The National Research Council's Canada Institute for Scientific and Technical Information (NRC-CISTI) is pleased to announce an initiative to create an NRC Publications Archive (NPArC). This searchable, web-based archive will provide access to NRC's record of science and demonstrate the many ways NRC researchers translate science and technology into value for Canada.
NPArC will increase the access to NRC-authored publications, guarantee long-term access to NRC's research output, and serve as a valuable resource for NRC researchers, collaborators and the public.
As part of this initiative, NRC has established a policy making it mandatory, starting in January 2009, for NRC institutes to deposit copies of all peer-reviewed, NRC-authored publications and technical reports in NPArC.
Wherever possible, NPArC will provide access to the full text of these publications. NRC's Licence to Publish (Crown Copyright) will be updated to declare its intent to deposit the full-text of NRC-authored publications in NPArC. However, the nature, timing and extent of access to individual publications depends on a variety of factors, including agreements with publishers, or in the case of technical reports the sensitivity or confidentiality of content.
More information about the NRC Publications Archive will be forthcoming closer to the launch date in December 2008.
Comments
For background, see my July 16 post on Richard Akerman's preview of the NRC OA mandate.
On the one hand, the NRC has adopted a policy "making it mandatory...for NRC institutes to deposit copies of all peer-reviewed, NRC-authored publications and technical reports in NPArC." On the other, it appears that the policy has a loophole for resisting publishers: "the nature, timing and extent of access to individual publications depends on a variety of factors, including agreements with publishers...."
I urge the NRC to keep the loophole closed. There's no need to let publishers opt out by demanding onerous terms incompatible with the NRC's plan for green OA to "all peer-reviewed, NRC-authored publications". For examples of how to do it, see the OA policies of the Wellcome Trust, NIH, MRC, and others, which simply require, as part of the funding contract, that grantees deposit relevant works in the relevant OA repository. If grantees find that a given publisher will not permit OA archiving on the terms spelled out in the prior contract, then they must look for another publisher.
The open access movement:
Putting peer-reviewed scientific and scholarly literature
on the internet. Making it available free of charge and
free of most copyright and licensing restrictions.
Removing the barriers to serious research.
I recommend the OA tracking project (OATP) as the best way to stay on top of new OA developments. You can read the OATP feed on a blog-like web page or subscribe to it by RSS, email, or Twitter. You can also help build the feed by tagging new developments you encounter.
