The basic idea of Open Access is simple: Make research literature available online without price barriers and without most permission barriers.
Peter Suber, Harvard Library Senior Advisor on Open Access and Director of the Harvard Open Access Project
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Author's Advantage
Using this non-exclusive license to your advantage is easy, and Harvard librarians can assist by quickly depositing your papers into the Harvard DASH system.How the library can help:
- Allow us to work with you or your Administrative Assistant to identify and deposit your research articles into the DASH online digital repository of Harvard scholarship
- Call on us to help explain the questions that publishers may have about the Harvard Open Access Policy and compatibility with their contractual demands
- Invite us to visit your department and introduce the benefits of the Harvard Open Access Policy and how it can streamline the NIH Public Access Policy and NIH grant compliance work-flows
- Discover how to strengthen your rights as an author by using the Harvard Open Access Policy addendum
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Waivers and Opting Out
Some publishers may ask for waivers from authors who are affiliated with institutions where faculty have adopted Open Access Policies such as Harvard.Due to the flexible structure of the Harvard Open Access policy itself, only one waiver from Harvard is necessary.
Example
If there are 10 Harvard faculty members who have co-authored the manuscript, and the publisher demands to have "opt-out waivers" from the Open Access Policy, remember that only one of the Harvard authors would need to click into the waiver generator, the other 9 Harvard authors do not all need to go through that same exercise. One single waiver releases the paper from the benefits that the Harvard Open Access Policy would have otherwise provided.
- Harvard Office for Scholarly Communication Waiver Generator (sign in with your HarvardKey)
- Irrespective of your need for a waiver, the Harvard Library can still work with you to ensure your manuscript reaches the widest possible dissemination, and by observing the embargo period, submitting your manuscript into the Harvard Online Repository DASH, is always an option.