CIHR Proposes 99.99% Optimal OA Self-Archiving Mandate

Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) has proposed a 99.99% optimal Open Access Self-Archiving Mandate:

CIHR grant and award holders must:
(1a) [deposit all] final peer-reviewed published articles or final peer-reviewed full-text manuscripts
(1b) in an appropriate [OAI]-compliant digital archive, such as PubMed Central, or an institutional repository
(1c) immediately upon publication.
(1d) (A publisher-imposed embargo on open accessibility of no more than 6 months is acceptable.)
      [OR]
(2a) submit their manuscripts either to a journal that provides immediate open access to published articles (if a suitable journal exists)
      [OR]
(2b) submit their manuscripts to a journal that allows authors to retain copyright and/or allows authors to archive journal publications in an open access archive within the six-month period following publication.

There is only one unnecessary and confusing clause in CIHR's policy: (2b). (2b) is redundant with [1]! (2b) says the author must publish in a journal that allows [1]. But that is already implicit in [1] -- it is not a sub-option of [2]. [1] is the requirement to self-archive immediately (and to set access as Open Access within 6 months). Alternative [2] is to publish in an Open Access journal. That covers all the alternatives! (2b) is completely redundant. So (2b) should simply be dropped.

That's all, really. There are still a few minor changes that would make the policy simpler, clearer, and more systematic and coherent. In order to encourage a uniform practice that will generalize and apply to all fields, whether or not funded by CIHR, it would be best if CIHR's uniform rule consisted of just these 5 components:

I. must deposit final peer-reviewed manuscript (or published version)
II. in the author's own IR (or other OAI-compliant repository)
III. immediately upon (acceptance for) publication
(IV. access to the deposit must be set as Open Access within 6 months at latest)
(V. where possible, publish in a suitable OA journal)

This way, everything gets deposited immediately, and access is OA within 6 months. The IR should be the preferred default locus, from which PubMed Central or other archives can harvest, but direct deposit elsewhere can be allowed as an option if the researcher has no institutional IR yet.

During any Closed Access embargo interval, IR's will have the EMAIL EPRINT REQUEST button to fulfill any individual requests for a single email copy -- Fair Use -- from would-be users who see the postprint's openly accessible metadata: available for DSpace IRs and for EPrints IRs.

(CIHR also requires making research data and materials available for reasonable requests: Might as well recommend -- but not require -- that they are self-archived too, wherever possible!)

Bravo CIHR!

Stevan Harnad
American Scientist Open Access Forum

PS: Note that, unlike the Wellcome Trust's Self-Archiving Mandate, CIHR's proposed mandate does not offer to fund option (2a) (publishing in an Open Access or hybrid "Open Choice" journal). Apparently CIHR did not feel it had the spare cash for this. This is quite understandable (although no doubt some publishers will complain vociferously about it): The fact is that all potential publication funds are currently tied up in covering the costs of institutional subscriptions, worldwide. If and when self-archiving should ever lead to institutional subscription cancellations that make the subscription model unsustainable, then those very institutional windfall savings themselves will be the natural source for the cash to cover OA publishing costs. No need to take it from research funds at this time, when it is unaffordable. OA is the immediate and urgent (and long-overdue) priority today, not pre-emptively cushioning a hypothetical transition to another publishing cost-recovery model (except where the spare cash is available).

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Please note that a public consultation has been launched to seek comments on CIHR's proposed Policy on Access to Research Outputs.

Text of Proposal: English - French

Comments or questions on the draft policy should be sent by e-mail access@cihr-irsc.gc.ca or by mail to the address below.

Consultation on the Access to Research Outputs Policy
Canadian Institutes of Health Research
160 Elgin Street, 9th Floor
Address Locator 4809A
Ottawa, ON, K1A 0W9
Canada