Open Access | Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences

"The Federation is undertaking a major multi-year initiative to develop an Open Access policy for its flagship program, the Awards to Scholarly Publications Program (ASPP), as a key priority in 2013-2015. Through the publicly funded ASPP, the Federation has supported the publication of more than 6,000 books that have helped to enrich the social, cultural and intellectual life of Canada and the world. Each year, it awards 185 grants totalling $1.5 million to support research dissemination. The Federation has been a supporter of the principle of Open Access since 2011. To date, most Open Access discussions have focused on articles published in academic journals and have not included scholarly books in the humanities and social sciences. As Canada’s single largest supporter of scholarly books in the humanities and social sciences, the Federation is taking a leadership role on this issue. With a view to serving its members, publishers, other ASPP stakeholders and the public, the Federation will facilitate thorough and wide-ranging discussions on the subject. International best practices and models are also being reviewed. The Federation is committed to supporting the dissemination of research through scholarly books and will carefully consider potential impacts on book publishers and authors while crafting its policy. The Federation expects to release a draft ASPP Open Access policy in early- to mid-2014 followed by an open consultation period.  It expects to release its final policy in January 2015, to come into effect in April 2015. For further information, or to participate in the consultation process, please contact consultation@ideas-idees.ca ..."