The Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia made a submission to the Australian Research Council (ARC) Open Access Policy Proposed Policy Updates 2025.
Open Access supports the dissemination and uptake of research and scientific knowledge to deliver public value and maximise the impact of Australian research. Broadly, the Academy welcomes the proposed changes to the ARC Open Access Policy. Noting the complexity of implementing some of the proposed changes, the Academy offered further points for consideration.
The Academy welcomed the explicit encouragement that authors and institutions adopt a rights retention clause. The Academy notes, however, that Australia’s publishing landscape is complex, comprising various intellectual property laws and university policies on intellectual property ownership and authorship. The Academy therefore drew attention to the mechanisms necessary to support Open Access practices that reduce university compliance and administrative costs and in line with ARC mandates, such as the development of standardised rights retention clauses.
Our submission welcomed the explicit reference to consideration of Indigenous cultural and intellectual property rights (ICIP), which demonstrate a clear commitment to researcher compliance and institutional accountability to First Nations peoples. The Academy advocated for consideration of the costs involved in managing ICIP and how this is recognised in grants funding policies, as well as the explicit inclusion of the CARE Principles for Indigenous Data Governance in the Open Access Policy.