The U15 are Canada’s 15 research-intensive universities, of which Dalhousie is a member.
by Ann Barrett, Associate University Librarian Scholarly Communications
The Statement on Sustainable Publishing was recently released by U15 and its preamble states: “Access to research and scholarly outputs is essential for scientific discovery, innovation, and education. To maximize knowledge transfer and impact, our researchers’ work must be made readily available around the globe. Research-intensive universities also require timely and continuing access to international research results and scholarship in order to advance and disseminate knowledge, and to develop the next generation of researchers.”
U15 strives to “foster the development and delivery of long-term, sustainable higher education and research policy, in Canada and around the world.”
The Statement on Sustainable Publishing supports this endeavor emphasizing that for research to have the greatest distribution and impact it must be as accessible as possible. A “healthy communication ecosystem” is defined in the U15 statement as being made up of the following principles:
- Open Access– widest possible access to research and scholarly output
- Public Interest– access should not be limited by ability to pay
- Quality– rigorous peer-review processes and effective research impact measures in all forms of academic publishing
- Accountability– highest possible proportion of public dollars invested in research and education should be spent directly on research and education
- Innovation– collaborative development of new models of scholarly communications that benefit the academy and the public in the digital age
The full U15 Statement on Sustainable Publishing is available at: http://u15.ca/sites/default/files/u15_statement_on_sustainable_publishing_final.pdf
For information on Dalhousie Libraries services that support the U15 statement, consult with one of our subject liaisons or go to our Scholarly Communications page for information on DalSpace, the Institutional Repository; Open Access and more: https://libraries.dal.ca/services/scholarly-communications.html