Harvard Open Access Policies

The Faculty of Arts and Sciences of Harvard University is committed to disseminating the fruits of its research and scholarship as widely as possible. In keeping with that commitment, the Faculty adopts the following policy: Each Faculty member grants to the President and Fellows of Harvard College permission to make available his or her scholarly articles and to exercise the copyright in those articles. In legal terms, the permission granted by each Faculty member is a nonexclusive, irrevocable, paid-up, worldwide license to exercise any and all rights under copyright relating to each of his or her scholarly articles, in any medium, and to authorize others to do the same, provided that the articles are not sold for a profit. The policy will apply to all scholarly articles written while the person is a member of the Faculty except for any articles completed before the adoption of this policy and any articles for which the Faculty member entered into an incompatible licensing or assignment agreement before the adoption of this policy. The Dean or the Dean's designate will waive application of the policy for a particular article upon written request by a Faculty member explaining the need.

To assist the University in distributing the articles, each Faculty member will provide an electronic copy of the final version of the article at no charge to the appropriate representative of the Provost's Office in an appropriate format (such as PDF) specified by the Provost's Office.

The Provost's Office may make the article available to the public in an open-access repository. The Office of the Dean will be responsible for interpreting this policy, resolving disputes concerning its interpretation and application, and recommending changes to the Faculty from time to time. The policy will be reviewed after three years and a report presented to the Faculty.

Adopted February 12, 2008

This policy is not included under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY) to which other textual content on this web page may be subject.

The Faculty of the Harvard Graduate School of Design is committed to disseminating the fruits of its research and scholarship as widely as possible. In keeping with that commitment, the Faculty adopts the following policy: Each Faculty member grants to the President and Fellows of Harvard College permission to make available his or her scholarly articles and to exercise the copyright in those articles. More specifically, each Faculty member grants to the President and Fellows a nonexclusive, irrevocable, worldwide license to exercise any and all rights under copyright relating to each of his or her scholarly articles, in any medium, provided that the articles are not sold for a profit, and to authorize others to do the same. The policy applies to all scholarly articles authored or co-authored while the person is a member of the Faculty except for any articles completed before the adoption of this policy and any articles for which the Faculty member entered into an incompatible licensing or assignment agreement before the adoption of this policy. The Dean or Dean's designate will waive application of the license for a particular article or delay access for a specified period of time upon express direction by a Faculty member.

Each Faculty member will provide an electronic copy of the author's final version of each article no later than the date of its publication at no charge to the appropriate representative of the Provost's Office in an appropriate format (such as PDF) specified by the Provost's Office. The Provost's Office may make the article available to the public in an open-access repository. The Office of the Dean will be responsible for interpreting this policy, resolving disputes concerning its interpretation and application, and recommending changes to the Faculty from time to time. The policy will be reviewed after three years and a report presented to the Faculty.

Adopted March 30, 2011

This policy is not included under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY) to which other textual content on this web page may be subject.

The Faculty of the Harvard University Graduate School of Education is committed to disseminating the fruits of its research and scholarship as widely as possible. In keeping with that commitment, the Faculty adopts the following policy: Each Faculty member grants to Harvard University permission to make available his or her scholarly articles and to exercise the copyright in those articles. More specifically, each Faculty member grants to Harvard University a nonexclusive, irrevocable, worldwide license to exercise any and all rights under copyright relating to each of his or her scholarly articles, in any medium, provided that the articles are not sold for a profit, and to authorize others to do the same. The policy will apply to all scholarly articles authored or co-authored while the person is a member of the Faculty except for any articles completed before the adoption of this policy and any articles for which the Faculty member entered into an incompatible licensing or assignment agreement before the adoption of this policy. The Dean or Dean's designate will waive application of the license for a particular article upon express direction by a Faculty member.

Each Faculty member will provide an electronic copy of the author's final version of each article no later than the date of its publication at no charge to the appropriate representative of the Provost's Office in an appropriate format (such as PDF) specified by the Provost's Office. The Provost's Office may make the article available to the public in an open-access repository. The Office of the Dean will be responsible for interpreting this policy, resolving disputes concerning its interpretation and application, and recommending changes to the Faculty from time to time. The policy will be reviewed after three years and a report presented to the Faculty.

Adopted June 1, 2009

This policy is not included under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY) to which other textual content on this web page may be subject.

The Faculty of the Harvard Business School is committed to disseminating the fruits of its research and scholarship as widely as possible. In keeping with that commitment, the Faculty adopts the following policy: Each Faculty member grants to the President and Fellows of Harvard College permission to make available articles that he or she has prepared for journal peer review and to exercise the copyright in those articles. More specifically, each Faculty member grants to the President and Fellows a nonexclusive, irrevocable, worldwide license to exercise any and all rights under copyright relating to each of these articles, in any medium, and to authorize others to do the same, provided that the articles are not sold for a profit. The policy will apply to all such articles authored or co-authored while the person is a member of the Faculty except for any articles completed before the adoption of this policy and any articles for which the Faculty member entered into an incompatible licensing or assignment agreement before the adoption of this policy.

Since the policy will apply only to articles prepared for peer review, it thus does not apply to Harvard Business School Cases and Notes, or to articles written for the Harvard Business Review or other publications that are not peer-reviewed. The Dean or the Dean's designate will waive application of the license for a particular article upon express direction by a Faculty member.

Each Faculty member will provide an electronic copy of the author's final version of each article to the Division of Research and Faculty Development (DRFD) no later than the date of its publication. DRFD will submit the article to the Harvard University open access repository; the Provost's Office may make it available to the public.

The Office of the Dean will be responsible for interpreting this policy, resolving disputes concerning its interpretation and application, and recommending changes to the Faculty from time to time. Effects of the policy will be continuously monitored, and after three years it will be reviewed and a report presented to the Faculty.

Adopted February 12, 2010

This policy is not included under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY) to which other textual content on this web page may be subject.

The Faculty of the Harvard Divinity School is committed to disseminating the fruits of its research and scholarship as widely as possible. In keeping with that commitment, the Faculty adopts the following policy: Each Faculty member grants to the President and Fellows of Harvard College permission to make available his or her scholarly articles and to exercise the copyright in those articles. More specifically, each Faculty member grants to the President and Fellows a nonexclusive, irrevocable, worldwide license to exercise any and all rights under copyright relating to each of his or her scholarly articles, in any medium, provided that the articles are not sold for a profit, and to authorize others to do the same. The policy applies to all scholarly articles authored or co-authored while the person is a member of the Faculty except for any articles completed before the adoption of this policy and any articles for which the Faculty member entered into an incompatible licensing or assignment agreement before the adoption of this policy. The Dean or Dean's designate will waive application of the license for a particular article or delay access for a specified period of time upon express direction by a Faculty member.

Each Faculty member will provide an electronic copy of the author's final version of each article no later than the date of its publication at no charge to the appropriate representative of the Provost's Office in an appropriate format (such as PDF) specified by the Provost's Office. The Provost's Office may make the article available to the public in an open-access repository.

The Office of the Dean will be responsible for interpreting this policy, resolving disputes concerning its interpretation and application, and recommending changes to the Faculty from time to time. The policy will be reviewed after three years and a report presented to the Faculty.

Adopted November 15, 2010

This policy is not included under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY) to which other textual content on this web page may be subject.

The Faculty of the Harvard Kennedy School of Government is committed to disseminating the fruits of its research and scholarship as widely as possible. In keeping with that commitment, the Faculty adopts the following policy: Each Faculty member grants to the President and Fellows of Harvard College permission to make available his or her scholarly articles and to exercise the copyright in those articles. More specifically, each Faculty member grants to the President and Fellows a nonexclusive, irrevocable, worldwide license to exercise any and all rights under copyright relating to each of his or her scholarly articles, in any medium, and to authorize others to do the same, provided that the articles are not sold for a profit. The policy will apply to all scholarly articles authored or co-authored while the person is a member of the Faculty except for any articles completed before the adoption of this policy and any articles for which the Faculty member entered into an incompatible licensing or assignment agreement before the adoption of this policy. The Dean or the Dean's designate will waive application of the license for a particular article upon express direction by a Faculty member.

Each Faculty member will provide an electronic copy of the author's final version of each article at no charge to the appropriate representative of the Provost's Office in an appropriate format (such as PDF) specified by the Provost's Office no later than the date of its publication. The Provost's Office may make the article available to the public in an open-access repository.

The Office of the Dean will be responsible for interpreting this policy, resolving disputes concerning its interpretation and application, and recommending changes to the Faculty from time to time. The policy will be reviewed after three years and a report presented to the Faculty.

Adopted March 10, 2009

This policy is not included under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY) to which other textual content on this web page may be subject.

The Faculty of the Harvard Law School is committed to disseminating the fruits of its research and scholarship as widely as possible. In keeping with that commitment, the Faculty adopts the following policy: Each Faculty member grants to the President and Fellows of Harvard College permission to make available his or her scholarly articles and to exercise the copyright in those articles. More specifically, each Faculty member grants to the President and Fellows a nonexclusive, irrevocable, worldwide license to exercise any and all rights under copyright relating to each of his or her scholarly articles, in any medium, and to authorize others to do the same, provided that the articles are not sold for a profit. The policy will apply to all scholarly articles authored or co-authored while the person is a member of the Faculty except for any articles completed before the adoption of this policy and any articles for which the Faculty member entered into an incompatible licensing or assignment agreement before the adoption of this policy. The Dean or the Dean's designate will waive application of the policy to a particular article upon written request by a Faculty member explaining the need.

Each Faculty member will provide an electronic copy of the final version of the article at no charge to the appropriate representative of the Provost's Office in an appropriate format (such as PDF) specified by the Provost's Office no later than the date of its publication. The Provost's Office may make the article available to the public in an open-access repository.

The Office of the Dean will be responsible for interpreting this policy, resolving disputes concerning its interpretation and application, and recommending changes to the Faculty from time to time. The policy will be reviewed after three years and a report presented to the Faculty.

Adopted May 1, 2008

This policy is not included under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY) to which other textual content on this web page may be subject.

The Faculty of the Harvard Medical School is committed to disseminating the fruits of its research and scholarship as widely as possible. In keeping with that commitment, the Faculty adopts the following policy: Each Faculty member grants to the President and Fellows of Harvard College permission to make available his or her scholarly articles and to exercise the copyright in those articles. More specifically, each Faculty member grants to the President and Fellows a nonexclusive, irrevocable, worldwide license to exercise any and all rights under copyright relating to each of his or her scholarly articles, in any medium, provided that the articles are not sold for a profit, and to authorize others to do the same. The policy applies to all scholarly articles authored or co-authored while the person is a member of the Faculty except for any articles completed before the adoption of this policy and any articles for which the Faculty member entered into an incompatible licensing or assignment agreement before the adoption of this policy. The Dean or Dean's designate will waive application of the license for a particular article or delay access for a specified period of time upon express direction by a Faculty member.

Each Faculty member will provide an electronic copy of the author's final version of each article no later than the date of its publication at no charge to the appropriate representative of the Provost's Office in an appropriate format (such as PDF) specified by the Provost's Office. The Provost's Office may make the article available to the public in an open-access repository.

The Office of the Dean will be responsible for interpreting this policy, resolving disputes concerning its interpretation and application, and recommending changes to the Faculty from time to time. The policy will be reviewed after three years and a report presented to the Faculty.

Adopted June 18, 2014

This policy is not included under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY) to which other textual content on this web page may be subject.

The Faculty of the Harvard School of Public Health is committed to disseminating the fruits of its research and scholarship as widely as possible. In keeping with that commitment, the Faculty adopts the following policy: Each Faculty member grants to the President and Fellows of Harvard College permission to make available his or her scholarly articles and to exercise the copyright in those articles. More specifically, each Faculty member grants to the President and Fellows a nonexclusive, irrevocable, worldwide license to exercise any and all rights under copyright relating to each of his or her scholarly articles, in any medium, provided that the articles are not sold for a profit, and to authorize others to do the same. The policy applies to all scholarly articles authored or co-authored while the person is a member of the Faculty except for any articles completed before the adoption of this policy and any articles for which the Faculty member entered into an incompatible licensing or assignment agreement before the adoption of this policy. The Dean or Dean's designate will waive application of the license for a particular article or delay access for a specified period of time upon express direction by a Faculty member.

Each Faculty member will provide an electronic copy of the author's final version of each article no later than the date of its publication at no charge to the appropriate representative of the Provost's Office in an appropriate format (such as PDF) specified by the Provost's Office. The Provost's Office may make the article available to the public in an open-access repository.

The Office of the Dean will be responsible for interpreting this policy, resolving disputes concerning its interpretation and application, and recommending changes to the Faculty from time to time. The policy will be reviewed after three years and a report presented to the Faculty.

Adopted November 26, 2012

This policy is not included under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY) to which other textual content on this web page may be subject.

The Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation is committed to disseminating the fruits of its research and scholarship as widely as possible. In keeping with that commitment, the Ash Center adopts the following policy: Each faculty, fellow, and staff member grants to Harvard University permission to make available his or her scholarly articles and to exercise the copyright in those articles. More specifically, each faculty, fellow, and staff member grants to Harvard a nonexclusive, irrevocable, worldwide license to exercise any and all rights under copyright relating to each of his or her scholarly articles, in any medium, provided that the articles are not sold for a profit, and to authorize others to do the same. The policy applies to all scholarly articles authored or co-authored while the person is a member of the Ash Center except for any articles completed before the adoption of this policy and any articles for which the faculty, fellow, and staff member entered into an incompatible licensing or assignment agreement before the adoption of this policy. The Provost or Provost’s designate will waive application of the license for a particular article or delay access for a specified period of time upon express direction by a faculty, fellow, and staff member.

Each faculty, fellow, and staff member will provide an electronic copy of the author’s final version of each article no later than the date of its publication at no charge to the appropriate representative of the Provost’s Office in an appropriate format (such as PDF) specified by the Provost’s Office.

The Provost’s Office may make the article available to the public in an open-access repository, including the open Digital Access to Scholarship at Harvard (DASH) repository. Furthermore, the Ash Center may also make such articles available to the public without charge. The Office of the Provost in consultation with the Director of the Ash Center will be responsible for interpreting this policy, resolving disputes concerning its interpretation and application, and recommending changes to the faculty, fellow, and staff member from time to time.

Adopted June 28, 2018

This policy is not included under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY) to which other textual content on this web page may be subject.

The Berkman Center for Internet & Society is committed to disseminating the fruits of its research and scholarship as widely as possible. In keeping with that commitment, the faculty directors and staff including employee fellows (henceforth "covered members") adopt the following policy: Each covered member grants to Harvard University permission to make available his or her scholarly articles whose subject relates to the purview of research at the Berkman Center, and to exercise the copyright in those articles. More specifically, each covered member grants to Harvard University a nonexclusive, irrevocable, worldwide license to exercise any and all rights under copyright relating to each of his or her scholarly articles, in any medium, provided that the articles are not sold for a profit, and to authorize others to do the same. The policy applies to all scholarly articles authored or co-authored while the person is a covered member except for any articles completed before the adoption of this policy and any articles for which the covered member entered into an incompatible licensing or assignment agreement before the adoption of this policy. The Provost or Provost's designate will waive application of the license for a particular article or delay access for a specified period of time upon express direction by a covered member author.

Each covered member will provide an electronic copy of the author's final version of each article no later than the date of its publication at no charge to the appropriate representative of the Provost's Office in an appropriate format (such as PDF) specified by the Provost's Office.

The Provost's Office may make the article available to the public in an open-access repository. The Office of the Provost will be responsible for interpreting this policy, resolving disputes concerning its interpretation and application, and recommending changes to the Center from time to time. The policy will be reviewed by the Berkman Center for Internet & Society after three years and a report presented to the faculty directors.

Adopted October 9, 2014

This policy is not included under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY) to which other textual content on this web page may be subject.

Harvard has pioneered measures to promote open access and move toward a publishing system that is in keeping with the University's goals of disseminating the fruits of its research and scholarship as widely as possible. One of these measures is an open-access policy that has the effect of allowing open distribution of research articles.

HUCE is committed to advancing these university-wide goals, and its research community, including its postdoctoral Environmental Fellows, will provide an electronic copy of the author's final version of each scholarly article to the appropriate representative of the Provost's Office, to be deposited into the open Digital Access to Scholarship at Harvard (DASH) repository.

HUCE Environmental Fellows grant the President and Fellows of Harvard College permission to make available his or her scholarly articles and to exercise the copyright in those articles. More specifically, each Environmental Fellow grants to the President and Fellows of Harvard College a nonexclusive, irrevocable, worldwide license to exercise any and all rights under copyright relating to each of his or her scholarly articles, in any medium, provided that the articles are not sold for a profit, and to authorize others to do the same. The policy applies to all scholarly articles authored or co-authored while the person is a member of HUCE except for any articles completed before the adoption of this policy and any articles for which the member entered into an incompatible licensing or assignment agreement before the adoption of this policy. The Provost or Provost's designate will waive application of the license for a particular article or delay access for a specified period of time upon express direction by a Fellow.

Adopted July 1, 2015

This policy is not included under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY) to which other textual content on this web page may be subject.

The Harvard-China Project on Energy, Economy and Environment of the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (henceforth “Harvard-China Project”) is committed to disseminating the fruits of its research and scholarship as widely as possible. In keeping with that commitment, the Harvard-China Project adopts the following policy: Each member of the Harvard-China Project research community including faculty, staff, postdoctoral fellows, students, and visiting researchers with research appointments with the Harvard-China Project (henceforth “covered member”) grants to Harvard University permission to make available his or her scholarly articles and to exercise the copyright in those articles. More specifically, each covered member grants to Harvard University a nonexclusive, irrevocable, worldwide license to exercise any and all rights under copyright relating to each of his or her scholarly articles, in any medium, provided that the articles are not sold for a profit, and to authorize others to do the same. The policy applies to all scholarly articles authored or co-authored while the person is a covered member of the Harvard-China Project, except for any articles completed before the adoption of this policy and any articles for which the covered member entered into an incompatible licensing or assignment agreement before the adoption of this policy. The Provost or Provost’s designate will waive application of the license for a particular article or delay access for a specified period of time upon express direction by a covered member.

Each covered member will provide an electronic copy of the author’s final version of each article at the time of acceptance for publication at no charge to the appropriate representative of the Provost’s Office in an appropriate format (such as PDF) specified by the Provost’s Office. Distribution of peer-reviewed articles scheduled for publication will be postponed until the date of publication.

The Provost’s Office may make the article available to the public in an open-access repository. The Office of the Provost in consultation with the Executive Director of the Harvard-China Project will be responsible for interpreting this policy, resolving disputes concerning its interpretation and application, and recommending changes to the covered members from time to time.

Adopted September 21, 2017

This policy is not included under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY) to which other textual content on this web page may be subject.

The Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy is actively committed to the openness of information relevant to the public. This value is embodied in the traditions of a free press, protected under the First Amendment, and is consistent with the idea that quality information is vital to the functioning of democracy.

We therefore support and reaffirm Harvard's Open Access Policy, enacted and implemented by all of the nine individual Harvard faculties all by unanimous or nearly unanimous faculty votes. This includes an affirmative vote by the Harvard Kennedy School, under which the Shorenstein Center operates.

Harvard has pioneered measures to promote open access and move toward a publishing system that is in keeping with the University's goals of promoting the civic good. One of these measures is an open-access policy that has the effect of allowing open distribution of research articles.

The Shorenstein Center is committed to advancing these university-wide goals, and has a long-established tradition of offering all research materials produced by the Center and its Fellows free to the public on its website. Further, we will provide an electronic copy of the author's final version of each scholarly article to the appropriate representative of the Provost's Office, to be deposited into the open Digital Access to Scholarship at Harvard (DASH) repository.

Each member of the Shorenstein Center grants to the President and Fellows of Harvard College permission to make available his or her scholarly articles and to exercise the copyright in those articles. More specifically, each member grants to the President and Fellows of Harvard College a nonexclusive, irrevocable, worldwide license to exercise any and all rights under copyright relating to each of his or her scholarly articles, in any medium, provided that the articles are not sold for a profit, and to authorize others to do the same. The policy applies to all scholarly articles authored or co-authored while the person is a member of the Shorenstein Center except for any articles completed before the adoption of this policy and any articles for which the member entered into an incompatible licensing or assignment agreement before the adoption of this policy. The Provost or Provost's designate will waive application of the license for a particular article or delay access for a specified period of time upon express direction by member.

Adopted October 9, 2014

This policy is not included under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY) to which other textual content on this web page may be subject.

This a voluntary open access license that any Harvard researchers may choose for their own scholarly articles. Because Harvard faculty are already covered by open access licenses through the school-level open access policies, in practice the Individual Open Access License is for non-faculty researchers, such as administrators, librarians, staff, postdocs, fellows, and students.

Through the school-level open access policies, faculty grant Harvard certain nonexclusive rights to their future scholarly articles. These enable Harvard to make a certain version of those articles open access through DASH, Harvard's institutional open access repository. Moreover, they enable Harvard to grant the same rights back to the authors. The Individual Open Access License grants Harvard exactly the same set of nonexclusive rights, for exactly the same purposes. In that sense, it gives non-faculty researchers the same benefits that the school-level policies give faculty.

Just as faculty may obtain waivers from their open access license, those who sign the Individual Open Access License may also obtain waivers.

The License works best when authors sign it before they sign publishing contracts. For that reason, and because it permits waivers for any given work, we encourage interested authors to sign the Individual Open Access License soon, or before they publish their next scholarly article.

Authors only need to sign the License once for the rest of their career at Harvard, not once per paper. It lasts as long as the author is affiliated with Harvard.

The Individual Open Access License is an opt-in, voluntary license for individuals who are not already covered by the (opt-out) open access policies at the school- and center-levels.

Authors at Harvard University are committed to disseminating the fruits of their research and scholarship as widely as possible. In keeping with that commitment, by signing this license, I hereby grant to Harvard University the same non-exclusive rights that faculty grant to Harvard under the faculty open-access (OA) policies. More specifically, I grant to Harvard University a non-exclusive, irrevocable, worldwide license to exercise any and all rights under copyright relating to each of my scholarly articles, in any medium, provided that the articles are not sold for a profit, and to authorize others to do the same. This license applies to all scholarly articles I author or co-author while I am a Harvard affiliate, except for any articles completed before I signed this form and any articles for which I entered into an incompatible licensing or assignment agreement before I signed this form. Harvard Library or its designate, will waive application of this license for a particular article or delay access for a specified period of time upon my express direction

I will provide an electronic copy of the author’s accepted manuscript of each article no later than the date of its publication at no charge to the appropriate representative of Harvard Library in an appropriate format (such as PDF) specified by Harvard Library or its designate.

If I am a non-faculty employee or affiliate of Harvard University, and my work is normally covered by the work-for-hire doctrine, then I understand that this license only applies to my scholarly articles not covered by that doctrine.

To sign and enroll in the Individual Open Access License, simply accept the DASH Submitter Agreement when you first log in to the repository as a Harvard author.

Adopted June 7, 2018

This license is not included under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY) to which other textual content on this web page may be subject.

Harvard University has long had a policy that "when entering into agreements for the publication and distribution of copyrighted materials, authors will make arrangements that best serve the public interest" (from the Statement of Policy in Regard to Intellectual Property). In the eyes of many, including the Provost's Committee on Scholarly Publishing and large numbers of individual faculty members, this goal is best served by using the unified action of the faculty to enable individual faculty to distribute their scholarly writings freely.

Other organizations with a vested interest in advancing research are independently supporting such efforts as well. For instance, funders increasingly require scholarly articles resulting from the research they fund to be made openly accessible, whether by their own accord or by congressional legislation.

The policies have two basic provisions. First, faculty commit to deposit a certain version of their future scholarly articles in DASH, Harvard's institutional open access repository. Second, faculty grant certain nonexclusive rights over their future scholarly articles to Harvard, authorizing it to make those deposited articles open access. This grant of nonexclusive rights is not equivalent to a grant of ownership. It includes waiver and embargo options to enhance author freedom and control over their work.

Often, we call this grant of nonexclusive rights the Harvard open access license or the license granted to Harvard.

The policies do not require authors to submit new scholarly articles to any particular type of journals, such as open-access journals. On the contrary, the policies deliberately allow authors to submit new work to the journals of their choice.

All Harvard schools now have open access policies, each one adopted by faculty vote. In their major provisions, they are identical.

First, mere encouragement to distribute articles open access has little effect. For instance, before Congress made it a requirement, participation in the NIH Public Access Policy was optional. During that period, there was only a 4% level of compliance. During the same period studies showed that the low level of compliance was not due to opposition so much as preoccupation, busyness, and forgetfulness.

Second, opt-out systems achieve much higher degrees of participation than opt-in systems, even while remaining noncoercive.

Third, by making policies at the school and center levels, individual faculty benefit from their membership in the policy-making group. Without a policy covering many authors, we could not take full advantage of the benefit of unified action.

The school-level policies, center-level policies, and the Individual Open Access License:

• Give authors permission to make their work open access without the difficulty or uncertainty of negotiating with publishers;
• Enable the university to help authors make their works open access;
• Preserve author freedom to publish in the journals of their choice;
• Preserve author freedom to decide for or against open access for each publication; and
• Enhance author rights to reuse their work, and give authors more rights over their own work than standard publishing contracts.

The chief benefit is the way these policies (and the Individual License) foster open access itself. Research has shown that articles that are free online are cited more often than articles that are not free online, and that these articles also receive more citations across disciplines.

While DASH, Harvard's institutional open access repository, welcomes scholarly works other than articles, the policies only cover articles.

We focus on scholarly articles because, in the language of the Budapest Open Access Initiative, these are the primary works that scholars publish "for the sake of inquiry and knowledge" and "give to the world without expectation of payment." Scholarly articles are typically presented in peer-reviewed scholarly journals and conference proceedings.

Like the school- and center-level policies, the Individual Open Access License is also limited to scholarly articles.

The Harvard policies ask authors to deposit "the final version of the article". But since our policies were adopted, the more self-explanatory term "accepted author manuscript" has become more widely accepted for describing the version we have in mind.

The accepted author manuscript of a work is the version approved by peer review, or the last version the author sends to the publisher after peer review. It does not include unilateral edits made by the journal after peer review, or the journal's look and feel.

No. The school-level and center-level policies do not apply to any articles that were completed before their adoption at the author's school or center, nor to any articles for which the author entered into an incompatible publishing agreement before the respective policy was adopted.

For authors who have signed the Individual Open Access License, it too will not apply to articles written before the individual signed the license.

No. Once authors are no longer affiliated with Harvard, any articles they write will not be subject to the Harvard open access policies or to the Individual Open Access License.

Simply complete a Harvard Open Access Policy Waiver Request to waive the license granted to Harvard (via the Harvard open-access policies) on an article-by-article basis.

Even if you obtain a waiver for a given article, you should still deposit the accepted author manuscript in DASH. It can be made available after a delay, depending on the nature of your publication agreement. Open Scholarship and Research Data Services can help determine what kind of distribution is appropriate for the work.

If your article is subject to an open access policy at a funding agency, it is possible your obligations under those policies cannot be waived. Check with your funder for more information.

Yes. If you are a co-author of an article, you should inform your fellow co-authors about the nonexclusive license that you have granted Harvard under the open access policies (or the Individual Open Access License). If they object to the license, and cannot be convinced it is beneficial, then remember that you can obtain a waiver for the article.

Each joint author of an article holds copyright in the article and, individually, has the authority to grant Harvard a nonexclusive license. However, one waiver from one author is sufficient to waive the license to Harvard under the policies for that article. (The same is true for authors who signed the Individual Open Access License.)

It depends. Theses and dissertations by graduate students will usually become open access. And, any Harvard student may volunteer to be covered by signing the Individual Open Access License.

Yes. Harvard may permit you and others to make derivative works based on the articles covered by a school-level policy, center-level policy, or the Individual Open Access License. However, Harvard would only exercise this right with permission from the author and in order to advance the aims of the policy.

Harvard recognizes authors' interest in the integrity of their scholarly articles. If Harvard allows the display or distribution of any derivative work that modifies the substance of the original document (e.g., an abridgment), it will require that the derivative work include a citation, hyperlink or similar reference to the original document and that it appropriately identify the nature of the revision (e.g., "abridged from…").

As technology and modes of distributing and using scholarly content evolve, it may serve the interests of research and education for Harvard to adjust the derivative-work rights granted to the public. In any such decisions, Open Scholarship and Research Data Services will be guided by its advisors.

No. Authors still retain ownership and control of the copyright in their writings, subject only to the prior, nonexclusive rights granted to Harvard under the policies (and the Individual Open Access License upon its signing).

No. Harvard does not have the right to sell for a profit the articles under the policies (and the Individual Open Access License), and cannot grant this right to others. The same applies to a course pack or book containing such articles.

If you are covered by a Harvard open access policy (or the Individual Open Access License) and a journal publisher refuses to publish your article because of this, you have a number of options. You may:

• Obtain a waiver for that article and let the publisher know that you have done so; or
• Obtain an embargo to delay deposit of the work in DASH and let the publisher know you have done so; or
• Try to persuade the publisher that it should accept Harvard's nonexclusive license under the policies (or the Individual Open Access License) as a condition of publication; or finally,
• Try to seek a different publisher and consult with colleagues on alternative journals.

We have not heard of a single case in which a journal has refused to publish an article merely because of the open access policies. This is because the waiver and embargo options offer complete protection to publishers who wish to take advantage of them.

No. This website provides information and resources to help faculty members and others understand the open access policies and to assist in compliance, but does not provide individual legal advice. Open Scholarship and Research Data Services and its staff also are not able to provide individual legal advice. If you wish legal advice about your copyrights or individual situation, you should consult your own attorney.

An author addendum is a proposed modification of a publishing agreement. If accepted by the publisher, it modifies the agreement, for example, in order to take proper account of the nonexclusive rights granted to Harvard under the open access policies and the Individual Open Access License. (See the Sample Addendum.)

Publishing agreements often contain provisions that are inconsistent with the prior license granted to Harvard under the Harvard open access policies and the Individual Open Access License. For instance, a publishing agreement may specify the author transfers all rights under copyright in the article to the publisher and that the author warrants there are no prior licenses. The existence of the prior license to Harvard means that this warranty would not be true. If an author were to sign the publishing agreement without appropriate amendment, the author may be in breach of the agreement.

To avoid a conflicting transfer of copyright to the publisher and to protect oneself from breach of contract, an author can use the Sample Addendum. Even without the attachment of an addendum, however, the prior license granted to Harvard under the Harvard open access policies and the Individual Open Access License will still have force unless it is waived for a particular article.

Publisher refuses to accept or wants to negotiate the addendum

Whether you are covered by the school- or center-level policies or the Individual Open Access License, you may obtain a waiver for that article.

Alternatively, you can work to persuade the publisher that it should accept Harvard's license under the policies or the Individual Open Access License, or you may seek a different publisher.

Publisher states the addendum is unnecessary

A publisher may tell you the addendum is unnecessary because the publishing agreement already permits immediate posting of the article in an institutional open access repository. In that case, it may still be a good idea to use the addendum. The license to Harvard enables the University to allow you and others to make various beneficial uses of the article, which may be in conflict with provisions of the publishing agreement. To avoid a conflicting transfer of copyright to the publisher and to protect yourself from breach of contract, you may still want to attach an addendum.

If the publishing agreement, however, is wholly consistent with Harvard's license under the policies (or the Individual Open Access License), you would not need to use the addendum.

Complete an appropriate form of the addendum, sign and date the form, add a statement to the publisher's agreement making it subject to the addendum, and attach the addendum to the publisher's agreement. The two paragraphs in italics (i.e. 4.b and 4.d) are optional to be used at the author's discretion.

SAMPLE ADDENDUM TO PUBLICATION AGREEMENT
v.2 1/27/09 

1. This Addendum modifies and supplements the attached publication agreement (the "Publication Agreement") concerning the article titled ______________ (including any supplementary materials, the "Work") in ______________.

2. The parties to the Publication Agreement as modified and supplemented by this Addendum are: ______________ (corresponding author) and any other authors listed on the Work (individually or, if more than one author, collectively, "Author") and ______________ ("Publisher").

3. The parties agree that wherever there is any conflict between this Addendum and the Publication Agreement, the provisions of this Addendum will control and the Publication Agreement will be construed accordingly.

4. Notwithstanding any terms in the Publication Agreement to the contrary, Author and Publisher agree as follows:

4.a. All of the terms and conditions of the Publication Agreement, including but not limited to all grants, agreements, representations and warranties, are subject to and qualified by a non-exclusive license previously granted by Author to Harvard University. Under that license, Harvard may make the Work available and may exercise all rights under copyright relating to the Work, and may authorize others to do the same, provided that the Work is not sold for a profit. In the exercise of that license, Harvard may use the Author's final manuscript of the Work (including all modifications from the peer review process), but will not use a facsimile of the final published version of the Work unless Publisher permits use of that version. When Harvard makes the Work available in an on-line repository under that license, Harvard will cite to Publisher's definitive version of the Work, and will link to Publisher's version if it is available on-line.

4.b. In addition to any rights retained by or granted to Author in the Publication Agreement, Author retains the non-exclusive right to make the Work available and to exercise all rights under copyright relating to the Work, in any medium, in connection with Author's teaching, conference presentations, lectures, other works of authorship, and professional activities, and to authorize others to do the same.

4.c. Where applicable, all of the terms and conditions of the Publication Agreement, including but not limited to all grants, agreements, representations and warranties, are subject to and qualified by non-exclusive rights previously granted, or required to be granted, by Author to a funding entity that financially supported the research reflected in the Work as part of an agreement between Author or Author's employing institution and such funding entity, such as an agency of the United States government, and/or to Author's employing institution.

4.d. Publisher agrees to provide to Author within 14 days of first publication and at no charge an electronic copy of the published Work in a format, such as the Portable Document Format (.pdf), that preserves final page layout, formatting and content of the final published version. No technical restriction, such as security settings, will be imposed to prevent copying or printing of that copy. The Publisher permits a copy of the final published version to be used in the exercise of the rights and licenses referred to in the paragraphs above.

4.e. Nothing in the Publication Agreement will impose any limitation on the rights and licenses referred to in the paragraphs above or any obligation in connection with their exercise. Neither the existence nor the exercise of those rights and licenses will be deemed to violate any representation or warranty or to breach the Publication Agreement.

5. Either publication of the Work or Publisher's signature below will constitute Publisher's acceptance of and agreement to this Addendum.

AUTHOR

__________________________________
(corresponding author on behalf of all authors)

___________________________________
Date

PUBLISHER

___________________________________


___________________________________ 
Date