Comprehensive Brief on Open Access to Publications and Research Data for the Federal Granting Agencies (June 2011)

By Kathleen Shearer. "Commissioned by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada....This briefing paper provides an up-to-date review of open access in order to assist the agencies in moving forward with their policy development, both individually and across the three agencies. The review outlines key recent developments in Canada and abroad with respect to sister agencies in the US, Europe, and Australia, and discusses specific challenges for Canadian granting agencies and the communities they serve. It also addresses the role of post-secondary institutions in the implementation of agency policies on open access and the potential barriers (social, cultural, structural, infrastructure, cost, etc) for the agencies in moving towards the implementation of a joint open access policy...."