Open Access

I have claimed my publication or manually entered my publication details, am I now Open Access compliant?

Not necessarily. In order to be Open Access compliant a copy of the full text must have been deposited into Liverpool Elements for any journal articles and conference proceedings (in a publication with an ISSN) accepted or published from 1st April 2016 onwards.

You can identify whether a deposit has been made in a number of ways:

  • On your Liverpool Elements publications page (Elements>Publications) use the filters to show publication with a ‘Repository Status’ of ‘Not Deposited’
  • On your Liverpool Elements publications pages (Elements>Publications) check the ‘Full Text’ tab per publication (when detailed view is selected)
  • In a publication record (accessed by clicking a publication title on your publication page) the ‘Full Text’ section confirms whether there are any associated files in the repository
I have just had a publication accepted, what should I do?

Add a record of the publication to Liverpool Elements as soon as possible. The full text of journal articles and conference proceedings with an ISSN needs to be added to Liverpool Elements within 3 months of acceptance

Simply:

  1. Log in to Liverpool Elements
  2. Add minimal details about the publication
  3. Deposit the author accepted manuscript

Step by step guidance of how to do this is available on the training and guidance section of the Liverpool Elements Website

My journal article has been published in an open access journal / I have paid a Gold Open Access fee – do I still need to deposit the author accepted manuscript in Liverpool Elements?

Yes, you should still deposit the author accepted manuscript in Liverpool Elements within 3 months of acceptance. The Institutional Policy is that all publications need to be deposited into the Institutional Repository. This Policy had been adopted for a number of reasons including:

  • The University is pro-open access based on the benefits it brings to researchers (increased visibility and citations) and the public (access to the outcomes of research that public money is funding)
  • The University can only monitor its response to external open access requirements if all publications are deposited in the repository via Liverpool Elements
  • To remove the uncertainty around whether a publication needs to be deposited and to allow one simple guidance message to be given to all researchers

It is recognised that as the Open Access landscape evolves the policy will be monitored and updated when necessary. In the meantime Liverpool Elements will simplify the deposit process and therefore should minimise the burden of implementing this policy.

Do I need to deposit an author accepted manuscript for all of my publications in Liverpool Elements?

No, you only need to deposit a manuscript for a journal article or conference proceeding (with an ISSN number) accepted for publication from 1st April 2016 onwards in order to comply with the HEFCE REF Open Access policy (Green Open Access).  If you want to deposit an author accepted manuscript for a publication accepted before 1st April 2016 or any other type of publication then you can but this is not mandatory.

You do not have to upload the full text of other output types such as books, book chapters, book reviews, and so on, though you are free to do so if you wish. Please bear in mind that depending on the contract signed with your publisher you may not have the right to do so, and you are unlikely to have the right to make the publisher-formatted version of books or book chapters available.

Do I need to upload all of the figures with my author accepted manuscript?

If your figures aren't embedded in your author accepted manuscript then you can upload them separately. If you have multiple figures you can upload these within one zip file but please ensure the files are referenced in the same way as they are within the manuscript i.e. figure 1, figure 2 etc.

What should I upload for Open Access Compliance?

When uploading journal articles and conference proceedings:

DO upload:

  • Your author-accepted manuscript. This is your own version of the publication, including all changes made after peer review, but not containing the publisher's typesetting, branding or formatting. It can be a PDF, Word file, or other widely-used document file format.
  • A version created by the publisher BUT ONLY if the file has a Creative Commons licence on it (this should be visible on the paper itself, usually at the foot of either the first or last page). These are normally made available after paying an article processing charge, e.g. PLoS One articles, BioMed Central articles.

DO NOT upload:

  • A version created by the publisher featuring their own branding that does not have a Creative Commons licence on it.
  • A version you have downloaded from an external source such as a journal website or Research Gate.
  • A pre-print – these are pre-peer review versions of papers, commonly available from sites like arXiv.

If you upload a file that falls within the “DO NOT upload” list above, the Repository team will contact you and ask you to upload an author-accepted manuscript.