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| Harvard Open Access Project | |
|---|---|
| Name | Harvard Open Access Project |
| Formation | 2008 |
| Founder | Harvard University |
| Location | Cambridge, Massachusetts |
| Focus | Open access, scholarly communication, public policy |
| Parent organization | Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society |
Harvard Open Access Project The Harvard Open Access Project is a research and advocacy initiative connected to Harvard University that examined and promoted open-access policies for scholarly literature. It conducted legal, empirical, and policy analyses while engaging with stakeholders such as Elsevier, Springer Nature, American Association for the Advancement of Science, and Association of American Universities. The project informed debates involving actors like National Institutes of Health, Office of Science and Technology Policy, Wellcome Trust, and Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
The project began amid policy debates following the passage of the NIH Public Access Policy and during advocacy efforts by groups including SPARC, Public Knowledge, and Creative Commons. Founding work involved collaborations with faculty from Harvard Law School, researchers from Harvard Kennedy School, and affiliates at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society. Early milestones included analyses of contract language used by publishers such as Wiley-Blackwell and Taylor & Francis and comparative studies referencing policies at institutions like Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stanford University, Yale University, and University of California. The project engaged with legislative contexts including discussions in the United States Congress and consultations with agencies like the National Science Foundation.
The project aimed to clarify legal foundations tied to faculty rights at institutions including Columbia University, Princeton University, University of Michigan, and University of Chicago. Objectives sought to inform policy at funders such as the European Research Council, Canadian Institutes of Health Research, and Australian Research Council. It promoted models inspired by efforts from Wellcome Trust, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and foundations like MacArthur Foundation while addressing publisher policies from Oxford University Press and Cambridge University Press. The mission encompassed supporting repositories like PubMed Central, arXiv, and institutional repositories at Brown University and Cornell University.
The project produced empirical studies comparing licensing frameworks used by Creative Commons variants, scrutinized copyright transfer agreements negotiated with SAGE Publications, and analyzed policy instruments such as mandates modeled on the NIH Public Access Policy and the Plan S initiative of cOAlition S. Research addressed compliance mechanisms seen in funder policies from European Commission programs and compared embargo practices of publishers including Cambridge University Press and Oxford University Press. Legal analysis drew on precedents involving institutions such as Stanford University and cases influenced by interpretations from courts like the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.
Outreach efforts connected faculty from Harvard Business School, librarians from Harvard Library, and administrators from Association of Research Libraries to stakeholders including representatives of National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, American Library Association, and advocacy groups like Right to Research Coalition. The project organized briefings for policy-makers at United States Congress offices, workshops with stakeholders from Elsevier, Wiley-Blackwell, and community events with participants from Society for Scholarly Publishing and COPE (Committee on Publication Ethics). Educational materials referenced repository practices at MIT OpenCourseWare and licensing guidance from Creative Commons.
Notable initiatives included model language development for faculty agreements informed by examples from University of California, implementation studies referencing PubMed Central and ResearchGate dynamics, and policy recommendation papers aimed at funders like the National Institutes of Health, Wellcome Trust, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Projects compared open-access trajectories at universities such as Columbia University, Yale University, Princeton University, and University of Oxford and examined publisher transition models proposed by Springer Nature and Elsevier. The project also produced case studies on repository adoption at Cornell University and compliance analyses referencing mandates like those of European Research Council.
Administratively, the initiative operated within the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society and involved scholars from Harvard Law School, Harvard Kennedy School, and the Harvard Library. Funding and partnerships came from a mix of institutional support from Harvard University and grants or collaborations with entities such as Open Society Foundations, Wellcome Trust, and MacArthur Foundation, as well as convenings with publishers including Elsevier and Springer Nature. Advisory input included participants from organizations like Association of American Universities, Association of Research Libraries, and Society for Scholarly Publishing.
The project influenced university policy deliberations at institutions including University of California, MIT, Stanford University, and Princeton University and contributed to scholarly commentary in venues such as Nature, Science, and PLOS ONE. Its work was cited by funder policy discussions at the National Institutes of Health, European Commission, and Wellcome Trust and drew attention from stakeholders including Elsevier, Springer Nature, and Wiley-Blackwell. Reception ranged from endorsement by advocates such as SPARC and librarians from Association of Research Libraries to scrutiny from publisher representatives in forums like the Society for Scholarly Publishing.