UMBC understands the importance of sharing research and scholarship to create a more educated, knowledgeable society in the state, the nation, and throughout the world. By supporting the open dissemination of the work of our colleagues, the institution embraces greater recognition of the expertise and advancement in the disciplines by our faculty, and it precipitates a more thorough review, consideration, and critique of their scholarly work.
After careful consideration, the university, with guidance from the Faculty Senate, has established an official Academic Open Access Resolution in an effort to support and encourage faculty and staff across the campus to openly share their work through repositories and venues that endorse open access and collaboration.
This announcement comes at a time when support for open access journal publication is growing. Most recently, the University System of Maryland Council of University System Faculty passed a similar resolution.
As always, faculty members are welcome to continue to publish their work wherever they are most comfortable, including national journals. However, when publishing work we recommend faculty members carefully review all contracts and endorsements associated with publishing agreements to ensure authors and co-authors retain their copyright.
If members of the campus have questions regarding publishing work, or would like more information or advising on how to retain their copyright, please contact Simmona Simmons in the university library, simmons@umbc.edu or 410-455-3587.
