To achieve Open Access for research outputs, publications can be made openly accessible either by 'self-archiving' (also known as 'green' Open Access) or by publishing directly in an open-access journal (known as 'gold' open access).

WESTERN SYDNEY UNIVERSITY OPEN ACCESS POLICY

Journals

Publishing in an Open Access journal complies with the University's Open Access to Research Policy, which states that the products and outputs of research conducted at Western (including research data) should be appropriately archived and made openly available for re-use and citation wherever possible.

For non-open access outputs, a publisher compliant version of the paper can be made freely available in ResearchDirect wherever possible, following any applicable embargo period.

Note: For non-open access outputs, a publisher compliant version of the paper can be made freely available in ResearchDirect following an embargo period. The Library Research Team manages this process.

Datasets

The University’s Open Access to Research Policy also applies to datasets arising from research activities and can be hosted on Research Data Australia.

RESEARCHDIRECT AND LIBRARY DEPOSIT

If you can make a copy of your work available, it depends on who owns the copyright

• what you agreed to in your publishing contract.
• what you agreed to in your research/funding contract.
• if your work contains third party material (i.e., maps, graphs, diagrams, images, tables, etc.) you didn't create.

Read the terms and conditions of the repository you intend to upload your work into.

Make sure they do not request you assign or transfer your copyright or intellectual property to them and check if they sub-license content to other users.

What Should be Deposited in ResearchDirect?

All research outputs by Western Sydney University staff and HDR Candidates must be deposited in ResearchDirect. See more information on making your research accessible through ResearchDirect.

For HDR Candidates, the Right of Access to HDR Thesis form stipulates:

• Authors need permission for the content to be included in the thesis, and in the thesis for deposit in ResearchDirect if they are going to make it available full text (Option A), or embargo (Option B).
• If permission cannot be obtained to include third party copyright content in the thesis available in ResearchDirect, that material must be omitted from the ResearchDirect copy of the thesis with a notation describing the removed content (see: ‘Important Information’ in Right of Access to HDR Thesis form).
• Retain any evidence of relevant third party permissions which should be submitted, along with the thesis and Right of Access to HDR Thesis form (Deposit licence).

Legal Deposit

Legal deposit is a requirement under the Copyright Act 1968. It ensures a comprehensive collection of published material relating to Australia and its people is preserved for future generations.

Policies For Higher Degree By Research Authors (HDR Candidates)

Visit the Copyright Relating to Higher Degree by Research Theses pages for University copyright requirements.

Important policies for HDR authors:

• Doctors of Letters and Doctor of Science Degrees Policy (in particular, clauses 18-19 - The Published Works).
• Doctor of Medicine by Publication Policy (in particular, Part J - Portfolio for Examination, clauses 90 to 93 - Award of the Degree).
• Doctor of Philosophy by Publication Policy (in particular, Part H – Portfolio for Examination, Part I – Submission for Examination, clauses 89-92 - Award of the Degree.
• Doctorate Policy (in particular, Part J - Thesis, Part K - Copy of Thesis for the University i.e. for Library: One digitised (CD or disc in PDF) copy of the thesis incorporating all amendments and/or rewriting that was required as an outcome of the examination, and a completed Right of Access to HDR Thesis form).
• Authors need to request permission to use third-party copyright content for a specific purpose and retain copies of third-party copyright content permissions. In the Intellectual Property Policy, section (39) indicates that ‘Prior to any use of Intellectual Property (IP) authors must investigate potential Third-Party IP rights to use it for their research’.

AUSTRALIAN FUNDING MANDATES AND COMPLIANCE

Check that you are fully compliant with your institution or funder policies

• Use the Author Compliance Tool to check your chosen journal’s policies against your institution’s or funder’s requirements on open access, ORCID, and data sharing.
• You can also see if any open access funding is available.
• Before submitting a publication, you should always check your funding agreements for open access publishing requirements.
• Open Policy Finder provides a searchable database on the grant conditions of funding organisations and their archiving policies

Australian Research Council (ARC)

The ARC Open Access Policy outlines the open access obligations of ARC funded research. If you receive an ARC grant you must meet the following requirements:

• Any publication arising from an ARC-supported research project must be deposited into an open access repository with a twelve (12) month period from the date of publication.
• A record of your research output should be made available within three months in an institutional repository, ResearchDirect
• You may license your work with a Creative Commons licence.
• The ARC's preference is to use a Creative Commons by Attribution Licence (CC-BY), but you may choose to use any of the Creative Commons licence options.
• The ARC Open Access Mandate applies to scholarly publications but not to research data.

NHMRC Funded Research

The NHMRC Open Access Policy outlines the open access obligations of NHMRC funded research.

• Any publication arising from NHMRC-supported research must be deposited in an Open Access institutional Repository within a twelve (12) month period. This also applies to journal articles.
• If the publisher does not allow the work to be open access in an institutional repository you must provide a written explanation in a final report.

For further clarity, refer to the FAQs.