all rights under copyright relating to their scholarly articles, in any medium, and to authorize others to do the same, provided that the articles are properly attributed to the authors not sold for a profit. The policy will apply to all scholarly articles authored or co-authored while a faculty member of the Graduate School of Education, beginning with articles for which the publisher’s copyright agreement has yet to be signed. The Dean or the Dean’s designate will waive application of the policy upon written request from faculty who wish to publish an article with a publisher who will not agree to the terms of this policy (which will be presented to the publishers in the form of an addendum to the copyright agreement). No later than the date of publication, faculty members will provide an electronic copy of the final version of the article at no charge to the appropriate representative of the Dean of Education’s Office, who will make the article available to the public in an open-access repository operated by Stanford University. The Office of the Dean will be responsible for interpreting this policy, resolving disputes concerning its interpretation and application, and recommending policy changes to the Graduate School of Education from time to time. The policy will be reviewed after three years and a report presented on the policy to the Graduate School of Education. Available at: https://openarchive.stanford.edu/faculty-motion STANFORD GRADUATE SCHOOL OF EDUCATION STUDENT OPEN ACCESS MOTION The students of the Stanford Graduate School of Education are committed to making their research and scholarship as widely and publicly available as possible. In recognition of the importance of access to knowledge, the students of the Stanford Graduate School of Education are determined to increase access to their work for scholars, educators, policymakers, and the public worldwide. In support of greater openness in scholarly and educational endeavors, the students of the Graduate School of Education agree to the following policy: Students grant to the Stanford University permission to make publicly available their scholarly articles and to exercise the copyright in those articles. They grant to Stanford University a non-exclusive, irrevocable, worldwide license to exercise any and all rights under copyright relating to their scholarly articles, in any medium, and to authorize others to do the same, provided that the articles are properly attributed to the authors and not sold for a profit. The policy will apply to all scholarly articles authored or co-authored while a student of the Graduate School of Education, beginning with articles for which the publisher’s copyright agreement has yet to be signed. On a publisher’s refusal to agree to the terms of this policy (as presented to the publishers in the form of an addendum to the copyright agreement), the student is able to waive this policy by uploading the bibliographic details for the article, along with a note on the publisher's refusal, to the public open-access repository operated by Stanford University. No later than the date of publication, students will upload an electronic copy of the final version of the article to the open access repository operated by Stanford University. Available at: https://openarchive.stanford.edu/student-motion EXCERPT FROM STANFORD'S POLICY ON OPENNESS IN RESEARCH: The rules adopted by the Academic Council on September 29, 1967, are hereby amended and, as amended, are reaffirmed: (1) No research on a thesis or dissertation should be undertaken if, at the time the topic is set, there is any substantial possibility that it will lead to a secret thesis or dissertation. (2) No secret thesis or dissertation should be accepted as the basis for a degree unless, in the judgment of the Committee on Graduate Studies, the imposition of secrecy could not reasonably have been foreseen until the work was so far advanced that modification of the thesis topic would have resulted in substantial inequity to the student. (3) Scholarly activities not accessible for scrutiny by the entire Advisory Board should not be considered in connection with appointments, reappointments or promotions. (4) The University should enter no contract and accept no grant to carry out research if the grant or contract restrains the freedom of the University to disclose the: (4A)Existence of the contract or grant or, (4B) General nature of the inquiry to be conducted or, (4C) Identity of the outside contracting or granting entity or, (4D) The research results; provided that this clause shall not apply either (a) to anonymous gifts or grants that do not call for the performance of specified lines of inquiry, or (b) to research grants or contracts from individuals or non-governmental entities who request anonymity out of a justifiable motivation to protect individual privacy. Available at: http://doresearch.stanford.edu/policies/research-policy-handbook/conduct-research/openness-research.

Stanford University Libraries maintains extensive collections to support sustainability research. Librarians regularly support classes and research in this area, including the following examples: http://library.stanford.edu/guides/planet-edge-rhetoric-sustainable-energy-0 http://library.stanford.edu/guides/sustaining-action-research-analysis-and-writing-public http://library.stanford.edu/guides/writing-nature-discourses-ecology-culture-and-technology http://library.stanford.edu/guides/staying-cool-hot-planet-environmental-rhetoric-changing-world Librarians also develop research guides to assist researchers in sustainability fields. For example: http://library.stanford.edu/guides/green-building-resources