Understanding Publishers' Author Agreements and Repository Policies
Publishers may state that posting articles they publish in a repository, such as ScholarWorks@UMBC, is ok in a number of different ways:
- The right to post to an institutional repository means that it's ok to post in ScholarWorks@UMBC.
- The right to post to an institution website means that it's ok to post in ScholarWorks@UMBC.
- The right to self-archive means that it's ok to post in ScholarWorks@UMBC.
- A Creative Commons license on a work on an entire journal means that ti's ok to post in ScholarWorks@UMBC.
Versions
Publishers license terms and policies generally vary by version:
Pre-print, submitted version, or manuscript is the first version submitted to the publisher. Most publishers allow this version to deposited in repositories.
Post-print, accepted version, peer-reviewed manuscript, accepted manuscript, AM, is the version after peer review that the publisher has formal accepted, but not yet done any work on. Many publishers allow this version to be deposited in repositories.
The publisher's version, or version of record, VOR, is the publishers version of the article. Few publishers allow this version to be submitted in repositories.
Requirements
Publishers commonly require certain elements be included in your repository submission of the article that they publish. Care should be taken to fully meet your publisher's requirements. Common requirements are:
- The full citation to the published version of the work
- A link to the published version of the work
- The publisher's DOI
- A copyright statement
Embargoes
An embargo is a period of time after publication during which time the item can't be distributed by anyone except the publisher. Common embargo periods are 6, 9, or 12 months. If your submission has a required embargo period, you can still do your submission during the embargo period. Email scholarworks-group@umbc.edu the title of your submission and the embargo period, and a system administrator will set an embargo on your work so that it automatically appears after the embargo has expired.
