Per AC02, scholarly articles that fall within the scope of the university’s open access policy should be provided to the University Libraries to be made available to the public in an open access repository (unless the article’s author requests a waiver).
How?
You can provide a copy of your article to the Libraries in one of the following ways:
- Using the Researcher Metadata Database: All members of the Penn State community can use RMD. Penn State users can also act as proxies on behalf of other Penn State users (with the users’ approval).
- Using Activity Insight (Digital Measures): Faculty who use Activity Insight can upload a copy of their accepted manuscript there. A team in the Libraries will then make it available to the public through ScholarSphere in accordance with the default terms of the journal’s publishing agreement.
- Using ScholarSphere: If you are not able to use one of the methods above, please provide a copy of your article to the Libraries by depositing it in ScholarSphere, an open access repository maintained by the Libraries. To meet the terms of the policy, please select “public” as the visibility level when depositing your article. Anyone with a Penn State Access ID can deposit in ScholarSphere. If you do not have an Access ID but need to deposit, please contact the Office of Scholarly Communications and Copyright.
- Using another OA repository or an OA publication method of your choice
Which version?
Policy AC02 asks for “an electronic copy of the Author’s accepted manuscript . . . in an appropriate format (such as PDF).”
The “accepted manuscript” is the last version of the article that the author(s) edit prior to publication. It includes all changes made during the peer review process. It is not the final published version — for example, it does not include the publisher’s formatting and page numbers.
In some cases, you may have retained the right to deposit the final version of the article (including page numbers) in an open access repository. In that case, we welcome you to deposit the final version in lieu of the accepted manuscript. This will still satisfy AC02.
When?
Policy AC02 dictates that this copy should be provided to the Libraries no later than the date of publication.
What if my publishing agreement won’t allow this?
You can request a waiver of the policy, which will be granted automatically, or you can negotiate to change the terms of the agreement. We have prepared an Author’s Addendum to assist with these negotiations. If you have questions about publishing agreements or any other aspect of the policy, please don’t hesitate to contact the Libraries’ Office of Scholarly Communications and Copyright.