Repositories and Self-Archiving
Self-archiving is one of the two main routes to open access. An author publishes his/her article in a traditional journal in the normal way and then deposits a copy in an open access repository. This page explains about self-archiving and repositories, the work that JISC and the Scholarly Communication Group are doing in this area, and provides links to useful resources.
Self-archiving
Self-archiving is one of the main methods of enabling open access. An author deposits a copy of his/her article in an open access repository that is freely accessible to all. Because the author deposits the article, this is known as ‘self-archiving’. Articles may be deposited before publication (pre-prints) or after publication (post-prints).
It is also sometimes called the ‘green road’ to open access (where publishing in open access journals is called the ‘gold road’). Both routes have their proponents. Those who favour self-archiving note that it’s probably the fastest way to achieve open access in the short term. Repositories exist and it’s easy to take advantage of them. Converting peer reviewed journals to open access will take longer. It also gives authors a wider choice of journals – they don’t need to choose an open access journal, only one that allows self-archiving.
Open Access Repositories
Open access repositories or archives are digital collections of journal articles and other research outputs that have been deposited by their authors. There are different types of repositories:
- Institutional repositories – Most UK universities are developing repositories that make the institution’s research outputs widely available and fulfil a preservation role. As well as journal articles, many include conference papers, presentations, and theses. Institutional repositories are increasingly important for demonstrating the quality of an institution’s research and providing data for the Research Assessment Exercise (RAE).
- Subject-based repositories – There are archives for e-prints in many disciplines, e.g. arXiv for physics, Cogprints for psychology, and Euclid for mathematics and statistics.
- National repositories – Some countries provide national repositories. In the UK, JISC has launched the Depot for journal articles and Jorum for learning materials. Some subject repositories are also organised along national lines. For example, PubMed Central (PMC) is the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) open access archive of biomedical and life sciences journal literature, and UK PubMed Central (UKPMC) is its counterpart in the UK.
Once an article has been archived in an open access repository, users can find it using Google and other search engines. This is because all open access repositories are based on an important standard – OAI-PMH, the Open Archives Initiative Protocol for Metadata Harvesting. This specifies a standard way for exposing bibliographic details (metadata) about articles so they can be harvested by search services. Specialist services like OAIster at University of Michigan (and more ubiquitous services like Google) harvest metadata from many open access repositories and use it for their search engines.
EPrints Software
An institution that has not yet developed a repository can easily do so using EPrints software from University of Southampton. Funded by JISC, EPrints was the first repository software to become OAI-compliant and is widely used in the UK and internationally. EPrints is open source and available on a GNU General Public License (GPL). The team provides a range of training and support services, and the EPrints Community will provide a sustainable environment for enhancing EPrints to meet future community needs.
Directories of Repositories
OpenDoar (Directory of Open Access Repositories) is an international directory of academic open access repositories developed by the JISC-funded SHERPA project. The service provides detailed and authoritative records for each repository, including a description of the repository and its policies. The directory is searchable by location, subject area, type of content, language and repository software. OpenDOAR is also offering on a trial basis a feature for searching the full-text content of the repositories listed.
Registry of Open Access Repositories (ROAR) is an international directory developed by the EPrints team at University of Southampton. Originally developed as a registry of EPrints repositories, ROAR now covers repositories using other software. Records are brief and contain more technical information. Search parameters include location, repository software, and type of repository. The Browse feature checks the user’s host name to see if their institution has a repository listed.
The Depot
The Depot is a new national repository service launched by JISC in June 2007. The aim is to ensure that the entire UK research community can benefit from making their published articles available under open access to maximise readership of their work. Researchers at institutions that do not currently have an institutional repository can deposit their articles at the Depot. As institutional repositories are established, the Depot will support the transfer of relevant content to help populate those new repositories. In the meantime, the Depot will act as a keep-safe, notifying institutions when deposits are made.
Publisher Policies on Self-archiving
Academic authors cannot archive their journal articles in repositories if they have already signed legal agreements with publishers that prevent this. Similarly, publisher policies on self-archiving can influence an author’s choice of journal. RoMEO allows authors to check publisher policies on self-archiving before they choose a journal. Entries are colour coded to indicate if a publisher allows archiving of pre-prints, post-prints, both, or does not allow archiving. RoMEO was originally developed in the JISC FAIR programme and is now maintained by the JISC-funded SHERPA project.
Funding Agency Policies on Self-archiving
The Wellcome Trust and several of the UK Research Councils now require their grant-holders to deposit a copy of any publications resulting from the funded research in an appropriate repository. Authors can check on funding agency policies using JULIET, a new companion to RoMEO developed by the JISC-funded SHERPA project. Funding agencies worldwide are listed along with a summary of their policies – whether deposit is mandatory, what must be archived, and when.
JISC Repositories Programmes
JISC fist started exploring issues related to repositories and self-archiving in the FAIR programme (Focus on Access to Institutional Resources), 2002-2005. FAIR was inspired by the Open Archives Initiative, and projects explored a wide range of issues including the development of institutional repositories, use of OAI-PMH, and legal and cultural issues. This was followed by the Digital Repositories programme (2005-2007) which focused on planning a coordinated approach to repository development, including the technical, business, and social aspects.
This work is now being carried forward by JISC’s Repositories and Preservation programme, a £14m investment in Higher Education repository and digital content infrastructure. It will fund initiatives to develop the Information Environment to support digital repositories and preservation, including cross-searching facilities across repositories; funding for institutions to develop a critical mass of content, preservation solutions and advice for the development of repositories.
Study on Repository Versions
Sally Rumsey and Frances Shipsey (LSE), Michael Fraser and Howard Noble (OxfordUniversity Computing Service), Mark Bide, Hugh Look and Deborah Kahn (Rightscom Ltd), Scoping Study on Repository Version Identification (RIVER) Final Report, March 2006
Identity and identification are not new problems but have come to the fore now that the Internet makes it easy for anyone to make resources widely available to others. The Scholarly Communication Group commissioned the RIVER study to scope out the version identity issue for repositories.
A particular item in a repository may be held in more than one version, either within the repository or across repositories. It is important for users to understand which version they have found and its relationship to others. The study identifies the types of content in UK university repositories, reviews current practice for identification, and suggests a framework to improve version identification in repositories. JISC is now testing and further developing this framework as part of its repositories activity.