Polytechnique Montréal
AC-11: Open Access to Research

On February 27, 2015, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC), adopted a harmonized policy on access to research publications (Tri-Agency Open Access Policy on Publications). NSERC and SSHRC researchers are now required to comply with the new policy for all grants awarded from May 1, 2015 onward. Researchers from all Polytechnique's departments are concerned by this policy. Researchers can comply with open access requirements by depositing a copy of their research in the institutional repository, the new version of PolyPublie, which has been adapted to support those publications.

Polytechnique actively supports the implementation of the Tri-Agency Open Access Policy on Publications by offering various types of support to help its researchers comply with its requirements. Polytechnique's "Service de diffusion de la recherche" (Research dissemination service), carried out by Polytechnique Montreal's library, is described below.

Tri-Agency Open Access Policy on Publications

1. Preamble

The Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) (“the Agencies”) are federal granting agencies that promote and support research, research training and innovation within Canada. As publicly funded organizations, the Agencies have a fundamental interest in promoting the availability of findings that result from the research they fund, including research publications and data, to the widest possible audience, and at the earliest possible opportunity. Societal advancement is made possible through widespread and barrier-free access to cutting-edge research and knowledge, enabling researchers, scholars, clinicians, policymakers, private sector and not-for-profit organizations and the public to use and build on this knowledge.

Information and communications technology, and in particular the advent of the internet, has transformed the way that science and scholarly research is conducted and communicated. Indicative of this changing landscape has been the steady growth in open access publishing and archiving, which facilitates widespread dissemination of research results. Open access enables researchers to make their publications freely available to the domestic and international research community and to the public at large, thereby enhancing the use, application and impact of research results.

Momentum for open access has been growing as numerous funding agencies and institutions worldwide implement open access policies. The Agencies strongly support open access to research results which promotes the principle of knowledge sharing and mobilization – an essential objective of academia. As research and scholarship become increasingly multi-disciplinary and collaborative, both domestically and internationally, the Agencies are working to facilitate research partnerships by harmonizing domestic policies and aligning with the global movement to open access.

The following principles guide the Agencies in their approach to promoting open access to research publications:
•Committing to academic freedom, and the right to publish;
•Recognizing the critical importance of peer review to the scholarly communication ecosystem;
•Maintaining the high standards and quality of research by committing to academic openness and responsible conduct of research;
•Promoting recognized research best practices and standards across disciplines, and embracing and sharing emerging practices and standards;
•Advancing academic research, science and innovation;
•Effective dissemination of research results; and
•Aligning activities and policies between Canadian and international research funding agencies.

2. Policy Objective

The objective of this policy is to improve access to the results of Agency-funded research, and to increase the dissemination and exchange of research results. All researchers, regardless of funding support, are encouraged to adhere to this policy.

3. Policy Statement

3.1 Peer-reviewed Journal Publications

Grant recipients are required to ensure that any peer-reviewed journal publications arising from Agency-supported research are freely accessible within 12 months of publication. Recipients can do this through one of the following routes:
a.Online Repositories
Grant recipients can deposit their final, peer-reviewed manuscript into an institutional or disciplinary repository that will make the manuscript freely accessible within 12 months of publication. It is the responsibility of the grant recipient to determine which publishers allow authors to retain copyright and/or allow authors to archive journal publications in accordance with funding agency policies.
b.Journals
Grant recipients can publish in a journal that offers immediate open access or that offers open access on its website within 12 months. Some journals require authors to pay article processing charges (APCs) to make manuscripts freely available upon publication. The cost of publishing in open access journals is an eligible expense under the Use of Grant Funds.

These routes to open access are not mutually exclusive. Researchers are strongly encouraged to deposit a copy of the final, peer-reviewed manuscript into an accessible online repository immediately upon publication, even if the article is freely available on the journal’s website.

Grant recipients must acknowledge Agency contributions in all peer-reviewed publications, quoting the funding reference number (e.g. FRN, Application ID).

3.2 Publication-related Research Data

CIHR only

Recipients of CIHR funding are required to adhere with the following responsibilities:
•Deposit bioinformatics, atomic, and molecular coordinate data into the appropriate public database (e.g. gene sequences deposited in GenBank) immediately upon publication of research results. Please refer to the Annex for examples of research outputs and the corresponding publicly accessible repository or database.
•Retain original data sets for a minimum of five years after the end of the grant (or longer if other policies apply).This applies to all data, whether published or not. The grant recipient's institution and research ethics board may have additional policies and practices regarding the preservation, retention, and protection of research data that must be respected.

4. Implementation Date

CIHR

For research funded in whole or in part by CIHR, this policy applies to all grants awarded January 1, 2008 and onward. While not required, researchers holding grants that were awarded prior to January 1, 2008 are encouraged to adhere to the requirements of this policy.

NSERC and SSHRC

For research funded in whole or in part by NSERC or SSHRC, this policy applies to all grants awarded May 1, 2015 and onward. While not required, researchers holding grants that were awarded prior to May 1, 2015 are encouraged to adhere to the requirements of this policy.

5. Compliance with the Policy

Grant recipients are reminded that by accepting Agency funds they have accepted the terms and conditions of the grant or award as set out in the Agencies’ policies and guidelines. In the event of an alleged breach of Agency policy, the Agency may take steps outlined in accordance with the Tri-Agency Framework: Responsible Conduct of Research to deal with the allegation. For research funded by the Agencies, the Institution shall enable researchers to comply with the Tri-Agency Open Access Publication Policy, as amended from time to time.

6. Policy Review

The Agencies will review and adapt this policy as appropriate.

Information is available at http://www.science.gc.ca/default.asp?lang=En&n=F6765465-1

The Research dissemination service, developed by Polytechnique Montréal's library, supports faculty/researchers in the dissemination and development of their publications.
To do this, the service includes:
• Support to disseminate research findings including scientific articles published in journals with peer-reviews to meet the Tri-Agency Open Access Policy on Publications expectations (list of scientifc journals per departements and their embargo policies).
• An institutional repository (PolyPublie) for open access publications.
• Documentary support and consulting services on issues of science communication (open access, pricing models, copyright, research impact, management of bibliographic data, etc.).
• A web page giving access to targeted thematic guides developed and maintained by the library.
• A Directory of scientific and technical publications, which lists the majority of the publications produced by professors and researchers from Polytechnique Montréal.
• An email address and a telephone dedicated to all questions or requests.