Publishing guide: Self-archiving

Self-archiving – how to:

• It is a good practices to check co-authors if it's ok to self-archive the publication. Request permission to publish images and other copyrighted material (by someone other than the authors themselves) online: spoken permission or granted via e-mail is enough.
• Upload the Final Draft version (see Glossary > "Final Draft") of the article in PDF format in the UniartsCRIS system when you report the publication. You can also send it to the library at lib.research@uniarts.fi.
• The library checks the publisher's policy whether they allow self-archiving. Most publishers have a policy on self-archiving. You can also verify the publisher permission and possible embargo periods yourself from the Sherpa Romeo service, which contains information about publishers' self-archiving policies.
• If the publisher doesn't have a policy on self-archiving, you can ask them for permission for self-archiving (see letter template below).
• By sending your text to the Uniarts Helsinki Library to be deposited in Taju, you thereby give your permission for it to be published.
• Depending on the publishing agreement or the publisher’s policy, the version deposited in Taju is usually the Final Draft (postprint) or sometimes the article that has been published in the journal (online or print), known as Publisher’s PDF.

If the article was published Open Access with a Creative Commons -license, you can self-archive it without additional permissions to Taju for long-term preservation. The library archives Open Access articles without asking, but you can ensure the long-term preservation of your publication by sending it to the library.

More information about self-archiving, publishing permissions and embargo periods: Harri Ollikainen (harri.ollikainen@uniarts.fi), or Uniarts library's researcher services, lib.research@uniarts.fi  

Questions about copyright: Maria Rehbinder (maria.rehbinder@aalto.fi / 040 824 1500), Copyright services of arts universities

More information about reporting in UniartsCRIS: Erkki Nurmi (erkki.nurmi@uniarts.fi), Uniarts library

1. Publication rights in publication agreement with the publisher. When drawing up a publishing agreement, the researcher can choose to only relinquish simple publication rights to the publisher, i.e. maintain the rights to publish the text elsewhere, or the researcher signs a publication agreement in which all publication rights are transferred to the publisher (the publisher or journal may prohibit open archiving). In such cases the publication also cannot be deposited or shared in social services (e.g. ResearchGate).

2. Joint article. The author needs to request permission for self-archiving from other article authors, preferably already at the start of the research process. This also applies to photographs and graphical presentations.

3. The author is responsible for acquiring the necessary permission for self-archiving.

4. Publishers’ conditions:

• Sherpa Romeo includes information publisher policies regarding self-archiving.
• The terms of use of the self-archived copy of the article, and its possible CC license, often depend on the publisher.
• Often you can also find information about self-archiving policies on the website publisher website, e.g.
  • Elsevier
  • Sage
  • Springer Nature
  • Taylor & Francis
  • Wiley
• If a journal does not have a published policy on self-archiving, you need to ask the publisher for permission. An example letter to a publisher can be found on this page.
• If there is anything unclear concerning the permissions of publishers appearing in the Sherpa Romeo service, please contact the library's researcher services, lib.research@uniarts.fi.

Social networking sites for researchers such as ResearchGate and Academia.edu offer researchers the opportunity to share and present their own publications and research results.

Self-archiving requires permission:

• from the publisher: most publishers allow self-archiving only to non-profit repositories, which the aforementioned platforms are not
• from other authors
• to use images and graphs by third parties used in the article

Long term preservation, the use of permanent identifiers (DOI, URN) or harvesting of metadata in global databases are not guaranteed in social networking sites, unlike when you self-archive in Uniarts Helsinki's institutional repository Taju.