Skip to Main Content

Open Access Publishing & Policy: Getting Started

Complying with Policy

ALWAYS DEPOSIT A COPY OF YOUR ARTICLE IN BUCKNELL DIGITAL COMMONS

Whenever possible, authors should submit the final manuscript version of their articles.  This version is the last manuscript that an author sends to the publisher after peer review is complete.  This is often called the "post-print" version.  This is not, however, the "page proof" version.  The page proof version is a copy of the article that is provided to the author immediately prior to publication and typically includes branding and typesetting that is unique to a particular publisher or journal.  The page proof version and the final manuscript version are usually treated differently by publishers for copyright and licensing purposes.  For this reason, Bucknell Digital Commons generally collects the final manuscript version of articles.  You can check the specific policies of your publisher or journal on the Sherpa/Romeo website.  Even if you don't think your publisher will allow your manuscript to be made open access, you should still submit it to Bucknell Digital Commons.  We can often still link to articles within Bucknell's library collections or make articles available after a publisher's embargo period.  

READ YOUR AUTHOR'S AGREEMENT AND, IF NECESSARY, ADD AN AUTHOR ADDENDUM

Authors should carefully read their author's agreements and make sure that they understand the rights they are retaining and the rights they are transferring to their publisher.  While most publishers allow final manuscript versions of articles to be made open access with no changes to their standard author's agreements, we recommend that authors add an addendum to all author's agreements in order to be certain there is no conflict between the license granted to Bucknell by Bucknell's open access policy and the licenses granted and/or copyrights transferred in the author's agreement.   You can use the SPARC copyright addendum generator to create an addendum for your article (choose the "Access-Reuse" or "Delayed Access" option as appropriate).  In order to use the addendum, simply attach it to your author's agreement and write   "subject to attached addendum"  under your signature on the publisher's original form.   Even if you do not include an addendum with your author's agreement, the license granted to Bucknell by the open access policy still has force unless you have notified Bucknell of your intention to opt-out of the policy for a particular article.  You should, therefore, submit the final manuscript version of your article whether or not you included an addendum.  Library & IT staff will verify your publisher's policy before making your article publically available

IF YOUR PUBLISHER WILL NOT ACCEPT THE ADDENDUM, OR WILL NOT PUBLISH AN ARTICLE THAT IS SUBJECT TO AN OPEN ACCESS POLICY, NOTIFY THE SCHOLARLY COMMUNICATION OFFICER THAT YOU WILL OPT-OUT OF THE POLICY

60-70% of publishers automatically allow open access archiving of the final manuscript version of articles, and many others will allow faculty members who are subject to an institutional policy like Bucknell's to make their articles open access.  However, some publishers will not allow articles to be made open access for any reason.  Faculty members may also opt out of the open access policy for any reason at their discretion.  In either case, please notify the Bucknell's Scholarly Communications Officer that you will be opting out of the policy for a particular article.  Even if you opt out of the policy, please submit the article's citation information on Bucknell Digital Commons.  This is helpful for record keeping purposes.      

For more information, please contact Bucknell's scholarly communications team at scholarlycommunications@bucknell.edu.