By Karen Diepeveen
The last few years have seen a lot of buzz around Open Access: its benefits, challenges, opportunities and obstacles. The granting councils have begun exploring Open Access for journals. For the Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences, one of the biggest questions has emerged around Open Access and monographs.
The Federation’s Awards to Scholarly Publications Program has existed for many years. As the Open Access discussion has progressed, the ASPP has been linked to more and more questions about what – if any – Open Access policy should exist.
And so, in October 2013, the Federation embarked on a multi-year project to develop an Open Access policy for the ASPP. The initial phase focused on research and information gathering, including a scan of international and Canadian policy and practice, and informal discussions with several groups from Canada and around the world. Out of this process, the Federation developed a draft policy position for consultation, based on the following principles:
- The Federation supports Open Access; and
- A dynamic Canadian scholarly publishing sector continues to be of utmost importance to the dissemination of Canadian research.
The Federation’s draft policy for the ASPP is:
- The ASPP will actively support Open Access publishing of ASPP-funded books.
After the release of this draft policy in late spring 2014, the Federation has opened a consultation on the draft policy. Open to all – including scholars, authors, publishers, and editors – the consultation aims to collect feedback from the Federation’s community. This feedback will be part of the final development of the policy, which will be released and implemented in 2015.
What are your thoughts on Open Access and monographs? Head over to our consultation page and share your ideas on the ASPP draft policy. The consultation will close September 18, 2014.