OA policy

Open access policies (mandates) that ensure that research funded by institutions is made freely available have now been adopted by 38 institutions in the EIFL network.

EIFL Partner Country	Open Access Policy
China	National Science Library, Chinese Academy of Sciences
China	Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology mandate to deposit research data
China (Hong Kong)	The University of Hong Kong Libraries departmental mandate
China (Hong Kong)	The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
Kenya	University of Nairobi
Kenya	Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology
Kenya	Strathmore University
Lithuania	Vilnius University (in Lithuanian)
Moldova	Academy of Economic Studies (in Romanian)
Nigeria	Covenant University
Poland	The Institute of Biochemistry and Biophysics, Polish Academy of Sciences
Russia	Keldysh Institute of Applied Mathematics, Russian Academy of Sciences
Russia	Vologda Scientific-Coordination Center, Central Economics and Mathematics Institute of Russian Academy of Sciences
Russia	Central Economics and Mathematics Institute of Russian Academy of Sciences
Slovenia	University of Maribor
South Africa	University of Pretoria Read a story how it was implemented
South Africa	University of Johannesburg
South Africa	The University of South Africa
Ukraine	Donetsk National Technical University
Ukraine	Kharkov National Medical University
Ukraine	Sumy State University
Ukraine	Ternopil State Ivan Puluj Technical University
Ukraine	Ukrainian Academy of Banking of the National Bank of Ukraine
Ukraine	V.N. Karazin Kharkiv National University soft institutional mandate
Ukraine	Charitable Foundation National University Kyiv Mohyla Academy
Ukraine	Open access policy, the Law of Ukraine On the principles of Developing Information Society in Ukraine in 2007-2015
Estonia, Poland, South Africa	Open access policy at the EUR-OCEANS Consortium that applies to its member institutions

EIFL Partner Country	Theses Mandate
China (Hong Kong)	The University of Hong Kong thesis-mandate
China (Hong Kong)	The Hong Kong Polytechnic University thesis-mandate
Ghana	Kwame Nkrumah University Of Science and Technology
Lithuania	Vytautas Magnus University
Poland	Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan thesis mandate (in Polish)
Serbia	University of Belgrade
Slovenia	University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Civil and Geodetic Engineering
Slovenia	University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Education
South Africa	University of Pretoria thesis/dissertation Policy
South Africa	Stellenbosch University thesis mandate
Zimbabwe	University of Zimbabwe

Open access policy initiatives

Open access policy initiatives have also been discussed and implemented on the national level in Lithuania, Poland, Slovenia, South Africa and China (Hong Kong).

Lithuania

The issue of public access to the results of publicly funded research has become part of the national law in Lithuania: Article 45 of the Law on Higher Education and Research of the Republic of Lithuania requires that the results of scientific activity be made publicly available (see below):

In order to ensure the quality of research conducted with funds of the state budget, the transparency of the use of funds of the state budget, to enhance scientific progress, the results of all research works carried out in state higher education and research institutions must be announced publicly (in the Internet or any other way), to the extent this is in compliance with the legal acts regulating the protection of intellectual property, commercial or state and official secrets.

The results of research conducted in non-state higher education and research institutions with funds of the state budget shall be announced publicly (in the Internet or any other way), to the extent this is in compliance with the legal acts regulating the protection of intellectual property, commercial or state secrets.

Poland

The government of Poland (the Chancellery of the Prime Minister and the Ministry of Science and Higher Education) is working on a legislation to make the results of publicly funded research open access: deposited in open access repositories and/or published in open access journals. The legislation will help small and medium size enterprises to have access to knowledge and innovations.

You can also watch an interview with Under-Secretary of State, the Ministry of Science and Higher Education Professor Maciej Banach, conducted by Bozena Bednarek-Michalska, Nicolaus Copernicus University Library in Torun and EIFL-OA country coordinator in Poland during Open Access Week (October 2010) (in Polish language).

Slovenia

The Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Technology presented the Research Infrastructure Development Plan 2011-2020. Chapter 3.4.7 of the Plan anticipates the establishment of a national open data and open publication infrastructure (connected with SICRIS) and suggests mandatory deposition of publicly funded data and publications when the infrastructure is established.

EIFL and SPARC Europe responded to the public consultation on the Research Infrastructure Development Plan 2011-2020, announced by the Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Technology. In our response, we expressed our support for the establishment of a national open data and open publication infrastructure and mandatory deposition of publicly funded data and publications. We provided evidence for the benefit of open access policies and guidelines for how to best structure them. Read our submission [pdf].

South Africa

The Southern African Regional Universities' Association, representing 64 universities in sub-Saharan Africa, released a research report on Opening Access to Knowledge in Southern Africa, which recommended open access as a potential strategy for the region.

The Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf) implements recommendations from the Report on a Strategic Approach to Research Publishing in South Africa supporting the SciELO South Africa platform funded by the Department of Science and Technology of South Africa. There are currently 20 open access journal titles listed and this number is scheduled to grow steadily.

The Department of Higher Education and Training of South Africa has approved and mandated the implementation of ASSAf’s Scholarly Book Study. A key recommendation is the maximisation of open access in order to widen access and encourage usage and citation.

You can read more details about South African open access policy in The state of the nation 2011 – government policy and open access in South Africa by Eve Gray.

China (Hong Kong)

The University of Hong Kong proposed multi-institutional open access mandate supported by Hong Kong Baptist University, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, and The Hong Kong Polytechnic University.