Open Access policy concerning UNESCO publications

"As an intergovernmental organization, UNESCO has a fundamental interest in ensuring that the outputs created by the Organization, including publications, data and resources, are available to the widest possible audience....In principle, all of UNESCO’s publications are protected by copyright. Through a new Open Access Policy for its publications, UNESCO will provide online access to all of its (research) outputs without many of the restrictions commonly imposed by copyright....UNESCO’s Open Access Policy would grant an irrevocable worldwide right of access to copy, use, distribute, transmit, and make derivative works in any format within certain constraints. According to UNESCO’s Rules and Regulations, all intellectual property rights, including title, copyright and patent rights, concerning any work produced by a member of the Secretariat as part of his/her official duties, shall be vested in the Organization. Therefore, this Policy will apply to any publication created by a staff member for whom the Publications Board has given its approval on or after 1 June 2013. Resources produced in whole by a member of the Secretariat and published externally should not assign UNESCO’s copyright to the external publisher (UNESCO should retain its rights). ERI/DPI will negotiate an agreement with the publisher....This Policy will not apply to publications where UNESCO has entered into special agreements with donors, external agencies or publishers. However, external publishers will be strongly encouraged to adhere to the requirements of this Policy....On publication, the authoring Unit shall submit to the Open Access Repository an electronic copy of the relevant work, together with any source files and XML files where available. The publication will then be made available through the OA Repository. Transmission, reproduction, use or transformation of any content beyond that allowed by this Policy will require the express written permission of the copyright owners...."