University of Massachusetts Amherst
AC-11: Open Access to Research

ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst is a digital showcase of the research and scholarly output of members of the University of Massachusetts Amherst community. The ScholarWorks repository is administered by the UMass Amherst Libraries and serves as a permanent digital archive for these scholarly materials.

University Open Access Policy
University of Massachusetts Amherst Policy for Open Access to Faculty Publications

Policy endorsed by the Faculty Senate on April 7, 2016 and became effective July 1, 2016

The Faculty of the University of Massachusetts Amherst (hereafter “the University”) is committed to disseminating the fruits of its research and scholarship as widely as possible. In keeping with that commitment, the Faculty adopts the following policy: Each Faculty member grants to the University permission to make available his or her scholarly articles and to exercise the copyright in those articles. More specifically, each Faculty member grants to the University a nonexclusive, irrevocable, worldwide license to exercise any and all rights under copyright relating to each of his or her scholarly articles, in any medium, provided that the articles are not sold for a profit, and to authorize others to do the same. The policy applies to all scholarly articles authored or co­-authored while the person is a member of the Faculty except for any articles completed before the adoption of this policy and any articles for which the Faculty member entered into an incompatible licensing or assignment agreement before the adoption of this policy. The University will waive application of the license for a particular article, or delay access for a specified period of time, upon express direction by a Faculty member. Each Faculty member will provide an electronic copy of the author’s final version (or better version, if possible) of each article no later than the date of its publication at no charge to the appropriate representative of the University in an appropriate format (such as PDF) specified by the University. The University may make the article available to the public in an open ­access repository. The Office of the Provost will be responsible for interpreting this policy, resolving disputes concerning its interpretation and application, and recommending changes to the Faculty from time to time. In implementing this policy the University will strive for simplicity and minimal burden on the Faculty, using appropriate technology to ease the participation of the Faculty. The policy will be reviewed by the Provost (or designee) after three years and a report presented to the Faculty Senate.
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Sen. Doc. No. 07-035
RESOLUTION

The Research Library Council recommends that:

WHEREAS the University of Massachusetts Amherst’s longstanding commitment to the free and open publication, presentation and discussion of research advances the interests of the scholarly community, the faculty individually, and the public, and

WHEREAS the costs of commercially published scholarly journals are continually rising at rates greater than the rate of inflation and higher than the rate of UMass Amherst budget increases, and

WHEREAS the activities of the publishers of these journals directly depend upon the continued participation of faculty at UMass Amherst and similar institutions acting as editors, reviewers, and authors, and

WHEREAS a lasting solution to this problem requires not only interim measures but also a long range plan, and

WHEREAS publication in open access journals and repositories is an increasingly effective option for scholarly communication,

THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the University of Massachusetts Amherst Faculty Senate:
1. Encourages faculty to become familiar with the pricing and business practices of journals and journal publishers in their specialty, and to support journals and publishers whose pricing and accessibility policies promote broad and continuing access to scholarship.
2. Urges faculty, especially tenured faculty, to exert a positive influence on the direction of scholarly publishing through the choices they make in the submission of papers, the commitment of time to refereeing activities, and participation in editorial work.
3. Encourages faculty and UMass Amherst to support new models for scholarly publishing, including open access journals and archives, disciplinary and institutional repositories and other approaches that enhance the broad dissemination of knowledge while preserving peer review and excellence in scholarship.
4. Urges faculty to consider carefully the copyright provisions of their contracts with publishers, in order to allow them greater freedom to disseminate their work and thereby maximize the impact of their scholarship.
5. Calls upon the UMass Amherst faculty and administration to consider these issues in the evolution of the promotion and tenure system.

MOVED: That the Faculty Senate endorse the recommendations of the Research Library Council 39-07 and encourage faculty, librarians, staff, and administrators to be supportive of new and innovative models of scholarly communication and utilize these options whenever
possible.

The Libraries oversee the SOAR fund (“Supporting Open Access Research”). We generally have $10,000 a fiscal year and offer a maximum award of $1200 per author per year: https://www.library.umass.edu/soar-fund/. The fund is in high demand and we depleted this year’s in December.

We do this through ScholarWorks and there is a dedicated UMass Amherst library staff member who supports this program. A current list of our journals and conference proceedings is available at https://scholarworks.umass.edu/journals/.