Open access is a publishing model that makes research works available to readers at no cost, as opposed to the traditional subscription model. Open access literature also lets readers reuse, with little restrictions imposed by copyrights or licensing terms.
But Why Open?
Many research funders have a mandate for research outputs to be made publicly accessible. By accepting a research grant, the grant holder is required to provide open access to the publications. At HKUST, our major funders include Research Grants Council (RGC), the National Nature Science Foundation of China (NSFC), and the National Science Foundation (NSF) in the US. Below is a summary of the open access policy required by these funders.
Funder | Requirement |
Research Grants Council (RGC), Hong Kong | For research funded by RGC, the PI / PC / Project holder should check whether the publisher allows (i) full open access to the publisher’s version, or (ii) the author’s depositing a copy of the paper (either the publisher’s version or the final accepted manuscript after peer-review) in the institutional repository for open access (see details, p.20). |
National Nature Science Foundation of China (NSFC) | Authors who have submitted manuscripts for scientific research projects funded in whole or in part by the National Natural Science Foundation of China shall deposit the final approved manuscripts accepted after peer review at the time of publication of the papers to the National Natural Science Foundation of China knowledge base for open access no later than 12 months after publication (see details). |
National Science Foundation (NSF), U.S.A | NSF requires that either the version of record or the final accepted manuscript in peer-reviewed scholarly journals and papers in juried conference proceedings or transactions (also known as “juried conference papers”) be deposited in a public access compliant repository designated by NSF; be available for download, reading and analysis free of charge no later than 12 months after initial publication; possess a minimum set of machine-readable metadata elements in a metadata record to be made available free of charge upon initial publication; be managed to ensure long-term preservation; and be reported in annual and final reports during the period of the award with a persistent identifier that provides links to the full text of the publication as well as other metadata elements (see details). |
To ensure compliance with the Research Grants Council's (RGC) mandate on open access, HKUST have adopted the following policy:
Maintained by the Joint Information System Committee (JISC), UK, the Sherpa databases can help you understand your rights to archive different versions of your research and the funders' OA policies.
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WhatsApp 9701-1055 |
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Phone 2358-6760 |
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Email lbrs@ust.hk |
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Contact your Subject Librarian |