SHERPA/RoMEO online resource to check publisher copyright

and self-archiving policies

Arghya Chakrabarty
Need for Open Access
‘Framing the Issue,’ published by the Association of Research Libraries (ARL, 2004) outlines some issues
relating to Open Access. It addresses questions such as:

1. Why is access to information important?

2. What obstacles limit access?

3. What is Open Access?

Open Access refer to the free availability of scientific literature reporting research results on the public
internet, permitting users to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of these
articles, crawl them for indexing, pass them as data to software, or use them for any lawful purpose, without
financial, legal, or technical barriers other than those inseparable from gaining access to the internet itself.
Brief Overview

• Open Access works include scholarly works like novels, popular magazines, self-help books, etc. Most
Universities are now aiming to provide Open Access to their local contents via institutional repositories,
which typically utilize free open-source software, such as DSpace, EPrints, or Fedora, but may be
externally hosted by vendors for a designated fee (Bailey, 2006).

• As Universities and libraries seek alternative publishing models to reduce costs and protect authors’
rights as much as possible, Open Access is considered a feasible system that enables archiving and
distribution of scholarly works with minimal or no cost (Wong, 2009).
`
• There is a critical need to make research results available to as many academics as possible free of
charge. Because of this need, concerned institutions and organizations feel challenged. One of such
initiatives, which has been undertaken to demonstrate that scientific knowledge need not be published in
forms that make access expensive, is the Budapest (Okoye and Ejikeme, 2011).
Why do Open Access work only on a digital platform?

• After the creation of the first digital copy of a work, the cost of creating additional copies and
distributing them on the Internet is marginal. This contrasts with paper-based publishing, which not
only entails meaningful paper-copy production costs, but also physical storage and distribution costs
(Suber, 2013).

What is Open Access?

• Tenopir (2004) stated that Open Access may include many publication and distribution schemes. E-
journals that are published, distributed electronically, and subsidized by Universities, government
agencies, and volunteer organizations are the most common. In addition, collections of separate articles
or research reports could fit the definition, including e-print servers such as ‘arXiv.org’, institutional
repositories, and author web pages.

• The Budapest (Budapest Open Access Initiative, 2002) (BOAI) definition of Open Access explains
that access is widely granted while recognizing the authors’ rights.
Example

• The best known open access resource for legal research is the Social Science Research Network
(SSRN), which contains a repository of full text research papers in law and other social science
disciplines (Miller, 2006).

Concept of Open Access

The concept of Open Access can be conveniently analyzed from-
• The Open access publishing also called “golden road” to open access. It is a model of publishing
which makes journals available to the public immediately on publication.
• The Open Access archiving which is a process that encourage researchers and academics to make
digital copies of their research work or publications available in open access repositories or archives.
Such research work or publication could be a pre-print or a post-print version.
To achieve Open Access to scholarly journal literature, BOAI (2002)
recommended two complementary strategies:

1. Self Archiving (Green Access)

2. Open Access Journals (Gold Access)

Self Archiving (Green OA)
• Scholars need the tools and assistance to deposit their refereed journal articles in open electronic archives, a
practice commonly called, self-archiving.
• When these archives conform to standards created by the Open Archives Initiative, then search engines and
other tools can treat the separate archives as one. Users then need not know which archives exist or where
they are located in order to find and make use of their contents.
• When authors make their articles freely available in digital form on the Internet, they are said to be ‘self-
archiving’ them. These articles can be either ‘preprints’ or ‘post prints’.
• Preprints are draft versions of articles that have not undergone peer review or editorial review and
modification. Most preprints are intended for submission to journals, but some are not. Post prints are the
final published versions of articles (BOAI, FAQ).
Self Archiving (Green OA)
Self Archiving (Green OA)
• There are different forms of Open Access archives, including institutional repositories
and subject or disciplinary repositories (Morrison, 2006).

• Self-archiving has some strategies in itself, as identified by Bailey (2007) who stated that
‘the most common ways that e-prints are made available on the Internet are:

1. Authors’ personal Websites.

2. Disciplinary archives.

3. Institutional-unit archives.’
Open Access Journals (Gold OA)

• These are journals that are freely available to scholars online for downloads and use.
• Open Access journals are scholarly journals that are available online to the reader ‘without financial, legal, or
technical barriers other than those inseparable from gaining access to the Internet itself’ (Suber, 2013).
• Some are subsidized, and some require payment on behalf of the author.
• Scholars need the means to launch a new generation of journals committed to Open Access, and to help
existing journals that elect to make the transition to Open Access because journal articles should be
disseminated as widely as possible, these new journals will no longer invoke copyright to restrict access to
and use of the material they publish.
• Instead, they will use copyright and other tools to ensure permanent Open Access to all the articles they
publish because price is a barrier to access, these new journals will not charge subscription or access fees, and
will turn to other methods for covering their expenses.
Open Access has the following characteristics (Jain, 2012):

1. Free availability of scholarly publication.

2. It is free of copyright and licensing restrictions.

3. Materials are available online or on the Internet.

4. Material is full text.

5. Material can be accessed by anybody from anywhere without any discrimination.

6. Material can be freely used by anyone.

7. Open Access contents can be in any format from texts and data to software, audio, video, and multi-
media, scholarly articles and their preprints.
Benefits of Open Access (Jain, 2012):

1. Beneficiaries: Teaching staff and students, authors, readers, society, journals and publishers, funding
agencies, governments, citizens, libraries, universities and nations.

2. Accelerates research, enriches education, and shares learning across rich and poor nations (Bhat, 2010).

3. Wider availability of peer-reviewed publications and scientific data in digital formats will create
innovative economic markets for services related to curation, preservation, analysis, and visualization.

4. Policies that mobilize these publications and data for re-use through preservation and broader public
access also maximize the impact and accountability of the Federal research investment. These policies
will accelerate scientific breakthroughs and innovation, promote entrepreneurship, and enhance economic
growth and job creation.
Open Access Tools

• Access tools are pointers to information obtained in databases and repositories.

• Lib 111 Glossary on Information Technology, Internet and Library Terms’ defines access tools as
bibliography, catalog, database, or other information source, which leads us to information on our
topic.

• An access tool helps a researcher, student or librarian gain access to relevant documents located on the
web.

• Some of the Open Access tools are: DOAJ, DOAR, ROAR, SHERPA-RoMEO, and SPARC.
The Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ)
• The Directory of Open Access Journals (is a website that lists Open Access journals and is maintained
by Infrastructure Services for Open Access (IS4OA).

• Until January 2013, the DOAJ was maintained by Lund University, Sweden.

• The project defines Open Access journals as scientific and scholarly journals that meet high quality
standards by exercising peer review or editorial quality control and ‘use a funding model that does not
charge readers or their institutions for access.’

• DOAJ is the most recognized and most authoritative list of scholarly, peer-reviewed, fully Open Access
journals. More than 10 percent of the world’s peer-reviewed journals are now included in DOAJ,
making DOAJ among the world’s largest collections of peer-reviewed scholarly journals.

• There are more peer-reviewed journals in DOAJ than Science Direct; more non-embargoed, peer-
reviewed journals in DOAJ than in EBSCO’s Academic Search Premiere or Gale’s OneFile.
The Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ)

• Full Open Access means no journals are embargoed, and articles are available for use,
a significant strength of DOAJ.

• The DOAJ vetting process involves querying journal editors to ensure that peer-review
or equivalent quality controls are in place and that journals meet the criterion of true
Open Access as per the Budapest Open Access Initiative definition.

• To be included in DOAJ, a journal must have an ISSN.

• Journals included in DOAJ go through a periodic review process to ensure that the
journal continues to meet the criteria for inclusion (Morrison, 2007).
The Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ)
• The aim of the DOAJ is to increase the
visibility and ease of use of Open Access
scientific and scholarly journals, thereby
promoting their increased usage and impact.

• The DOAJ aims to be comprehensive and

cover all Open Access scientific and scholarly
journals that use a quality control system to
guarantee the content.

• In short, the DOAJ aims to be the one stop

shop for users of Open Access journals.

Figure 1. DOAJ Home page

The Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ)
Coverage
1. Subject: All scientific and scholarly subjects are covered.
2. Types of resource: Scientific and scholarly periodicals that publish research or review papers in full text.
3. Acceptable sources: Academic, government, commercial, non-profit private sources are all acceptable.
4. Level: The target group for included journals should primarily be researchers.
5. Content: A substantive part of the journal should consist of research papers. All content should be available in
full text.
6. All languages

Access
7. All content freely available.
8. Registration: Free user registration online is acceptable.
9. Open Access without delay (e.g., no embargo period).
Why SHERPA-RoMEO?

• Authors at times find it difficult to do self-archiving due to some apprehensions about publishers’ policies.
This is why SHERPA RoMEO is existing - to offer list of publisher permissions policies with respect to
self-archiving.

Brief History
• The original SHERPA partnership was formed for the SHERPA project (2002-2006) and drew from
research-led universities with an active interest in establishing an example of a then-new concept - an Open
Access institutional repository. (Website: http:// www.sherpa.ac.uk/).

• SHERPA is investigating issues in the future of scholarly communication.

• It is developing Open Access institutional repositories in universities to facilitate the rapid and efficient
worldwide dissemination of research.
SHERPA RoMEO Services Overview

SHERPA services and the SHERPA Partnership are both based at the Centre for Research Communications at
the University of Nottingham. SHERPA services include:

1. RoMEO - Publisher’s copyright & archiving policies.

2. JULIET - Research funder’s archiving mandates and guidelines.

3. OpenDOAR worldwide Directory of Open Access Repositories.

4. SHERPA Search - Simple full-text search of UK repositories.

RoMEO-(Publishers’ Copyright and Archiving Policies)

• RoMEO is a searchable database of publisher’s policies regarding the self-archiving of journal articles
on the web and in Open Access repositories.

Reason for using RoMEO: If an academic author wants to put their research articles online, they are
faced with an increasingly complex situation. Evidence shows that citations to articles made openly
accessible in this way are taken up and cited more often than research that is simply published in journals.
Also some funding agencies require Open Access archiving for their research, to increase the use of the
information generated. However, some publishers prohibit authors from using their own articles in this
way. Others allow it, but only under certain conditions, while others are quite happy for authors to show
their work in this way. Authors can be left confused.
Thus, RoMEO helps to clarify the situation. RoMEO contains publishers’ general policies on self-archiving
of journal articles and certain conference series. Each entry provides a summary of the publisher’s policy,
including what version of an article can be deposited, where it can be deposited, and any conditions that are
attached to that deposit.
SHERPA/RoMEO (Overview)

• http://.Sherpa.ac.uk/Romeo.php
• Database of publisher’s copyright policies:
 Self-archiving by authors: pre-prints and post-prints.
 Paid Open Access options.
 Compliance with research funders’ mandates.
• Purpose:
 To help determine archiving rights.
• Sources:
 Publishers’ information and correspondence.
 Users’ suggestions.
SHERPA/RoMEO Services
1. Search Options and Publishers’ Policy: Copyright policies and self-archiving can be looked up. The
title, ISSN, publisher, etc of a particular journal can be used as a key term to search for the archiving
policy. When reading a SHERPA RoMEO record or the publisher’s policy, pay particular attention to
the version of the paper you may self-archive and any embargo periods you are expected to adhere to.
On this page, the keys to the archiving policy can be viewed too.

Figure 2. SHERPA RoMEO Search Interface. Figure 3. SHERPA publisher policies.

SHERPA/RoMEO Services
2. Browse Romeo Journals: All the journals in RoMEO can be browsed here.

Figure 4. List of publishers in SHERPA-RoMEO

SHERPA/RoMEO Services
3. Suggest to RoMEO: Here, one is encouraged to suggest publishers to be included in RoMEO.

Figure 5. Suggesting a new publisher interface in SHERPA-RoMEO

SHERPA/RoMEO Services

4. Application programmers’ changes can be considered for in SHERPA-RoMEO

Figure 6. Application Programmers’ Interface

SHERPA/RoMEO Services

RoMEO Colours
SHERPA/RoMEO Services

More on colours and restrictions

SHERPA/RoMEO Services

http://www..Sherpa.ac.uk/romeo/
SHERPA/RoMEO Services

SHERPA/RoMEO Search Box

SHERPA/RoMEO Services
SHERPA/RoMEO Services

1. RoMEO Colour
2. Versions available for deposit to IR
3. Conditions for deposit to IR
4. Link to Publisher’s Self-Archiving Policy
5. Link to Publisher’s Website
SHERPA/RoMEO Services
SHERPA/RoMEO Services

Publisher Information Page in SHERPA/RoMEO

SHERPA/RoMEO Services
1. Go to http://www.sherpa.ac.uk/romeo/ Search for “Nature”
Answer the following with valid logic:

• Can the publisher’s pdf be archived?

• Can the author’s post-print be archived?
• What is the restriction for post-prints?
SHERPA/RoMEO Services

Can the publisher’s pdf be archived ?

SHERPA/RoMEO Services

Can the publisher’s pdf be archived ?

NO!
SHERPA/RoMEO Services

Can the author’s post-print be archived?

SHERPA/RoMEO Services

Can the author’s post-print be archived ?

Yes, subject to restrictions.
SHERPA/RoMEO Services

What is the restriction for post-prints?

SHERPA/RoMEO Services

What is the restriction for post-prints ?

6 months embargo
Multimedia File. 1
Statistics of Publishers in SHERPA RoMEO
SHERPA-RoMEO provides the statistics of registered publishers per time. For example, as
of January 2021, 86% of the publishers registered in the SHERPA RoMEO publisher policy
index endorse self-archiving by authors of the preprint and/or post print versions of their
papers. And 75% of publishers on SHERPA-RoMEO list normally allow some form of self-
archiving, with a total of 3124 publishers as on December 2020.

Figure 7. Publishers permitting self-archiving Figure 8. Growth of SHERPA-RoMEO database

Conclusive Statement

In as much as self-archiving is encouraged, permission from publishers must be obtained.

The copyright holder, normally the publisher, must give permission to self-archive. Many
publishers now include these permissions in their copyright transfer agreements (CTAs),
licenses to publish (LTP) and on their website.
Practical
1. Go to http://www.sherpa.ac.uk/romeo/ Search for “Science”
Answer the following with valid logic:

• Can the publisher’s pdf be archived?

• Can the author’s post-print be archived?
• What is the restriction for post-prints?

2. Determine publisher copyright and self-archiving policies

of “Global Change Biology”.
 Sources
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• Bailey, C. W. (2007). What is Open Access? Retrieved from http://www.digitalscholarship. com/cwb/WhatIsOA.pdf
• Bhat, M. H. (2010). Open Access repositories: a review. Library Philosophy and Practice. Retrieved from
http://unllib.unl.edu/LPP/hanief2.htm
• Björk, B.-C. (2004). Open Access to scientific publications - an analysis of the barriers to change? Information Research, 9(2), paper 170.
Retrieved from http:// InformationR.net/ir/9-2 /paper170.html
• Bozimo, D. O (2008). Strategic Approach to Open Access in Nigeria. International Workshops on the Open Access repositories: New
models for Scholarly communication.
• CASLIN (2009). Institutional Online Repositories and Open Access .16 th International Seminar Tepla Monastery, Czech Republic, 7-11
June 2009.
• Gedye, R. (2004). Open Access is only part of the story. Serials Review, 30 (4), 271-274. Retrieved from the ScienceDirect Journals
database.
• Giarlo, M. J. (2005). The impact of Open Access on academic libraries. Retrieved from http://lackoftalent.org/michael/papers/532.pdf
Thank you