The UNC Charlotte Open Access Policy was approved by the faculty and adopted by the university in April 2024. An open access policy enables the university to archive the full text of faculty journal articles in UNC Charlotte’s open repository, Niner Commons.
How does an open access policy work? We know that faculty are busy, so they would not be expected to track and submit their work through the repository. The library will conduct this process and make it as seamless as possible. This policy would also allow you to easily opt out of participating.
Open access policies are a well established practice within academic publishing, with the majority of policies passed over ten years ago. For more information about the policy, review the below FAQs.
FAQs
What will I need to do? Will I need to track my works and submit them to UNC Charlotte’s repository?
No. Faculty would not be expected to submit their own works. The library would conduct this process as below:
- Author publishes an article as normal (no matter if it is in a subscription, hybrid, or open access journal)
- The library will generate a list of recently published peer-reviewed journal articles
- The library will email the author for a copy of the accepted manuscript of the article
- The author replies to the email with a file or completes an opt-out waiver (included in the email)
- The library will create metadata records for the article and ingest the file into the repository to make it available
What are the benefits of participating?
UNC Charlotte’s scholarly repository, Niner Commons, aims to increase the impact and reach of your research. Benefits of participating in the Open Access Policy and including your research in Niner Commons include:
- Increased visibility: Niner Commons makes works discoverable on Google Scholar, to help increase engagement with and citations of your research.
- Digital profile: You can create a digital profile for your research activity, where you can centralize your citations and easily share your work.
- Analytics: Each work in Niner Commons includes exportable analytics to help you measure the impact and reach of your work. Users with author profiles also receive analytics on their digital profile.
- Preservation: Niner Commons provides valuable long-term preservation for your research. Each work receives a permalink so that you can reliably share your work.
What types of scholarship are covered by this policy?
This policy applies only to peer-reviewed journal articles. It does not apply to books, performances, or other forms of scholarship.
I’m not sure if I want to include my work in the university repository. Can I opt out?
Yes, you will be able to opt out for any individual article you don’t want included through a simple form. When your article is initially published, we will contact you to see if you would like to participate. After a follow-up email, we will not contact you further about participating.
Will I need to pay APCs to make my work open access?
No. The Open Access Policy supports green open access, which opens up access to your work without needing to pay an article processing charge. Instead of the journal itself publishing the work open access, a copy of the work is deposited into an open access repository.
Who else has an Open Access Policy?
Open access policies are very common and were largely adopted by universities ten years ago:
Is the policy legal?
Yes. In North America, at least 179 other research institutions and organizations have open access policies. These policies are very common and journals comply with them. The policy aligns with UNC Charlotte’s existing copyright policy, under which faculty grant the university a non-exclusive license to use their work for non-commercial educational and research uses. The Office of Legal Affairs has reviewed and approved this policy.
Will this affect my copyright?
No, the author remains the copyright holder of the journal article. The author can retain copyright or transfer it to the publisher as normal through publication contract negotiations. This policy simply affirms what you already agree to as per the terms of your employment–that the university has a nonexclusive license to noncommercial educational and research uses of faculty work. This is standard practice at universities, where faculty are employed and salaried to produce research.
How will AI harvesting affect my work?
While AI companies could use institutional repositories for training purposes, there is growing evidence that publishers are already licensing content to these same companies to help train AI tools. This piece from Nature details this trend and includes a link to a Generative AI Licensing Agreement Tracker. While some publishers like Cambridge University Press are taking an opt-in approach, others such as Wiley are already selling content they hold the copyright to. The publishing landscape appears to be entering a world where it is very difficult to not have publications captured in some way by AI training efforts.
Importantly, this open access policy applies only to peer-reviewed journal scholarship. It does not apply to creative works or books, which can involve royalties or a form of publisher compensation.
When would this happen?
In order for the library to perfect the workflow for soliciting and ingesting works, we have set the date of implementation for December 15, 2025. Works published after that date would be subject to the policy. We would not retroactively apply the policy to previously published works.
If you have additional questions, please contact:
- Liz Siler, Associate Dean for Collection Services, esiler3@charlotte.edu
- Jeff McAdams, Engineering and Open Education Librarian, JMMcAdams@charlotte.edu
- Savannah Lake, Digital Scholarship Librarian, savannah.lake@charlotte.edu
- For a downloadable version of FAQs: FAQ sheet