The California Digital Library (CDL) and UC Libraries have launched an Open Access Fund Pilot Program to help scholars cover the cost of author fees when publishing in peer-reviewed open access publications. The chief goals of the Pilot Program are to foster greater dissemination of the work of University of California scholars and to encourage faculty control of copyright. If researchers retain some or all of the copyright to their work or use alternative forms of publishing that do not place restrictions on access, they enlarge their audience, further knowledge sharing, and accelerate research, all of which result in their work having a greater impact. Some scholarly societies, like the Modern Language Association, have demonstrated support for author rights by adopting a blanket policy of allowing their journals’ authors to retain the copyright to their work.
The Open Access Fund Pilot Program is based on the Berkeley Research Impact Initiative (BRII) established at UC Berkeley in 2008. Faculty, graduate students and post-docs without grant funding for their research are eligible to apply for funds. The Library is administering the Program with investments from CDL and the Office of the Executive Vice Chancellor. The Pilot Program will be evaluated after eighteen to twenty-four months to determine its success and sustainability.
For more information and to apply for funds from the Open Access Fund Pilot Program, please consult the Library’s Scholarly Communication webpage at http://www.library.ucsb.edu/scholarly-communication or contact Sherri L. Barnes, Scholarly Communication Program Coordinator at (805) 893-8022 or barnes [at] library [dot] ucsb [dot] edu.
