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Open Access Policy

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Section 1 - Preamble

(1) Charles Darwin University (‘CDU’, ‘the University’) is committed to free and open access to the research and scholarly output of the university community, in accordance with the National Health and Medical Research Council’s Australian Code for the Responsible Conduct of Research, 2018, the NHMRC Open Access Policy and the ARC Open Access Policy.

(2) The University’s open access approach facilitates the worldwide communication of its research with the aim of enhancing its research profile and maximising the impact of its research outputs.

(3) The University endorses an open access approach through the dissemination of scholarly research outputs lodged in the Institutional Repository, other open access archives (Green Open Access) and through support for publication in open access journals (Gold Open Access).

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Section 2 - Purpose

(4) This document outlines the requirements for research, scholarly outputs and learning resources of the University community and should be read in conjunction with the Responsible Conduct of Research Policy, Research Data Management Procedure and Institutional Repository Procedure.

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Section 3 - Scope

(5) The Policy applies to all staff, students and affiliates of the University who are involved in the conduct of research or teaching associated with the University. It covers research outputs and learning resources created on or after the date on which this policy was approved.

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Section 4 - Policy

Scholarly Outputs

(6) Material representing the total publicly available research and scholarly output of the University is to be deposited in the University’s Institutional Repository, including:

  1. research publications and associated data which are outputs of an Australian Research Council, National Health and Medical Research Council or other public funding agency grant;
  2. full-text refereed research articles that have been accepted for publication and peer-reviewed but not yet published (the ‘Accepted Version’);
  3. full-text articles/papers that have been submitted to a publisher (the ‘Submitted Version’) if the ‘Accepted Version’ is not available;
  4. higher degree by research dissertations such as Doctor of Philosophy, Doctor of Philosophy by publication, Masters by Research and Masters by Coursework containing a significant research component and Honours theses of exceptional quality, (except where an embargo is in place);
  5. University scholarly works such as un-refereed research literature, articles, conference contributions, chapters in proceedings, and other research outputs not submitted for publication that can be made available via open access;
  6. other relevant research or scholarly material such as grey literature, whitepapers, and technical or project reports; and
  7. research data which can be described and made openly available under licence, or via negotiated or controlled access (see the Research Data Management Procedure). Where deposit of the full-text material, or dataset, is not possible due to publisher embargo, or is not permissible due to copyright or licensing restrictions, or where the publication is available in a peer-reviewed open access publication or another open access archive, the metadata describing the publication or dataset will be included in the Institutional Repository. Research data and primary research materials created by University researchers are subject to the Northern Territory Information Act 2002 and the University’s Records and Information Management Policy and Procedure.

(7) The University strongly encourages depositing other high-quality work into the Institutional Repository or another appropriate open access platform, including: 

  1. conference presentations;
  2. Open Educational Resources; and
  3. Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL).

(8) External partners and grants organisations may have their own requirements around publication, including for open access publication. Researchers must be aware of their obligations in relation to publications. In particular, researchers with publicly funded grants must consider the requirements of the NHMRC Open Access Policy and the ARC Open Access Policy.

(9) Material intended for commercialisation or containing confidential information will have appropriate access conditions applied after submission.

(10) Library Services provides advice on all aspects of open access publishing including:

  1. copyright issues;
  2. metadata verification of material in the Institutional Repository; and
  3. support to facilitate open access dissemination of scholarly outputs.

(11) University scholarly outputs/works, research data and primary research materials, research data management records and other research related documents deposited into the Institutional Repository for preservation and access will be subject to any legal, contractual, privacy or cultural restrictions in accordance with the University’s Intellectual Property Policy, Responsible Conduct of Research Policy, Research Data Management Procedure, Records and Information Management Policy and Procedure and the Copyright Act 1968.

Open Educational and Learning Resources

(12) The University encourages the use and creation of Open Educational Resources as learning resources, where appropriate, to achieve the following objectives: 

  1. to increase equitable access to education; 
  2. to provide cost efficiencies for students and the University; and 
  3. to contribute to and engage with the global community.

(13) Staff are encouraged to use quality Open Educational Resources for teaching by repurposing, reusing or creating them as required.

(14) The University supports the use of the international version 4.0 or above Creative Commons licences when releasing teaching materials as Open Educational Resources.

(15) Where existing Open Educational Resources have been used, adapted or repurposed, the creator must adhere to the creative common licence conditions.

(16) Education Strategy and the Library can support staff to publish Open Educational Resources on appropriate platforms.

Copyright

(17) Depositing material in the Institutional Repository does not transfer copyright to the repository. The repository exists to preserve and make available that material but does not assume ownership rights.

(18) Copyright remains with the author or publisher, as per the agreement or licence made at the time of publication.

(19) Authors are encouraged to retain copyright in their work where possible, and where the publisher insists on a transfer of copyright, they should assert their right to deposit their work in the University’s open access Institutional Repository using a suitable agreement addendum.

(20) For information about using or reproducing copyright material, please see the Copyright Policy and Copyright Procedure.

Funding

(21) Use of external grant funding or other University funding that may be provided to cover the publishing costs, including Article Processing Charges, is acceptable for a publication:

  1. in a journal that is deemed to be Gold Open Access;
  2. that meets the Excellence in Research for Australia definition of research; and
  3. where the first or corresponding author has a University affiliation; and
  4. research will be made available in an open access format from the initial date of publication.

(22) Funding will not be used to subsidise the publication costs if neither the first nor the corresponding author is from the University.

(23) Funding for publication will be used only for meeting costs paid to the publisher, not for creating the work.

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Section 5 - Non-Compliance

(24) Non-compliance with Governance Documents is considered a breach of the Code of Conduct – Staff or the Code of Conduct – Students, as applicable, and is treated seriously by the University. Reports of concerns about non-compliance will be managed in accordance with the applicable disciplinary procedures outlined in the Charles Darwin University and Union Enterprise Agreement 2022 and the Code of Conduct – Students.

(25) Complaints may be raised in accordance with the Code of Conduct – Staff and Code of Conduct - Students.

(26) All staff members have an individual responsibility to raise any suspicion, allegation or report of fraud or corruption in accordance with the Fraud and Corruption Control Policy and Whistleblower Reporting (Improper Conduct) Procedure.