Harvard Individual
Open-Access License

Adopted June 7, 2018

Authors at Harvard University are committed to disseminating the fruits of their research and scholarship as widely as possible. In keeping with that commitment, by signing this license, I hereby grant to Harvard University the same non-exclusive rights that faculty grant to Harvard under the faculty open-access (OA) policies. More specifically, I grant to Harvard University a non-exclusive, irrevocable, worldwide license to exercise any and all rights under copyright relating to each of my scholarly articles, in any medium, provided that the articles are not sold for a profit, and to authorize others to do the same. This license applies to all scholarly articles I author or co-author while I am a Harvard affiliate, except for any articles completed before I signed this form and any articles for which I entered into an incompatible licensing or assignment agreement before I signed this form. The Harvard Library Office for Scholarly Communication (“OSC”) or its designate, will waive application of this license for a particular article or delay access for a specified period of time upon my express direction

I will provide an electronic copy of the author’s accepted manuscript of each article no later than the date of its publication at no charge to the appropriate representative of the OSC in an appropriate format (such as PDF) specified by the OSC.

If I am a non-faculty employee or affiliate of Harvard University, and my work is normally covered by the work-for-hire doctrine, then I understand that this license only applies to my scholarly articles not covered by that doctrine.

To sign the Individual Open-Access License, just sign our assistance authorization form.

See our frequently asked questions for more information about the Individual Open-Access License.