How to self-archive

Self-archiving means that you first publish your article in a journal. After that you deposit a manuscript copy of the article in an open archive. In this way your research becomes freely available and you fulfill any open access requirements from your research funder, without any additional costs.

When you publish an article in a traditional subscription journal, in most cases you sign an agreement with the publisher. Therefore, if you plan to self-archive a copy of the article, you should check the publisher's terms and conditions for self-archiving.

Version and embargo

The publisher's terms and conditions may state restrictions for when a copy of the article can be published and what version the copy should be.

Some publishers only allow self-archiving after an embargo, that is, with a delay since the article was first published in the journal.

The publishers conditions regarding version usually mean that the copy you self-archive must be a so called post-print, a peer reviewed manuscript without any connection to the journal's layout.

Check the conditions in Sherpa Romeo

To find out what applies to self-archiving specifically for your article, you can look up your journal in the database Sherpa Romeo. The database holds information about terms and conditions from many journals and publishers.

To Sherpa Romeo

If the journal is not listed in Sherpa Romeo you can find information about copyright and terms and conditions for self-archiving on the journal's website.

Staff at the University of Gothenburg can publish open access by self-archiving in the University's publication database GUP. Two types of publications can be self-archived: articles and conference proceedings.

Self-archive by uploading a copy of your article manuscript to GUP. Use your x-account to login.

To GUP

Set the publishing date

When you upload the copy you must enter the embargo for publishing in GUP. This means specifying the date you want to make your copy become available through GUP.

Check the publisher's conditions for self-archiving if you are unsure of the embargo period. Also compare with the requirements on open access from your funder.

Requirements from research funders on open access