GO8 STATEMENT ON OPEN ACCESS TO RESEARCH OUTPUTS

GO8 STATEMENT ON OPEN ACCESS TO RESEARCH OUTPUTS

The Go8 supports open access to research outputs, including publications and data.

Research universities are defined by their serious and pervasive commitment to research 1, engagement, intellectual inquiry and the advancement of knowledge.

The Group of Eight (Go8) is committed to the widest possible communication of research and scholarship to the global community.

The Go8 recognises: that contemporary research practice and the creation of new knowledge

requires rapid, unfettered and global communication; the importance of the broadest possible access to knowledge and information

created by publicly funded research; that open access contributes to a research culture that values transparency

and research integrity; that researchers and research universities must maximise the impact of their

research; that the scholarly communication model must evolve to exploit the

opportunities offered by the digital environment, to effectively communicate research outcomes; and

the contribution of the publishing industry to the dissemination of quality research outcomes.

The Go8 also recognises the need to comply with the funding rules and open access policies of the ARC, NHMRC and other major international and private research funding organisations, and notes that open access facilitates the implementation of the Australian Code for the Responsible Conduct of Research.

The Go8 Universities will: develop governance frameworks, services and infrastructure (e.g. institutional

repositories, research information management systems) to facilitate the broadest possible dissemination of, long term access to and preservation of research outputs;

assist grant funding bodies to continue to develop their open access policies; provide open publishing platforms to facilitate the rapid and open

communication of research; facilitate open access to publically funded research outputs; and engage with the publishing community to achieve sustainable models of open

access publishing.

1 AAU, LERU, Go8 & C9. (2013). Heifei Statement on the 10 characteristics of contemporary research universities. http://www.go8.edu.au/__documents/university-staff/international-collaboration/hefei/10.10-hefei-statement-english-version.pdf