Irish Research Council Proposes OA Mandate in line with EURAB Recommendations

The first Irish research funding council to propose an Open Access mandate is the Irish Research Council for Science, Engineering & Technology (IRCSET). Today IRCSET has invited submissions from the research community, and other interested parties, regarding a proposed IRCSET policy on Open Access to Publications, stating:

"IRCSET intends to put in place a policy whereby researchers will be required to make their publications available on an open access basis - where these result in whole or in part from IRCSET funded research - as soon as possible after publication. The requirement will be that these should be made openly accessible within a period of 6 months at the latest following initial publication."

The proposed policy is in line with the European Research Advisory Board (EURAB) Policy in relation to scientific publication. Further details on the EURAB Policy are available here.

IRCSET invites all interested parties (including organisations and individuals) to make their views known.
The closing date for opinions or submissions is Friday 28th September, 2007. Further information is available at this link.

In proposing this mandate, IRCSET joins with other important funders of research internationally (Wellcome Trust, UK Research Councils, etc.) in seeking to maximise the impact of the research it funds through the widest possible dissemination of its research outputs. A list of international research finders who have adopted Open Access mandates is available here.

The IRCSET webpage provides information on the supporting infrastructure for Open Access currently being developed in Irish universities: "A consortium of Irish universities is now engaged in the development of the Irish Universities Association Libraries National Research Portal – an open access repository system connecting the repositories of each participating institution for fuller public accessibility..." and goes on to state: "the IUA Librarians are committed to supporting Irish researchers to make their research papers available on open access and each institution will provide, to the best of its ability, assistance in copyright clearance, deposit of papers and other matters of possible concern."