How green is the U15? The open access publishing landscape at Canadian academic libraries

INTRODUCTION This study offers insight into open access (OA) culture at Canadian university libraries by detailing the degree to which librarians working at Canada’s U15 make their research OA, as well as exploring the depth and reach of any OA mandates these institutions have. METHODS This study uses a combination of bibliometric analysis and review of institutional OA policies, beginning with an examination of a five-year span (2014-2019) of librarian-authored publications, searching four key LIS databases, followed by a systematic search for a university-wide or library OA statement, policy, or mandate on each of the U15 websites. RESULTS & DISCUSSION The data suggests that Canadian academic librarians are personally motivated to self-archive and make their research open. The high rate of publication in Gold OA journals combined with the fact that several of the key LIS journals for Canadian librarians are already OA, points to the importance of OA publishing for librarians as a community, as does the high number of expressions of commitment to OA publishing. Given the lack of variance comparatively between schools with an expression and without, the authors cannot comment on whether the expressions of support correlate to higher proportions of OA articles. CONCLUSION This article provides a snapshot of a positive OA publishing culture at 15 Canadian university libraries by presenting data that shows most libraries have an expression of commitment to OA principles and most Canadian academic librarians working at U15 schools ensure their research is open access.