OTTAWA, February 27, 2015 – The Canadian Association of Research Libraries (CARL) applauds the three federal research granting agencies’ announcement of the harmonized Tri-Agency Open Access (OA) Policy on Publications.
Through this new policy, Canada’s Tri-Council agencies – made up of the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC), Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) and Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) – join the growing number of public sector funding agencies requiring research supported by public funds to be made openly available for the benefit of the worldwide research community.
CARL supports the federal agencies’ efforts in this arena. Virtually all major research libraries have digital repositories in which an author can submit a copy of their peer-reviewed articles. Still, not every Canadian research institution has such a repository, so CARL developed the “adoptive repository” concept under which eight of CARL’s member libraries provide repository services to external researchers. “Our aim is to ensure that every researcher receiving Tri-Agency funding has access to an open repository” said Gerald Beasley, President of CARL.
In addition to providing the key infrastructure and resources to facilitate open access to federally-funded research in Canada, CARL member libraries will also foster smooth implementation of the policy by engaging and informing researchers on the benefits of enabling free and broad access to their research findings and by allaying any concerns about open access or the new policy. A set of talking points will be made available on the CARL website to support libraries in this regard.
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About CARL
CARL includes Canada’s twenty-nine largest university libraries and two federal institutions. Enriching research and higher education is at the heart of its mission. CARL promotes effective and sustainable scholarly communication, and public policy that enables broad access to scholarly information.
For more information
Susan Haigh, Executive Director
613.482.9344 x 101
