Open Access Policy

Policy Statement

The open access policy ensures that SUNY Oneonta campus authors retain their copyright including the right to keep and share copies of their peer-reviewed journal articles for non-commercial use in an open access repository, allowing for wider dissemination and visibility of the work. The policy commits SUNY Oneonta authors to deposit a version of each peer-reviewed journal article in a digital repository, unless the author requests to waive/opt out. The deposited work will be made freely and openly available to the public.

Rationale

In most cases when a peer-reviewed journal article is accepted for publication, authors are required to assign or license copyright to the publisher, which controls access and dissemination. The primary advantage of having an open access policy is that campus authors retain copyright, including non-exclusive rights for non-commercial uses of their work.

The institution has adopted this policy in response to a SUNY Board of Trustees resolution dated March 22, 2018 directing “the development of campus-specific open access policies for faculty, students, and staff scholarship and creative works and the creation of searchable repositories.” The policy aligns with “rights-retention” open access policies adopted by leading public and private institutions.

Applicability of the Policy

The policy applies to all peer-reviewed journal articles authored or co-authored by a SUNY Oneonta campus author, except for any articles published before the adoption of this policy. This policy does not preclude voluntary deposit of other scholarly and creative work into an open access repository.

Policy Elaboration

Campus authors grant permission to SUNY Oneonta to reproduce and display accepted peer-reviewed journal articles on behalf of the authors. This non-exclusive grant of copyright license to the institution is limited to including the final version article in a non-commercial open access repository unless the journal allows for open access to the published version.

The Provost or Provost’s designee will waive application of the License for any article and/or accept a publisher’s embargo/delay of access for a specified period upon explicit direction by the author(s).

Notwithstanding the above, this policy does not in any way prescribe or limit the venue of publication. The policy neither requires nor prohibits the payment of fees or publication costs by Campus Authors.

Definitions

Addendum: Used to notify the publisher that the article is subject to the SUNY Oneonta Open Access Policy

Institution: Refers to SUNY Oneonta.

Copyright: Rights as defined by U.S. Copyright Law (Title 17 of the United States Code), and further specified by the Policies of the State University of New York Board of Trustees, Article XI, Title J.2.

Embargo/Delay of Access: The amount of time before a scholarly article is made available after accepted by a publisher. Under this Policy, authors may specify an embargo of any length, or honor a publisher’s request for one.

Campus Authors: SUNY Oneonta faculty, staff, and student authors or co-authors of peer-reviewed journal articles.

Final Version: A Campus Author’s final version of a peer-reviewed Journal Article, generally post-peer-reviewed but not necessarily the typeset publisher’s copy, unless allowed by the publisher.

License or Copyright License: A grant of rights made in accordance with Copyright Law (USC Title 17), allowing specified uses of a copyrighted work.

Open Access: The free availability of scholarly literature on the public internet, permitting users to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, and/or link to the full texts of articles for any lawful purpose, without financial, legal, or technical barriers other than those inseparable from gaining access to the internet.

Open Access Repository: Any digital archive or platform designed to make articles freely available via the internet with clearly defined legal restrictions on their use or circulation. The SUNY Open Access Repository (SOAR, https://soar.suny.edu/) is the default repository for this Policy.

Peer-reviewed Journal Articles: An article published in a peer-reviewed journal. Prior to publication the article is submitted to the journal editor who forwards the article to a panel of experts in the discipline. The reviewers are charged with carefully evaluating the quality of the submitted manuscript, and the veracity of the research and scholarly evidence presented therein. A peer-reviewed journal will not publish a manuscript that does not pass their review or meet the standards established in the discipline.

Policy: Refers to the SUNY Oneonta Open Access Policy.

Published Version: A Campus Author’s Peer-reviewed Journal article that is the typeset publisher’s version as it appears in the publication; the article of record.

SUNY: Refers to the State University of New York system.

Waive/Opt Out: Means to decline to grant the institution a non-exclusive License. A waiver can be obtained from https://libguides.oneonta.edu/openaccess/repository.

Procedures

Deposit Peer-Reviewed Journal Articles in an Open Access repository. Each campus author will provide an electronic copy of the Author’s final version of each peer-reviewed journal article no later than the date of its publication, at no charge, to the Provost’s Office in a format specified by the Provost’s Office or designee. The Provost’s Office or designee will then make the article available to the public in an open access repository. When appropriate, a campus author may instead notify the Provost’s Office designee if the article will be made freely available in another open access repository or as an open access publication.
Waiver to the Policy. By their own choosing or upon request from a publisher, a campus author will be granted a waiver to the policy for any given peer-reviewed journal article. To waive/opt out, the campus author completes a waiver/embargo request form, available on the SUNY Oneonta open access website.
Specify an Embargo Period. By their own choosing or upon request from a publisher, a campus author will be granted an embargo/delay of access. To do so, the campus author completes a waiver/embargo form, available at the SUNY Oneonta open access website, specifying the embargo period (usually 6 or 12 months).
Choose a License. At the time of deposit, campus authors may choose whether to share their work under one of the available Creative Commons licenses, some of which allow commercial reuse and some of which do not (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/), or to maintain a standard copyright, bearing in mind that the institution is exercising the sharing license granted by this policy.
Obtain an Addendum. Although not necessary, a campus author may request an addendum for each article to be provided to the publisher at the time of signing an author agreement. Addenda can be requested via the SUNY Oneonta open access website.

The Provost’s Office or designee will be responsible for interpreting this Policy, resolving disputes concerning its interpretation and application, and periodically recommending changes.

Forms

Available on the SUNY Oneonta SOAR guide: https://libguides.oneonta.edu/openaccess/repository.

Contacts

Questions related to the daily operational interpretation of this policy should be directed to:

Milne Library

(607) 436-3500

Effective Dates

Approved by the Provost on 11/18/2019

Revised by the President/Provost 3/16/2020

Review again before 3/16/2025