The Open Access Law Program in the United States

The Open Access Law Program (OAL Program), which supported “open access” to legal scholarship, was a part of the Science Commons publishing project, which itself is working to support open access to scholarly research in a wide range of disciplines including agriculture, entomology, biology and anthropology. Later, the Science Commons project was re-integrated with Creative Commons.

The core of the OAL Program consisted of a set of resources to promote open access in legal publishing. These resources include:

Open Access Law Journal Principles. The OAL Program encouraged law journals to commit to a set of OAL Journal Principles. These Principles require that a journal 1) take only a limited term license, 2) provide a citable copy of the final version of the article, and 3) provide public access to the journal’s standard publishing contract. In return, the author promises to attribute first publication to the journal. Here is a list of journals adopting the Principles.

Open Access Law Author Pledge. For authors wishing to commit publicly to open access ideals, we have established an OAL Author Pledge. This pledge commits authors to only publish law review articles in journals that adhere to a minimum OAL commitment. Here is a list of authors who have signed the Pledge.

Open Access Model Publishing Agreement. The OAL Program also provides a Model Agreement that embodies the OAL Journal Principles in a fair and neutral contract that is easy for both authors and law reviews to adopt. It also provides for an easy mechanism for authors and journals to adopt Creative Commons licenses to make their work more easily available.

“Open Access” publishing provides free access to scholarly literature without undue copyright and licensing restrictions. This project is one part of the Science Commons Publishing Project,

The Open Access Law Program (OAL Program) consists of a set of resources to promote open access in legal publishing. These resources include:

• Open Access Law Journal Principles. The OAL Program encourages law journals to commit to a set of OAL Journal Principles. These Principles require that a journal 1) take only a limited term license, 2) provide a citable copy of the final version of the article, and 3) provide public access to the journal’s standard publishing contract. In return, the author promises to attribute first publication to the journal. Here is a list of journals adopting the Principles.
• Open Access Law Author Pledge. For authors wishing to commit publicly to open access ideals, the Program established an OAL Author Pledge. This pledge commits authors to only publish law review articles in journals that adhere to a minimum OAL commitment. Here is a list of authors who have signed the Pledge.
• Open Access Model Publishing Agreement. The OAL Program also provided a Model Agreement that embodies the OAL Journal Principles in a fair and neutral contract that was easy for both authors and law reviews to adopt. It also provided for an easy mechanism for authors and journals to adopt Creative Commons licenses to make their work more easily available.
• The Open Access Law Program followed the same approach of Creative Commons (before the reintegration) in the cultural industries – by removing legal and logistical barriers to open access. But in academic contexts, the Science Commons project added an important ethical principle that does not apply in the context of the arts: that knowledge be made universally accessible. By providing simple, standardized principles and agreements, Science Commons seek to encourage the broadest possible uptake of open access ideals in legal publishing. A significant number of law journals adopted the Open Access Law Journal Principles or have publication policies that are consistent with the Principles.

See also

• Open Access
• Open Access Law Principles
• Creative Commons licenses
• Open Access Law Adopting Journals
• Open Access Law Author Pledge
• Open Access Law Authors
• Open Access Law Publication Agreement