Towards Open Access Self Archiving Policies: A Case Study of COAR

This paper examines Open Access (OA) self archiving policies of different Open Access Repositories (OARs) affiliated to COAR (Confederation of Open Access Repositories) as partner institutes. After presenting the methodology for analysing policy documents, key findings have been identified and highlighted. OARs are in a critical situation when policy matters are concerned. Aligning repository networks and mandates is likely to be crucial in determining future repository development. A best practice benchmark has been suggested for popularizing and strengthening OARs as national research systems.