THE International Labour Organisation (ILO) said it has implemented an Open Access policy that will make the use of all its knowledge products easier.
The launch of the ILO Open Access policy supports the fundamental ethic that results of publicly-funded research or work should be made available to the public to use, with the goal of increasing accessibility, visibility and impact.
As of May 3, 2023, all new ILO knowledge products will be freely available for use or re-use without needing to request permission – as long as ILO is cited as the source of material.
The policy covers all materials published or made available by ILO ranging from reports and publications to videos and datasets.
“ILO strives to be at the forefront of knowledge generation, and it is vital that our materials on the world of work are easily available to and usable by our government, employer and worker constituents as well as wider stakeholders. Through this Open Access policy, we seek to create a more equitable system of knowledge that is open to all,” said Gilbert F. Houngbo, ILO Director-General.
The ILO Open Access policy will only apply to materials produced from 3rd May 2023. Content published before that date will continue to be covered under the pre-existing licensing conditions.
ILO will grant Open Access to its products through the use of Creative Commons BY 4.0. licence (CC BY 4.0). This is the most open Creative Commons license, which permits the reproduction, distribution and adaptation (including translation) of work for any purposes, as long as credit is given to the respective author/creator, in this case, the ILO.
“From now on, anyone can take any ILO knowledge product with a CC BY 4.0 license and adapt it, copy it, reuse extracts or translate it without asking for permission. All that is required is to recognize ILO as the source of the material. We strongly encourage governments, organizations and individuals to make full use of these valuable resources,” said Martin Murphy, Director of the ILO Department of Communication and Public Information.
