In 2008 Harvard University Faculty of Arts and Sciences adopted a new form of open access policy, which has not only been followed by other Schools at Harvard, but by universities such as MIT, Duke, Kansas, Princeton and Rutgers.

Essentially the Harvard open access policy differs from other institutional mandates, which merely mandate open access for university authors. The Harvard policy requires faculty authors to grant the university a nonexclusive, irrevocable right to distribute their scholarly articles for any non-commercial purpose.

“The goal of university research is the creation, dissemination, and preservation of knowledge. At Harvard, where so much of our research is of global significance, we have an essential responsibility to distribute the fruits of our scholarship as widely as possible.”

Steven E. Hyman

Provost of Harvard University

Harvard’s argument is that without an automatic licence, faculty will not change their behaviour and that by having a blanket policy, the university can negotiate with individual publishers. The difference between the Harvard model and other mandates is the use of copyright terminology in the policy

Harvard has also issued a model policy written by Stuart M. Shieber, which other universities are encouraged to download and use as part of their own open access policy. For example, both Rutgers open access policy, the University of Kansas open access policy and the University of California open access policy are modelled on Harvard’s. These policies all use very similar wording, such as nonexclusive, irrevocable, worldwide in their licenses

Further discussion of the Harvard model can be find in the following article by Eric Priest

Eric Priest (2012). Copyright and the Harvard Open Access Mandate, Northwestern journal of technology and intellectual property.10 (7), 377 http://scholarlycommons.law.northwestern.edu/njtip/vol10/iss7/1

In addition, Penn State has prepared a useful list of open access policies and provides a comparison with the Harvard model.

 

5.1 Creative Commons licences
5.2 Institutional polices and copyright
5.3 Funder mandates
5.4 Third Party rights and author rights
5.5 Commercial Use Questions
5.6 Benefits of publishing with a Creative Commons licence

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