Dive Brief:
- The University of Colorado at Boulder has joined Harvard and other universities in opening access to faculty work so published materials are available for free online.
- Campus Technology reports that UC-Boulder’s new policy grants the university nonexclusive worldwide license to faculty work like published journal articles and conference proceedings, letting faculty retain ownership and making the work more widely accessible.
- Boulder leaders hope the open access speeds scientific discovery, improves educational experiences, enables innovation, and stimulates the economy, according to the article.
Dive Insight:
In many fields, the reason innovation takes so long is because researchers are working in silos, many trying to solve the same problems others have already figured out or are closer to solving. If scholarly work was more widely available from research institutions across the globe, researchers likely would make larger strides in their own projects. CU Scholar, the platform hosting faculty work, will let visitors set notification preferences to be alerted when new research in their area makes it online. This is an important component for scientific discovery.