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UCL to implement open access policy to all research

3 June 2009

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UCL's open access policy will remove barriers to research ucl.ac.uk/media/library/OpenAccess" target="_self">UCL press release
  • Coverage in Financial Times (registration required)
  • UCL has today announced the establishment of a UCL Publications Board that will implement the university's open access policy and be responsible for ensuring that, subject to copyright permissions, all UCL research is placed online in the university's institutional repository, freely accessible to all.

    This move places UCL at the forefront of academic institutions who are pioneering the move to Open Access, as the first European university ranked in the global top ten in the THE - QS world university rankings to do so.

    Open access is a new form of dissemination for published books, articles, conference proceedings and digital outputs. Its principles are based on the Berlin Declaration, which urges authors to retain the rights in the materials they produce and to place a copy in an open access medium - in UCL's case the university's electronic repository - so that they are available free at point of use to anyone, anywhere in the world, with an Internet connection.

    "In the competitive environment of a global higher education market, open access repositories provide a platform on which a university can showcase its research," says Dr Paul Ayris, Director of UCL Library Services. "Open access helps prospective students make a judgement on which university to choose, shares blue-skies research with the widest possible audience, and supports outreach activity to open up higher education to new communities."

    To find out more about this initiative, follow the links at the top of this item.