[GOAL] Re: Japan's National OA Mandate for ETDs.

[Syun Tutiya]

Dear Peter,

> Thank you for your interest.
> In Japan, use of the licence is still at the individual level, the 
> national-level assessment has just begun.
> (Currently, Copyright Act is only.)

Just to follow up Makoto's response, let me add something.  Actually
what Japan's Minstry of Education, Culture etc has done is a little
tricky as far as open access is concerned.  Since many decades ago,
doctoral degree awardees have been obliged to "publish" their theses,
typically by publishing books or by contributing to scholarly
journals. It goes without saying that those books and journals were
printed ones because there neither online books nor journals. That was
what the former version of the ministry's decree postulated by saying
that theses shall be "printed and published."  The revised version
says only that theses shall be "published,"  and adds that it shall be
done on the Internet with aid from the degree awarding institutions.
We expect this will result in open access to virtually all PhD
theses, but there is no explicit expression of or reference to "open
access" in the new stipulation, much less to copyright or licensing.
We are aware there still so many adjustments to be made in so many
related legal and operational areas.

Hope this helps.

Syun Tutiya
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Syun Tutiya
     Professor, National Institution for Academic Degrees and University Evaluation
Address: 1-29-1 Gakuennishimachi, Kodaira, Tokyo, 187-8587 Japan
Phone/FAX: +81-42-307-1803/1851
Email: tutiya @ niad.ac.jp
Web: http://svrrd2.niad.ac.jp/faculty/tutiya/