Open @ OU services encompass a variety of platforms, initiatives, and funding opportunities aimed at furthering the global exchange of knowledge, resources, and research. These services are supported by the University of Oklahoma Libraries (OU Libraries) Open Initiatives & Scholarly Communication unit, which you are welcome to contact at scholarlycommunication@ou.edu.
OUR SERVICES & INITIATIVES
The OU-Norman Faculty Senate adopted a campus-wide Open Access Policy on May 8, 2023, and it was approved by the Senior Vice President and Provost on August 15, 2023. This policy allows faculty to legally share their scholarly articles, making them available for anyone to read. Work towards policy implementation is ongoing on the OU Norman Open Access Policy Page.
SHAREOK is the joint institutional repository for the University of Oklahoma (OU) and the University of Central Oklahoma (UCO). It serves as the home for the intellectual output of those institutions and houses digital theses and dissertations, faculty publications, open access publications, open educational resources, institution-specific content, and much more.
Email shareok@ou.edu for more information.
Our team works to increase awareness and adoption of open educational resources (OER) to reduce course material costs for students. The OU Libraries' Alternative Textbook Grant (ATG) awards instructors up to $2,500 to choose to transition from costly course materials to those available to their students for free. OER allow faculty to customize their course materials to meet their pedagogical needs. The ATG has saved OU students over $4M in course material costs since 2014.
Contact Morgan Briles, Open Educational Resources Librarian, for more information.
OU Libraries is proud to partner with departments and organizations to publish eight faculty-driven, peer-reviewed open access publications spanning disciplines including Architecture, Education, Forensic Social Work, Race and Ethnicity, Young Adult Literature, and Writing. OU faculty interested in launching a new journal or migrating an existing journal to our platform are welcome to reach out. We are committed to hosting journals that cover diverse, unique, and underrepresented fields and topics.
Contact Nicholas Wojcik, Scholarly Publishing Librarian, for more information.
OU Libraries administers research publication subvention funding to help offset book/journal page charges, publication charges for individual articles made openly available in paywalled journals, and open access article and book fees. OU Libraries has also established memberships, subscriptions, and agreements with a number of publishers to waive or discount open access publishing costs.
Email subventionfunding@ou.edu for more information.
Our team also provides consultations on other scholarly communication topics, including strategies for evaluating publishers, using Creative Commons licenses, and leveraging author rights.
Contact scholarslycommunication@ou.edu for more information.
The Higher Education Leadership Initiative for Open Scholarship (HELIOS Open) is a cohort of colleges and universities committed to collective action to advance open scholarship within and across their campuses. OU has joined the HELIOS community of practice, comprised of leaders from U.S. colleges and universities working together to promote a more transparent and trustworthy research ecosystem.