Tri-Agency Open Access Policy

Tri-Agency Open Access Policy
Name	Tri-Agency Open Access Policy
Introduced	2015
Jurisdictions	Canada
Agencies	Canadian Institutes of Health Research; Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council; Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council
Status	Active

Tri-Agency Open Access Policy

The Tri-Agency Open Access Policy is a Canadian federal policy that mandates open access to peer-reviewed journal articles arising from funded research. It articulates requirements for researchers supported by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council, and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council and interacts with institutions such as the Canada Foundation for Innovation, the University of Toronto, the University of British Columbia, and the McGill University research ecosystem. The policy aligns with international initiatives like the Budapest Open Access Initiative, the Berlin Declaration on Open Access to Knowledge in the Sciences and Humanities, and the Plan S framework while touching on legal instruments such as the Copyright Act (Canada) and agreements negotiated by the Canadian Association of Research Libraries.

Background and Origins

The policy traces roots to debates among stakeholders including the Canadian Federation of Students, the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada, and provincial agencies like Ontario Research Fund. Influences include the Finland Academy of Science and Letters discussions, the European Commission's open access strategy, and precedents set by institutions such as the Wellcome Trust and the National Institutes of Health. Consultations involved funders, publishers including Elsevier, Springer Nature, and Wiley, and advocacy groups like the Public Knowledge Project and the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition. The policy emerged amid shifts in licensing models exemplified by transformative agreements negotiated by consortia such as CRKN and influenced by national reports from bodies like the Expert Panel on Research and Development.

Scope and Key Requirements

The policy applies to peer-reviewed journal articles resulting from grants awarded by the three agencies and specifies deposit obligations in repositories such as PubMed Central, the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition-supported platforms, and institutional repositories at universities like Université de Montréal and University of Alberta. It requires authors to provide open access either via the journal’s platform or a repository within a defined timeframe and encourages application of permissive licences akin to Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) used by funders including the Wellcome Trust and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The policy touches on metadata standards promoted by organizations like the Digital Curation Centre and the Committee on Publication Ethics, and intersects with data stewardship principles from groups such as the Research Data Alliance and the OpenAIRE network.

Implementation and Compliance

Implementation involves universities, libraries, and repositories with roles played by administrations at institutions such as the University of Calgary and the Université Laval, and by national entities including the Canadian Research Knowledge Network and the Canadian Association of Research Libraries. Compliance monitoring leverages reporting mechanisms similar to those used by the National Science Foundation and the Wellcome Trust, while funding agencies may require attestations in grant reports akin to practices at the European Research Council. Training and infrastructure support reference projects by the Portage Network and repository platforms like DSpace and Érudit. Enforcement measures mirror sector norms with academic integrity frameworks at institutions such as Queen's University and the University of Saskatchewan.

Exceptions and Embargoes

The policy allows exceptions for embargoes negotiated with publishers such as Taylor & Francis and SAGE Publications and for sensitive content involving partners like the First Nations University of Canada or proprietary collaborations with corporate entities like Bristol-Myers Squibb. Embargo periods are constrained and must be justified; similar provisions exist in policies by the National Institutes of Health and the European Commission. Copyright transfer arrangements are addressed in light of precedents set by legal decisions under the Copyright Act (Canada) and licensing practices promoted by the Creative Commons organization. Special cases include research tied to national security or confidentiality agreements with agencies like Public Safety Canada.

Impact and Reception

Reception has been mixed across constituencies such as the Association of American Universities, the Canadian Association of Research Libraries, and publishing houses including Oxford University Press and Cambridge University Press. Advocates, including members of the Canadian Alliance of Student Associations and open science proponents linked to the Open Science Framework, cite increased visibility and citation advantages observed in studies from the National Research Council and comparative analyses with the Wellcome Trust portfolio. Critics highlight administrative burdens reported by administrators at the University of Manitoba and negotiation challenges documented in consortium reports by CRKN. The policy has influenced institutional open access mandates at universities such as Simon Fraser University and spurred developments in scholarly communication managed by organizations like the Association of Research Libraries.

Comparison with Other Open Access Policies

Compared with the Plan S requirements championed by cOAlition S, the policy is less prescriptive about licence choice but shares repository-based deposit expectations similar to the National Institutes of Health policy and the Horizon 2020 open access rules of the European Commission. Unlike the mandate of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation that requires immediate open access with CC BY licensing, the Tri-Agency approach permits embargoes and a range of compliance routes, resembling the models adopted by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research historically and paralleling aspects of mandates at the Australian Research Council and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council.

Category:Open access in Canada