On November 19, 2020, the Faculty Senate of Stanford University’s Academic Council passed a resolution establishing an open access policy pursuant to which Academic Council members grant Stanford University a nonexclusive license to their scholarly articles and commit to deposit those works in the Stanford Digital Repository. Stanford’s open access policy safeguards faculty rights to freely share scholarly articles and reflects the Academic Council’s commitment to disseminating the university’s research as widely as possible. 

Who: The policy applies to all members of Stanford University’s Academic Council.

What: The policy took effect on November 20, 2020 and applies to all scholarly articles from written while an individual is an Academic Council member.

How: The grant of rights in scholarly articles to Stanford occurs automatically, allowing members of the Academic Council to make their works openly available by depositing versions in the Stanford Digital Repository. 

Why: The open access policy ensures that Stanford scholarship is freely available to a broad audience while honoring faculty members’ freedom to publish in journals of their choice and facilitating compliance with funder public access mandates.