What is open access?
Open access (OA) is a set of principles and a range of practices through which research outputs are distributed online, free of cost or other access barriers.
What is open education?
Open education encompasses resources, tools and practices that are free of legal, financial and technical barriers and can be fully used, shared and adapted in the digital environment.
The foundation of open education is open educational resources (OER), which are teaching, learning and research resources that are free of cost and access barriers, and which also carry legal permission for open use. “Open” permissions are typically defined in terms of the “5R’s”: users are free to Retain, Reuse, Revise, Remix and Redistribute these educational materials (Adapted from “Open Education”, SPARC, CC-BY).
What is open research?
There is no one definition of open research and it may be used interchangeably with open science. In general, the term refers to scholarly research practices that adhere to a set of principles that are collaborative, transparent, and reproducible. The Open Research Toolkit is an OER designed by Christopher Eaker at the University of Tennessee for librarians learning and teaching open research concepts and skills.
What are open copyright licenses?
A license assigned by the copyright owner granting advanced reuse permission to their work. Examples of such licensing schemes include Creative Commons licenses, the MIT License, the GNU General Public License etc.
What are author rights?
Author rights refers to the rights of a creator/author and are most often associated with the application of those rights in relation to formal publication. Publishers often ask authors to enter into publication agreements that entail a transfer of copyright ownership from the author to the publisher, resulting in an inability of the original author to disseminate or reuse their work.
What does the term “work” mean in the context of this document?
The statement applies to all scholarly and professional work produced by librarians, archivists and staff. Permission from co-authors should be sought. Examples of works include:
- articles
- books and book chapters
- conference papers, posters, proceedings and presentations
- reports (e.g. study leave reports)
- instructional materials such as videos, online courses, audio, presentation, slides, presentation slides, supplementary material and guides (e.g. LibGuides)
- research,and/or institutional data
- source code
What does open operations mean in the context of this document?
While there is no formal definition of “open operations”, in the context of this statement the term refers to the performance of work involving the practical application of open scholarship principles or processes with a focus on transparency and disclosure.
Who do I contact if I have feedback on this statement or request assistance in implementing the aspirational statements into my practice?
Both the UBC Library Scholarly Communications and Copyright Services Office and the cIRcle Office provide direction and assessment services in support of the Statement.