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Open Access Policy

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Section 1 - Executive Summary

(1) Open access is the immediate, permanent, and free online access to scholarly research outputs. An open access approach promotes timely global sharing of knowledge, research, and scholarship and supports the strategic focus of the University of Newcastle (the University) in engaging with our communities, our regions, and the world. 

(2) The University grants copyright ownership in scholarly and artistic works created by its Researchers under the Intellectual Property Policy, with the intent to widely disseminate and make available knowledge for public benefit.

(3) Open access publishing supports these goals by increasing access to the University's research, maximising our research impact, improving research reproducibility, and promoting equity.

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Section 2 - Purpose

(4) To maximise the dissemination and accessibility of the University's research through open access publishing, including deposit of specified research output types into the institutional open access repository.

(5) This policy ensures compliance with major national and international competitive research funding agencies, who have adopted policies mandating publicly funded research outcomes be made available on publication. 

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Section 3 - Scope

(6) This policy applies to anyone conducting and publishing research at the University. The policy applies to published research outputs authored, co-authored, or created by University staff and Higher Degree by Research students.

(7) This Policy is supported by the University's Research Authorship Procedure and Research Publication Responsibility Guideline and should be read in conjunction with those documents.

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Section 4 - Definitions

(8) In the context of this document:

Defined Term Meaning
Author accepted manuscript (AAM) The final peer-reviewed version accepted for publication, prior to formatting and typesetting by the journal or publisher. Also known as the ‘accepted version’ or ‘post-print’.
Author addendum A legally binding addition to a publishing copyright agreement allowing authors to retain the rights to use, re-use, and share their own work; for example, to deposit an AAM in their institutional repository.
Creative Commons (CC) licensing A suite of standardised licences for creators (or copyright owners as applicable) to grant the public permission to use their work under copyright law.
Embargo The practice of restricting access to a research output for a defined period after publishing. Commonly used by publishers to restrict the deposit of a research output into an institutional repository.
FAIR principles Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable research data and outputs as defined in the F.A.I.R. Access Policy Statement.
Metadata Structured information that helps describe, find, manage, control, and preserve an asset. Descriptive metadata about research outputs includes the creator, author, publisher, title, date, language, format, subject, description, identifiers, and rights.
Non-traditional research outputs (NTROs) Differ from ‘traditional’ research outputs in their form, mode of production, societal impact, and administrative classification. NTROs include, but are not limited to, creative works, exhibitions, recorded works, performances, designs, built works, working and technical papers, software, code, and commissioned research reports.
Open access (OA)
A set of principles and practices where published research outputs are made available immediately, freely, and permanently online. OA publishing models include:
Gold and Hybrid OA - the journal publisher provides free and immediate online access to the final published version of an article. Publishing in a gold or hybrid OA journal usually involves payment of an article processing charge (APC).
Green OA – the author accepted manuscript (AAM) of a published work, or the version of record (VoR) where permitted, is deposited into a subject-based repository or an institutional repository.
Diamond or platinum OA – the publisher or platform does not charge fees for the author to publish their work, or for the reader to access. Usually published and funded by non-profit organisations, research institutions, or scholarly societies.
Research outputs Published dissemination of research findings, including journal and conference contributions, books, and book chapters, and NTROs.
Version of record (VoR) The final published version of the peer reviewed, edited, formatted, and typeset article.
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Section 5 - Principles

(9) The University requires the submission of the metadata describing a research output and, where applicable, the full version of the output, into the University's open access institutional repository (NOVA).  

Research Outputs 

(10) The full text of the following research outputs must be made open access immediately upon publication:

  1. Peer-reviewed journal articles;
  2. Peer-reviewed conference papers; 
  3. Higher Degree by Research theses.

(11) For peer-reviewed articles and conference papers immediately means when a Digital Object Identifier (DOI) is assigned, or at the latest when the Version of Record (VoR) is published.

(12) The full version of all other research outputs should be made open access where possible, including:

  1. Books and book chapters;
  2. Other journal and conference outputs;
  3. Non-traditional research outputs (NTROs).

(13) Where the full output (or a representation thereof) cannot be made open, the metadata must be included in the institutional repository.

(14) Material to be commercialised, confidential material, or material of which publication would infringe a legal commitment by the University and/or the author, should not be included in the repository. 

Research Data 

(15) The data directly related to a published research output should be made open at the time the research output is published to facilitate research reproducibility, in accordance with the University's Research Data and Primary Materials Management Procedure, and with regard for any ethical, security, or privacy requirements.

(16) The University supports the F.A.I.R. principles of open access to ensure that research outputs and data are findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable, making them as open as possible.

(17) Appropriate F.A.I.R. data publishing outlets include open access journals, the open access institutional repository, or a designated subject or data repository.

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Section 6 - Copyright, Licensing, and Access

(18) The deposit of material into the repository does not transfer copyright to the University. Inclusion and use of, as well as access to, material in the repository is subject to copyright law and agreement with the copyright owner.

(19) The following access conditions apply:

  1. the author owns the copyright and provides authorisation; or
  2. permission has been obtained from, or a licence granted by, the copyright owner.

(20) Publication agreements should not prevent compliance with this policy by prohibiting deposit in an open access institutional repository or through the application of an embargo period. 

(21) Where the journal or publisher agreement conflicts with this policy, a suitable author addendum which permits the author to share their research outputs in compliance with this policy, should be attached to the publication agreement before signing. Authors may use the following text to retina their right to share their work:

This research was produced in whole or part by University of Newcastle researchers and is subject to the University of Newcastle Intellectual Property and Open Access policies. For the purpose of open access, the author has applied a Creative Commons Attribution CC BY licence to any Author Accepted Manuscript (AAM) version arising from this submission. 

(22) The version submitted to the repository should be the Author Accepted Manuscript (AAM) or the Version of Record (VOR).

Indigenous Works

(23) The University respects the rights of Indigenous people in relation to their heritage, knowledge, and culture.  The Indigenous Cultural and Intellectual Property Protocol provides guidance on secret, sacred, and private information that may not be suitable for open access publishing.

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Section 7 - Roles and Responsibilities

(24) Researchers:

  1. retain the right to openly share their research outputs;
  2. submit the metadata describing research outputs and where applicable a version of the full text research output into the University's institutional repository.
  3. check and comply with funder contractual obligations and open access requirements.

(25) Higher Degree Research students ensure permission has been obtained from copyright holders for the use and republishing of all third party copyrighted material in their theses.

(26) The University Library manages and maintains open access repository infrastructure and provides support for researchers submitting metadata and research outputs to the repository. The Library also provides advice on publishing, licensing, and copyright in support of this Policy.