On February 13, 2015, GW’s Faculty Senate approved an open access policy for the university to ensure that published scholarship becomes more widely accessible. The policy supports GW's commitment to promoting innovative research that makes a positive impact on society. The policy does not require GW faculty to publish in open access journals which charge authors to publish. GW authors should continue to publish wherever they normally would.
However, GW authors are encouraged to ask publishers for permission to make articles available in the GW institutional repository which is "open access" in the sense that anyone can visit it. This process is sometimes called self-archiving. To check on a journal’s policy regarding copyright and self-archiving, go to the SHERPA/RoMEO database. This database provides current information on self-archiving policies for an extensive set of journals. If your journal publisher does not permit self-archiving, you may opt out of the GW policy by sending an e-mail containing the link to the journal’s policy in SHERPA/RoMEO to openaccess@gwu.edu. If your publisher permits self-archiving it can permit it in one of the following formats:
You can initiate a discussion on self archiving with your publisher by using the GW Addendum to Publication Agreement. You may also use the SPARC Author Addendum to Publication Agreement. Many publishers will say yes but with provisos such as "not until 6 months after publication" or "use the final typewritten manuscript approved by the editor and include a link to the publisher website." Others will just say no. Any of these options is okay. We will work with you to meet any publisher provisos. Again simply send the publisher response to openaccess@gwu.edu
You will have complied with GW’s open access policy if:
Full information on this new policy including a FAQ on opting out is available at https://library.gwu.edu/scholarly-communications/faculty-open-access. Should you have any questions about implementing this policy, please feel free to contact Anne Linton at alinton@gwu.edu or 202-994-1826.
For information about public access policies related to federal grants, see our guide to Open access to publicly funded journal articles and research data.
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