How do I obtain a waiver from my institution or university's open access policy?
Generally, authors are able to obtain a waiver from their institution’s or university’s open access policy via a webpage on their institution’s or university’s website. Institutions allow for such waivers in their policies. There is often a short online form to fill in which will then generate a waiver for the article automatically.
If you are unable to find the relevant webpage, we suggest you search for ‘open access policy waiver’ on your institution’s or university’s website, or in a search engine including the name of your institution/university.
Below are useful links to a few of the US universities’ and institutions’ open access waiver policies and waiver request pages which we have found. This should not be treated as a comprehensive list, but if you are from one of these universities or institutions you may find it useful.
| Institution | Waiver form |
| University of California (including UC Berkeley, UC Davis, UC Irvine, UCLA, UC Merced, UC Office of the President, UC Riverside, UC San Diego, UCSF, UC Santa Barbara, UC Santa Cruz, Lawrence Berkeley National Lab) | http://osc.universityofcalifornia.edu/oap/generate |
| California Institute of Technology | https://www.library.caltech.edu/open-access-policy-waiver-request-form |
| Georgia Institute of Technology | http://openaccess.gatech.edu/get_started |
| Harvard University | https://osc.hul.harvard.edu/authors/waiver/ |
| University of Hawaii | http://library.manoa.hawaii.edu/about/scholcom/opt-out/contact.php (fill out the web form once signed in) |
| Massachusetts Institute of Technology | https://libraries.mit.edu/scholarly/mit-open-access/faq-on-the-oa-policy/ (see Opting out of the policy) |
| The Ohio State University | https://library.osu.edu/document-registry/docs/359/stream (the Director or designate will waive application of the policy upon written request by a Faculty member) |
| Princeton University | http://oawaiver.princeton.edu/ |
| Stanford University | https://library.stanford.edu/blogs/stanford-libraries-blog/2020/11/stanfords-open-access-policy-has-been-approved (authors can request a waiver from the Office of Scholarly Communications) |
| The University of Rhode Island | http://uri.libguides.com/oapolicy/waiver |