Open access refers to free, online public access to scholarly and scientific works in open access journals (gold open access) and university repositories (green open access). All CSU campuses have open access institutional repositories. Open access resolutions and policies for faculty are currently in place at more than 200 American universities, including a mandatory (opt-out) policy for the entire UC system, as well as resolutions at a small number of CSU campuses.

On October 27, 2016, the CSU Council of Library Deans (COLD) unanimously voted for a resolution in support of Open Access for CSU Faculty Publications. The CSU libraries are committed to increasing equitable access to scholarly research by supporting faculty efforts to publish in Open Access Journals and Repositories.

Full text of the resolution (PDF).