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Open Research

 

When a journal accepts your paper for publication, upload it here, before you sign any copyright or Open Access agreements.

We’ll check out the requirements and options and guide you through how to make it compliant.

Who is affected

Every Cambridge author who is submitting their work in the next Research Excellence Framework. This includes PhD students and PostDocs.

Which manuscripts to upload

Upload journal articles or conference proceedings (with an ISSN). Monographs, books and other book chapters do not need to be uploaded but we are happy to receive them and will upload them to the repository if the copyright allows.

Who can upload manuscripts

Manuscripts can be uploaded by an author, or an administrator or librarian on their behalf. You will need a Raven account (CRSid) to upload a manuscript.

Which version to upload

You should upload your Author’s Accepted Manuscript. This is your version of the manuscript after peer review and including any final changes, but before publisher typesetting or copy-editing by the publisher. It is usually a Word or a LaTex file.

Please do not send final versions, or typeset proofs. The Copyright Transfer Agreement (sometimes called a Publishing Agreement) that authors sign mean we are not able to share those versions publicly. 

Publishing process

When you need to upload

As soon as your peer-reviewed manuscript has been accepted, upload it. HEFCE policy requires manuscripts to be uploaded no later than three months after acceptance.

Ideally you should upload the manuscript, or contact us, before signing a Copyright Transfer Agreement or choosing an Open Access option on the journal website. If you need to pick an open access option or sign a copyright form when you submit your paper to a journal please upload your paper to us at that point and tell us it has not been accepted yet. We'll be able to advise you which options to pick but we won't put your paper in the repository until it is accepted.

File formats we accept

We prefer Word and PDF files, but if the file is in another format send it through and we will work it out.

Open Access charges (APCs)

In many cases you can comply with HEFCE’s requirements without paying a fee.

The University has grants from RCUK and COAF to support their Open Access policies. Upload your manuscript and we’ll let you know if your paper is eligible for these funds. It’s important that you contact us before selecting an Open Access option from your publisher. The University has some arrangements with some publishers which gives us discounts to the article processing charges (APCs).

Funders other than RCUK or COAF may have Open Access policies, some of which can only be met using a paid option - we can advise you.

If you have any other queries please contact us.

Other publisher fees

If your paper acknowledges RCUK funding we might be able to pay for other fees, such as page and colour charges. Please check with us if you think your paper is eligible.

We are unable to pay for any other publication fees for papers that acknowledge COAF funding.

Copyright

When your article is accepted, the publisher will ask you to sign a Copyright Transfer Agreement. This is standard in most traditional publication agreements. It is important for you to contact us before signing this so that we can advise you even if that is before acceptance.

If you’ve already signed, we can check whether the agreement allows you to comply with HEFCE and your other funders’ Open Access policies. If it doesn’t comply, we can liaise with your publisher and help you negotiate amended rights. If you need advice and guidance please contact us.

Licences

Licences are used to tell the reader what rights they are being given in relation to the paper/article when they access it. Different publishers offer a range of licensing agreements. Licences affect how your work can be copied, distributed, shared and how others can use it, commercially and non-commercially.

Some funders (e.g. RCUK, Wellcome Trust) specify what licence Open Access content should be published under. If this applies to your article, we'll check whether your journal offers the right licence and advise you if you need to take any further action.

Acknowledging funders

Most funders require you to acknowledge your funder when your manuscript is published.

The Research Information Network has developed a standard acknowledgment which is acceptable to all funders. Acknowledgements should follow these guidelines;

  • the funding agency name should be written in full
  • the grant number should be in square brackets
  • multiple grant numbers should be separated by a comma and space
  • funding agencies should be separated by a semi-colon.

E.g. 'This work was supported by the Wellcome Trust [grant number], [grant number]; Medical Research Council [grant number] and Cancer Research UK [grant number].'

If you have any queries or require guidance then please contact us.

Read full details of the RIN guidelines . If you don’t correctly acknowledge your funder, it can cause problems, such as making your article ineligible for funds from RCUK or COAF block grants.

Open Research Newsletter sign-up

Please contact us at info@osc.cam.ac.uk to be added to the mailing list to receive our quarterly e-Newsletter.

The Office of Scholarly Communication sends this Newsletter to its subscribers in order to disseminate information relevant to open access, research data management, scholarly communication and open research topics. For details on how the personal information you enter here is used, please see our privacy policy