SHERPA/RoMEO

SHERPA/RoMEO  is a database of publishers’ policies regarding the self-archiving of journal articles in Open Access repositories. It’s funded by JISC and based at the University of Nottingham.

If you want to upload your research to RaY, or any other repository, you need to ensure that your publisher allows you to do this. SHERPA/RoMEO covers 22,000 journal titles and lists the differing policies of each. Information is given about which version of your work can be uploaded and any special conditions such as embargoes which need to be observed.

Searching for a title brings up a record stating the journal’s policy. For example, the Publisher’s version/PDF is unlikely to be allowed but a post-print is often acceptable (see Pre-print & post-print definitions)

Journal record on SHERPA/RoMEO

When uploading a file to RaY there is a link to SHERPA/RoMEO which allows you to search the policy of your journal title. If you need any questions about the conditions specified you can contact RaY for advice.

 

Publishing options

As you research, and publicise the work you have done, you may receive emails from companies asking you to consider using them to publish your findings.  This can happen after conference presentations, or depositing your work in the institutional repository.  Sometimes these are completely genuine, but sometimes they are from predatory publishers.

So, how can you tell the difference?  At the most basic level, do some quick investigations about the company.  Search for them online and check whether they are established in your subject area.  See what else they have published and if these are from researchers you would expect to find in your field.  If you are being asked for any money, or to transfer all of your rights to the work, alarm bells should start to ring.  If in any doubt, the Academic Liaison Librarians would be happy to assist with this.

These publishers have always existed, and you find them in every publishing  model, but they are now using the Open Access movement and requirements as their latest reason for approaching researchers. This is probably because some Open Access journals charge Article Processing Charges themselves, so it is becoming more common to make a payment for publication (it is by far not the only Open Access option though - there are several other options that do not involve paying fees).

You can check possible journal publication options and their policies and fees using the Sherpa Romeo service.  However, if you just want to find titles that are open access, the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) is a good place to start. You can check out the titles in your research area and also assess whether they are good options for your publication. You may also find some useful, freely available, research to download whilst you are there.

Pre-print and Post-print definitions

The terms pre-print and post-print can be ambiguous as they mean different things to different people which can cause confusion. For the purposes of uploading into RaY we use the same definitions as the Sherpa/Romeo site which lists publisher copyright and self-archiving policies for individual journal titles.


Pre-print
Also known as the Author's original manuscript. This is the author's version of a paper which has not been through peer-review or had any copy-editing or formatting done by the publisher.


Post-print
Also known as the Author accepted manuscript. This is the version of the paper which has been through peer-review, with revisions, but before any publisher copy-editing or formatting.


For more information see the glossary in Your guide to RaY and Open Access. If you have a query about which version of your article you need to upload to the repository contact RaY for advice.

Changes in the ILS research support team

For some time, Leah Emary and Clare McCluskey Dean, two of the Academic Liaison Librarians, have been leading the ILS support for researchers.  Sadly, Leah is leaving YSJ to take up a post at Northumbria University, so we have made some changes. Clare will be continuing with research support, and this blog, but will be joined by Ruth Mardall, the ILS repository librarian.  Ruth has expertise and experience of open access and institutional repository matters, so please let us know if you have any queries at all on these matters.

Happy New Year

Happy New Year from all in ILS. And to start off the new term with good news, we are pleased to report that some of our newest collections are now accessible via the library catalogue.

We've had three collections of historical texts available via separate links for a little while, but these are now indexed and available in the library catalogue.

Early English Books Online, containing scanned images, and full text digital versions where available, of over 125000 books published 1473-1700.

Eighteenth Century Collections Online, with over 180000 titles published 1701-1800.

British Library 19th Century Collection, offering access to over 65000 digitised editions from the BL's collections 1789-1914.

We hope this move will make these valuable collections even more accessible to our researchers of historical material.