Open Access & Scholarly Communication
Open Access
Open Access (OA) refers to the free dissemination of research content such as scholarly articles, datasets, and research reports. This movement overturns traditional publishing practices where authors sign over most, if not all, rights to their work to publishers that charge increasingly high and prohibitive rates for access to content, which they receive for free. Open Access journals charge authors a publishing fee (which is often covered by grant funds) instead of subscribers and provide content online that is accessible to anyone in the world for free, while still adhering to the tenets of peer-review.
FRPAA
Introduced to the Senate in 2009 and the House in 2010, the Federal Research Public Access Act (FRPAA) would require manuscripts resulting from research funded by 11 U.S. government agencies, such as the National Science Foundation and the Department of Energy, to be made freely available online within 6 months of publication.
How can I support FRPAA?
Copyright
Journal publishers will typically require authors to sign a copyright agreement that gives the publisher the right to distribute an author's work. Many of these agreements transfer nearly all rights to the publisher. Authors who wish to retain some level of copyright over their work should seek out Open Access journals to which to submit their research (see the DOAJ) and/or attach an addenda to any copyright agreement that they are asked to sign.
For more information, please contact the Libraries Collection Development Department at cdedept@colorado.edu.
