As part of our ongoing commitment to the democratization of knowledge through Open Access, the University of Regina Librarians’ and Archivists’ Council (LAC) issued a new policy which came into effect March 1st, 2022.
Open Access accelerates discovery across the disciplines and increases the visibility and impact of research. It facilitates connections and collaborations between scholars and strengthens the rigour of published research by ensuring it is open to scrutiny by all, enabling scholars from all sectors, policymakers, and the public to use and build on this knowledge. Freely sharing research with the public also reflects the University of Regina’s responsibility and commitment to provide access to research as a publicly funded institution.
Our original Open Access Resolution was published in 2011 and focused on publishing in Open Access journals, and making those publications available in oURspace. Since then, the Open landscape has expanded to include Open Research, Open Scholarship, Open Educational Resources, and Open Publishing; accordingly, our new policy is intended to reflect this growth and reaffirm our commitment to the principles of Open.
We hope that our new policy will encourage the campus community to join our librarians and archivists in making their work available through publishing articles in Open Access journals, making research data available in Open Data Repositories, and depositing their publications in our Open Access institutional repository, oURspace.
To learn more about Open Access, please visit our Open Access LibGuide. You can also contact Cara Bradley, Research & Scholarship Librarian, or Christina Winter, Copyright and Scholarly Communications Librarian, with your questions or for support developing a similar policy for your research team, your department, or your faculty.