This study investigates the use of institutional repositories (IR) for self-archiving journal articles in the U15 universities as well as the presence of institutional policies and publisher embargoes. While 45.1% to 56.6% of publications are available in open access (OA), only 0.5% to 10.7% are found in the IRs. We found only three university-wide OA policies, and embargo periods of 12 months or more for 25.6% of journal policies. This suggests that IRs play a minor role in OA practices, and a need for more policies related to self-archiving and the use of IRs specifically.