We are very pleased to announce that the draft UQ Open Access Policy for Research Outputs, which has been authored and championed by the Library, has passed another procedural milestone by getting Academic Board approval. Assuming approval by the Senate, it will go into effect on 1 January 2014. The policy, which applies to all UQ research publications, is based on the ARC and NHMRC policies already in effect.

Wednesday 30 October 2013
Open Access Eminent Speaker Forum - Professor Alma Swan, Director of European Advocacy, SPARC*
10.00 - 11.00 am lecture
"Is Open Access just another fad?"
Venue: The Sir Llew Edwards Building (no. 14), Auditorium - ground floor University of Queensland, St Lucia
FREE morning tea to follow lecture

At UQ after approval from the UQ Research Committee the draft Open Access for UQ Research Outputs Policy and Procedures, championed by the UQ Library with the UQ office of the DVC (Research) as the custodian, will be tabled at the September UQ Academic Board. We will keep you posted on the progress of the drafts.

UQ Open Access Service - Pilot

Roll out of the UQ Open Access service, managed by the UQ Library and the Office of the DVC(R), will be piloted during July-September 2013. The pilot will start work on capturing the scholarly publications of researchers from the Institute for Molecular Bioscience (IMB), the School of Business and the School of Languages & Comparative Cultural Studies.

Professor Alma Swan

Summary of effort to date

• Open Access discussion paper presented to VC's Committee by UL in late March 2013
• VC's Committee endorsed concept of OA and recommended policy be drafted for Research Committee
• Draft policy prepared and submitted to 9th April meeting of Research Committee
• Working party established to report back to Research Committee in June 2013
• First Meeting of the UQ OA working party meeting held 23 April

• The controversial Open Access policy implemented by the Research Council UK continues to cause major frustration for those trying to meet the requirements. Richard Poynder's blog expands upon the situation, detailing concerns about publishers who are exploiting the RCUK's policy to increase their profits, which are already excessive, for more details: http://poynder.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/the-uks-open-access-policy-controversy.html

UQ eSpace What's New?

• The Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) has launched a new platform with improved searching features. DOAJ now contains 8869 journals with 4550 journals searchable at the article level.
• The Research Councils UK (RCUK) policy on open access came into effect from the 1st April 2013. The policy states that all peer-reviewed published research articles and conference proceedings funded by RCUK must be open access.

A constant flurry of open access developments are underway at UQ, national and international levels.

At UQ