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While theses, conference papers, posters and working papers are normally acceptable in their final format, copyright is often an issue when it comes to making journal articles openly accessible via the web. In the vast majority of cases, copyright over an article is transferred to the journal publisher. Despite this, most journal publishers do allow authors to make their work open-access, albeit with some restrictions on the format of the paper you use.
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Confused if you can add a specific version of your paper to the repository? Librarians around the world have contributed to a site that brings publisher information together at Sherpa RoMEO. Type in the name of the journal and it gives you a standard way of understanding which version of your paper (if any) you can upload. Don't hesitate to get in touch if you want more information about licences or copyright. |
Usually, publishers do not allow authors to post the final, published version of a paper on the Internet. However, the majority of large publishers do allow you to use your final draft version of the paper, which should be identical in content to the published version, although the formatting may be quite different. In almost all cases where the use of the final draft is permitted, the publisher also insists on the inclusion of a set phrase that identifies the definitive version of the paper as their own, together with a link to their authorised version.
While this sounds like a lot of effort, we believe that these terms are a reasonable compromise, and serve to get the articles out into the public realm, while protecting the interests of the publishers. While some of us might not agree with the idea of restrictions on access at all, this is a pragmatic solution - and it's always good to havea happy publisher.
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Confused if you can add a specific version of your paper to the repository? Librarians around the world have contributed to a site that brings publisher information together at Sherpa RoMEO. Type in the name of the journal and it gives you a standard way of understanding which version of your paper (if any) you can upload. Don't hesitate to get in touch if you want more information about licences or copyright. |
For a (very) simplified view of how the preprint, postprint and published formats fit into the publishing process, read this document.
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SHERPA - Clearing house for publisher copyright policies (Southampton University)
Publishers allowing use of their PDFs in repositories (Source: SHERPA)
OAI - Open Archives Initiative, including detailed information on the OAI-PMH protocol
Full guide to adding your research