HKS Allows Article Access

In part of a University-wide trend to share intellectual property, Harvard Kennedy School faculty voted overwhelmingly last week to allow open access for all scholarly articles written by faculty.

The change—which took effect immediately after a vote at a faculty meeting last Tuesday—means that all faculty will permit the Kennedy School to distribute their articles through DASH (Digital Access to Scholarship at Harvard) repository, which is an online database currently being developed by the Office for Scholarly Communication.

This makes the Kennedy School the third Harvard school to allow open access for its journals, following the Faculty of Arts and Sciences and Harvard Law School.

According to Doug L. Gavel, media relations manager at the Kennedy School, approximately 98 percent of faculty members who attended the meeting voted in favor of the new policy.

“As an academic, I’m very excited to be able to publish my articles broadly,” said Erich J. Muehlegger, an assistant professor at the Kennedy School.

While the professors recognized that the move towards open access will likely hurt the journal industry, most still support open access.

“I understand the economic pressures the publishing houses are under. They have been losing money for a long time,” said Professor Matthew A. Baum. “But I think it’s unfortunate when intellectual property gets put under lock and key.”

Similarly, Professor Stuart M. Shieber said that while there was a worry that allowing open access might affect the business model of subscription-based journals, he personally felt there are no drawbacks to an open access program. He added that faculty members who would prefer that their articles not be accessed by the general public can opt out of the program for any article.

Professor and Director of the University Library Robert C. Darnton said he saw no immediate threat to scholarly journals. He said support for open access has been overwhelming because many faculty members believe that they have a responsibility to the larger public.

Associate Dean for Research Matthew L. Alper added that faculty are focused on the issue of the public good, with a desire to share their research quickly and cheaply, particularly in the developing world where library access is limited.

While many students were not aware of the policy change, they said they thought it was a positive development. Kennedy School students Daniel C.I. Bjorkegren and Dan M. Rakove said they thought making academic information available to the public was an important part of the school’s mission.

Darnton said he expects that more Harvard schools will adopt open access. “I feel that the momentum is building up so that Harvard’s example will spread far and wide,” he said.

—Staff writer Niha S. Jain can be reached at nsjain@fas.harvard.edu.