Most of the resources in the RUFORUM Institutional Repository are either classified as Open Access (OA) or Open Educational Resources (OER), although a few are fully copyright protected. OA resources provide free and unrestricted access; users can distribute them without requesting permission of the author or publisher. Go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_access for more information on Open Access.
OER are freely accessible documents and media that can be freely distributed and usually adapted, without requesting permission of the author or the publisher. Go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_educational_resources for more information about OER.
You will be able to download the full text of the OA and OER resources included in the RUFORUM institutional repository. RUFORUM policy is to publish all resources as either OA or OER. Theses and dissertations are the only exception. In the case of these materials, authors have the right to restrict circulation for a fixed period of time. In these instances, RUFORUM publishes the abstract only until the resource is available as an Open Access document.
Most, but not all, OA and OER in the RUFORUM Institutional Repository carry a Creative Commons license. These licenses permit knowledge to be shared freely, without jeopardizing the rights or authors and publishers. Creative Commons licensing information is given for resources where it is available. For more information on Creative Commons, go to: http://creativecommons.org/.
