Fees, Charges, Payment
Authors’ Rights
Open Access in General
Versioning
Data
Reporting/Analytics
Does SU have a fund to pay article processing charges for authors?
There is not a designated fund at Syracuse University or in the Syracuse University Libraries for funding Article Processing Fees for authors who choose to publish in Open Access Journals that require charges. Authors may want to consider seeking departmental funds or writing grant applications with Article Processing Fees in mind.
However, there may be ways to make your publications openly available that do not involve paying article processing charges. These options center on open access repositories like SURFACE. For more information regarding these options, visit JISC’s Sherpa Romeo tool.
Does SU have memberships or affiliations with publishers or organizations that provide discounts to authors?
Syracuse University Libraries has subscriptions and memberships with a number of publishers and scholarly societies that provide discounts on Article Processing Fees for their journals. Discounts and terms differ, but a current list of these affiliations and relevant contacts can be found on our Open Access guide. If you are uncertain whether a publisher may qualify, please contact dosteam@syr.edu so the Libraries can confirm if a discount is available.
Do I have to pay this fee?
It depends. Some Open Access journals require an Article Processing Fee be paid upon acceptance.
Alternatively, some Open Access journals and publishers will publish an article regardless of whether a fee is paid, but will offer, as an additional service, to make an article available outside of a subscription paywall if authors choose to pay for the service. Such journals are considered hybrid OA publications.
However, regardless of where you publish, there are likely ways to make your publications openly available through repositories like SURFACE. This is termed ‘green’ open access and does not involve payment or fees.
If I choose not to pay a publisher fee to make my article available open access, can I still put that article in SURFACE?
Publishers and journals offer a variety of options for this case, and authors are also able to negotiate their publication contracts to retain some rights for distributing their work.
To investigate a journal's policy on repository submission, visit that journal’s information for authors page or check JISC's Sherpa/Romeo tool to see what your options are. Many journals will allow deposit of specific versions of an article manuscript in an open access repository, sometimes after an embargo period or with reference to the official published version.
If you are considering an addendum to your publication contract to retain rights to share your work, open access organization SPARC provides guidelines and templates on their Author Rights page.
How can I anticipate and account for article processing fees as I plan my publication?
Most journals and publishers who charge Article Processing Fees will provide this information in advance of submission, though it can be difficult to find. You can work with your liaison librarian to locate this information, or you can reach out to journal editors before submission.
It is a good idea to identify journals and publishers and become familiar with their policies in the early stages of your research. This maximizes the time you have for negotiating permissions or raise funding for Article Processing Fees. Advance familiarity with publisher open access policies can help you make decisions that are in your best interest, as well as acquaint you with opportunities for deposit in SURFACE, the University’s institutional repository.
How do I know if I have the right to submit my article to SURFACE?
Publishers and journals offer a variety of options for this case, and authors are also able to negotiate their publication contracts to retain some rights for distributing their work through institutional repositories like SURFACE.
To investigate a journal's policy on repository submission, visit that journal’s information for authors page or check JISC's Sherpa/Romeo tool to see what your options are. Many journals will allow deposit of versions of an article manuscript in an open access repository, sometimes after an embargo period or with reference to the official published version.
If you are considering an addendum to your publication contract to retain rights to share your work, open access organization SPARC provides some guidelines and templates on their Author Rights page.
Your subject specialist librarian will also be able to help you navigate permissions from publishers and to retroactively request them on your behalf.
What can I do to increase the rights I have to distribute my work?
One thing you can do is to choose publication venues that emphasize author rights and encourage redistribution, as open access publishers do. But that is not the only way to retain distribution rights.
You can also negotiate with publishers to increase the rights you retain upon publication. To investigate a journal's policy on repository submission, visit that journal’s information for authors page or check JISC's Sherpa/Romeo tool to see what your options are. Your subject librarian can assist you in this endeavor.
Where can I learn more about negotiating my rights upon publication?
You can choose publication venues that emphasize author rights and encourage redistribution, as open access publishers do.
You can also negotiate with traditional publishers to increase the rights you retain upon publication. To investigate a journal's policy on repository submission, visit that journal’s information for authors page or check JISC's Sherpa/Romeo tool to see what your options are. Your subject specialist librarian can assist you in this endeavor.
Where can I learn more about negotiating my rights upon publication?
What rights are typically offered to authors publishing in scholarly journals?
It depends on the journal and publisher. Some journals ask that authors transfer all rights for a work to the publication after the final version is accepted. Some journals allow authors to retain rights to distribute copies or versions of a published article under certain circumstances and conditions. To investigate a journal's policy on repository submission, visit that journal’s information for authors page or check JISC's Sherpa/Romeo tool or reach out to an editor with questions.
Even if certain rights are requested by the publisher in a contract or in policies posted at Sherpa/Romeo, it still may be possible to negotiate changes to a publication contract to retain certain rights. If you are considering an addendum to your publication contract to retain rights to share your work, open access organization SPARC provides some guidelines and templates on their Author Rights page.
What are the differences between “green” and “gold’ open access?
“Gold” open access means journals and publications that are freely available from the publisher--as soon as an issue is published, readers may access the content at no charge. Authors may be required to pay an article processing charge.
“Green” open access refers to pre- and post-publication open access, when versions of articles published in journals or other venues are made available through repositories like Arxiv, Humanities Commons CORE, or Syracuse University Libraries’ SURFACE. In green open access, the author is not required to pay a charge.
What is a hybrid journal?
A hybrid journal is a publication that features both types of content: toll-access articles which require subscription for access, and open access articles that are freely available to all. Some publishers of hybrid journals charge a fee for the open access option. However, if you publish in a hybrid journal, you can likely make your article available in an open access repository, based on the publisher’s conditions, for no cost.
If the journal I publish in does not offer me any open access publishing options, what can I do?
Many journals offer options for pre-print or post-print submission to open repositories. You can explore different publisher permissions at JISC’s Sherpa Romeo tool. Additionally, you can negotiate with a publisher to retain rights to share your work in repositories when you sign their publication agreement. For guidance on doing so, see SPARC’s Author Rights resources.
Does Open Access only apply to journal articles?
Scholarly and creative content in many forms and genres are represented in open access publishing. Programs and organizations like M Publishing, Knowledge Unlatched, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and many others have made hundreds of monographs and edited collections available in open access formats, for example.
Who will have access to deposited articles deposited in SURFACE?
There are no restrictions on who may access material deposited in SURFACE. Anyone with an internet connection, regardless of institutional affiliation or geographical location can download and read work from SURFACE.
Can I delay the release of articles I post to SURFACE?
Yes, SURFACE allows users to set an embargo on their work to delay its release. Only metadata (bibliographic information like author, title, abstract, etc.) will be visible in SURFACE until the embargo period has passed. Once the embargo date arrives, the full text of the item will be downloadable in SURFACE. Typical publisher embargos range from six to eighteen months.
What are all these different formats articles and manuscripts (preprint, postprint, publisher’s version)?
A preprint is the version of an article or manuscript before it has undergone peer review. Authors often make this version available to gather comments and suggestions before submitting it to a journal or other peer reviewed compilation. This is also referred to as the “submitted version.”
A postprint is the version that has undergone peer review and has been accepted for publication but before the publisher has added their formatting or logo. Often, this is the version that publishers will allow (if they allow it) to be placed in an open-access archive. This is also referred to as the “accepted version.”
A publisher’s version is the final copy that has been accepted and has the publisher’s formatting and logo.
How do I ensure that readers know how to locate the “official version” of my publication?
The best way to make sure others can find the official version of your work is to make sure it has a Digital Object Identifier or DOI. A DOI is a string of numbers and letters that will permanently identify your article regardless of any changes to its URL. Often, a publisher or repository will automatically assign a DOI for you.
SURFACE and other repositories allow authors to provide a recommended citation to ensure that readers can locate and cite the official published version of a work. Many publishers ask that articles posted in repositories include a link to the official version, and SURFACE allows for these links to be included (including DOIs).
What formats do I need to have my files in for submission to SURFACE?
Files must be submitted in an accessible format such as accessible PDFs or ePubs. For more information, please go to https://surface.syr.edu/formats.html
Must I share my data?
If your funding agency requires it, and many do, yes, you must make your data publicly available. Many journals have similar requirements. Even if you are not required to share your data, you can gain more citations by doing so.
When do I have to share it?
Exactly when you must share your data will depend on your funder and the nature of your project. Usually, you will not have to make it available until two or three years after the project is over, giving you time to publish your findings. Journals, however, may require you to make data available upon publication of an article based on that data.
Where can I share it?
Some funders and journals have specific archives in which they require you to deposit your data. Otherwise, choosing a suitable archive is up to you. Discipline-specific archives are a good place to start as that is where most of you colleagues will look. There are several general-purpose archives as well and these can be good choices when there is not an obvious discipline-specific one.
Will I have to pay for it?
This will depend on the archive and the amount of data you have. Most funders will allow you to add the cost of archiving your data into the grant. This is why it is important to estimate ahead of time how much and what kind of data you will collect and where you plan to archive it.
What if I have personally identifiable data?
Obviously, you cannot publish data that can be used to identify individual people. Data can, however, be de-identified by several means, making the data anonymous. If, for any reason the data cannot be de-identified (i.e. you have video or audio recordings), you will need to explain this in your Data Management Plan.
What is a Data Management Plan?
A Data Management Plan, or DMP, is a document usually submitted with a grant application that describes what data you will collect, how you will collect it, who will have access to it during the project, how you will protect the data and where and when you will make it publicly available. Many funders require a DMP, especially if they require you to share your data.
How can I learn about who is reading my work in SURFACE?
SURFACE users can view a dashboard that provides rich information regarding how materials are being used. This includes individual download counts, information on locations and institutions of readers, referral information, and alt-metric information from PlumX Analytics (social media, bibliographic manager data, etc).
How do I ensure that readers cite the official published version of my work?
SURFACE and other repositories allow authors to provide a recommended citation to ensure that readers can locate and cite the official published version of a work. Many publishers ask that articles posted in repositories include a link to the official version, and SURFACE allows for these links to be included (including DOIs).
How can I expand the audience for my work via SURFACE?
There are many ways to expand your audience through open access. By posting in SURFACE, you will have a stable, accessible URL to share with your communities that will point them to an enduring and open copy of the full text of your work.
Furthermore, SURFACE is search-engine optimized and indexed by Google Scholar, which means you will reach readers who perform general web searches on your topic. Furthermore, open access repositories allow you to easily share links to your work on social media. And with the help of the author dashboard, you can find new communities where your work is being accessed, read, and discussed.