New policy would make research more accessible

Research articles published by UNC faculty might soon be available to the public if a proposed change to University policy is implemented.

Todd Vision and Anne Gilliland, members of UNC’s Open Access Task Force, presented the details of a modified open access policy to the Faculty Executive Committee on Monday afternoon.

The policy would make scholarly research articles by university officials free to the public through the Carolina Digital Repository (CDR).

Currently, when someone publishes in a peer-reviewed journal, the only way it can be seen is by a subscriber to the journal. If a non-subscriber searches for an article, only the reference is available.

“Departments want to showcase their researchers’ research but can’t due to copyright issues,” Gilliland said. “The (CDR) could serve as a great way to show what is going on at Carolina.”

Vision quoted a letter written by UNC history professor Harry Watson, who noted the lack of peer-reviewed journal subscribers.

Faculty Chairman Bruce Cairns said he would like his articles to be more accessible.

“Right now, if we publish a paper, we think it is important to the field,” Cairns said. “It is very difficult for people to get access to that.”

Cairns said the CDR would streamline access to articles published by faculty.

Through the CDR, the author of the published article would be able to give both the University and the journal copyright at the same time; it would be non-exclusive. This agreement preserves the copyright for the writer and will prevent the University from profiting from the article.

Cairns said 150 million people are turned away from content due to lack of access.

“The open access policy is designed to make it easier for the public to be able to click on the papers that we think matter,” Cairns said. “We want our work to be disseminated as broadly as possible.”

The task force will present before the Faculty Council on Friday afternoon. Cairns said he hopes task force members will be able to answer any questions or concerns the Faculty Council has.

The task force amended the original policy — drafted in December — in response to concerns raised by the Faculty Executive Committee.

The changes include the option for the University to allow researchers to opt out of the public access plan.

Other research universities already have a similar policy, including Harvard University, Princeton University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

“I have not heard anybody be critical that the work we do here should not be freely open to the public because we are a public university,” Cairns said.

The task force presents before the Faculty Council on Friday, and the council will then vote to determine whether they will implement the policy in April.

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