The university’s Open Access to Knowledge (OAK) law project has been boosted by a grant of $455,000 to fund a study into publication agreements with publishers in Australia and overseas. The aim of the project is to give academics and universities copyright management tools for commercial publication and open electronic access, the university said.

The ultimate goal is to create an OAK List, which the leader of the project, Professor Brian Fitzgerald, believes would be of tremendous use to information managers and academics.

“The list will provide an easy-to-use reference on what each publisher’s agreement stipulates about open access,” he said.

New forms of publications agreements will be analysed, which are designed to address the need for academics to provide access to completed research on the internet.

“It’s argued academics and universities that provide open access to their finished research have a distinct advantage when it comes to citation and impact which underpins research quality and reputation,” Fitzgerald said.

The OAK List is intended to be compiled in association with the UK-based SHERPA project, which stands as the current benchmark catalogue of publishers’ approaches to managing open access, the university said.

The OAK List is funded by the Department of Education Science and Training Strategic Infrastructure Initiative Scheme.