Open-access policy statements by learned societies and professional associations

This list is part of the Open Access Directory.

• Here we are collecting policy statements on how academic authors, journals, and publishers should treat the opportunities created by the internet for free online access to research literature.
• We will accept statements by learned societies and professional associations in any field, from any country, in any language, whether they are favorable or unfavorable to open access.
• When possible, please provide dates.
• Alphabetical by organization.

1. American Anthropological Association. AAA offers its members free online access to a vast array of resources in anthropology, including datasets, photos, videos, and the full-text contents of all AAA journals.
2. American Physical Society. The copyright transfer agreement the APS uses with its journals, allowing authors to post articles to eprint servers. February 2001.
3. American Psychological Association. June 1, 2001.
4. Association for Computing Machinery. See especially 1.1, 3.1, 5.1. This 1998 policy has been updated and supplemented by current rules for preprints.
5. Association of Learned and Professional Society Publishers. The model "license to publish" that it recommends for use by society journals.
6. European Research Consortium for Informatics and Mathematics (ERCIM). The statement supports OA to texts and data and binds all ERCIM member organizations.
7. Florida Entomological Society. The statement of its journal, Florida Entomologist.
8. The Geological Society. The policy that applies to all of its journals.
9. Higher Education Funding Council for England. This excerpt of the 1996 Research Assessment Exercise is the only part relevant to open access, and the only part still on the web.
10. ICSU-UNESCO. ICSU = International Council for Science. UNESCO = United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.
11. Institute of Physics. See paragraphs 3.1 and 3.2.
12. International Mathematical Union. Endorsement of "open access" as a goal for all mathematical literature (May 15, 2001). The IMU has also endorsed copyright advice for mathematicians; see especially point 3.c from the Executive Summary. Also see the IMU's short version of the Hodges checklist.
13. International Union of Pure and Applied Physics. July 2001 Report of an IUPAP working group on scholarly communication. Recommendations, not yet policy. Also see the report on a subsequent November meeting which adopted steps toward the realization of the July recommendations.
14. Medical Library Association. October 2003 statement of policy.
15. Russian Society of BioPsychiatry. This is a news account of the statement, not the statement itself.