Copyright

Many publishers now allow authors to deposit their papers in online repositories such as USIR, others may be willing to give permission. USIR Project Staff will check the copyright agreements relating to any material you would like to add to USIR, before making it available publicly.

When depositing with USIR, you retain all intellectual property rights over any work you deposit. By agreeing to the USIR Deposit Agreement you give USIR permission to keep your work in a current format and to freely distribute electronic copies of it - nothing else.

Please contact the USIR team for more advice and guidance on copyright issues.

1. How do I check if I am permitted to deposit my paper in USIR?

The majority of publishers permit authors to deposit some form of their publication in Open Access repositories such as USIR. Our advice is simply to upload the most recent version you have and the team will check the Open Access policy of the publisher for you before any items are made live.

2. How can I retain copyright of papers I submit for publication?

Journal publishers often invite authors to sign a standard copyright assignment form, which assigns a complete transfer of copyright to the publisher. Publishers do not need a complete transfer of copyright in order to publish your work; they only need a non-exclusive license to do so.

A number of publishers are now starting to offer alternative licence forms using which authors can grant the publisher a licence to publish their work. As such, when submitting an article for publication you can ask the publisher to provide you with an alternative licence form.

If the publisher does not have an alternative licence form, contact the USIR team who can advise on how you can amend the Copyright Transfer Agreement supplied by the publisher. By amending the publisher copyright form you will assign the publisher a licence to publish your work, while retaining rights for your own use.

3. Is a 'license to publish' any different from a traditional copyright agreement?

In many respects such agreements are no different. However, they may give authors a number of rights which were not permitted under previous copyright transfer agreements.

4. How can I check the Open Access status of my publisher?

Use the Sherpa Romeo database to check the copyright and Open Access policies of publishers and individual journals.

5. I need to deposit the Author Version/Accepted Version of my journal article - what is that?

The 'Accepted Version' of your research is the author-created version that incorporates referee comments and is the accepted for publication version.

Draft - Early version circulated as work in progress
Submitted Version - The version that has been submitted to a journal for peer review
Accepted Version - The author-created version that incorporates referee comments and is the accepted for publication version
Published Version - The publisher-created published version

The USIR team can offer advice on which version you need to upload.

6. For future publications which version should I retain a copy of?

We advise that you retain a copy of your own final version, and not the publisher PDF version as most publishers do not allow their version to be made available in repositories. Your version can include the changes made following refereeing and editing but cannot include publisher logos or formatting and should be supplied in either Word or PDF.

USIR staff will check all uploaded publications to ensure that publishers permit deposit in repositories, and that copyright agreements are adhered to. If the publisher of your article does not permit deposit in repositories the full text will not be made publicly available.