Self-archiving: General and legal background
Self-archiving, in the Open Access context, means to publish a freely accessible version of an otherwise not freely accessible academic work. The publication can take place either concurrently to the “closed access” version that is published through a publishing company, or after an embargo period after the original publication date. This praxis is also known as »Green Open Access«. It comprises publishing preprints on subject-specific repositories, as well as making Closed Access publications accessible after their publication.
Numerous publishers enable self-archiving through their policies or by their agreements with their authors. In many cases, authors can refer to the right to self-archiving guaranteed in the German Copyright Law. This law allows self-archiving of an Author Accepted Manuscript 12 months after the Version of Record was published.
When self-archiving, a number of conditions must be observed. Often, publications can be self-archived in the published version – the Version of Record. In some cases, self-archiving is only allowed for the Author Accepted Manuscript. Frequently, embargo periods must be observed, meaning that a work can only be re-published through self-archiving once a certain amount of time has passed since its initial publication. A reference to the original publication must be included in all cases, with some publishers requiring a specific wording.
Self-archiving is usually allowed on suitable platforms, such as institutional or subject-specific repositories. Frequently, re-publishing on the author’s personal web page (e.g. their bio page on the department’s website) is permitted, as well. Distribution through commercial academic networks (e.g. ResearchGate, academia.edu) is prohibited by many publishers. It is generally recommended to self-archive on a repository such as the GU’s. Publishing infrastructures such as the GU repository ensure that documents can be persistently referenced and accessed. Authors can link to these versions from other platforms.
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zuletzt geändert am 17. Juli 2023
