“Green” open access is the term used when the author accepted version of a published work is deposited into a subject-based repository or an institutional repository. Every university in Australia has a repository for this purpose. The University of Newcastle repository is NOVA.
Social media networks like Academia.edu, ResearchGate and Mendeley allow you to include copies of your publications so they can be shared with your followers. It is important before you share any version of your research article/publications online to be aware of any confidentiality, copyright or security issues associated with uploading your publication on any of these platforms.
Publishers may have limitations on what you can share on particular platforms, particularly if they are deemed to be "commercial" or "for-profit" websites. These social media networks are subject to ‘take down’ notices from publishers so please check before you post!
Sherpa Romeo is an online database of publisher open access policies from around the world. Sherpa Romeo provides a summary of publisher copyright and open access archiving policies on a journal-by-journal basis.
Use the journal title or ISSN to search the database and see what open access pathways are available to you.
You can access video tutorials on the Sherpa Romeo website to help you get started, learn to read a publisher policy and interpret the icons presented in order for you to choose the open access pathway suited to you.
Sherpa Romeo is an ideal starting point if you are considering adding a version of your work to a commercial social networking site (i.e. Researchgate, Academia), to ensure that the publisher policy and copyright requirements remain in tact.
For help interpreting Sherpa Romeo:
NOVA is the University's institutional repository, endeavouring to make our research content accessible, searchable and discoverable by the global research community via the major search engines.
NOVA uses green open access principles to make your author accepted manuscript available in the repository, managing any publisher embargo requirements. When the copyright owner and journal policy allows, the library will make the published version of your work available in the repository.
Check which version of your research output you can include in NOVA using the Sherpa Romeo online database of journal open access policies.
It is easy to make your research openly accessible through NOVA:
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Depending on agreements made between authors and publishers, certain versions of manuscripts can be made open access in NOVA, often following an embargo period.
Understanding the different terms publishers use for these versions can help you determine which version can be deposited into NOVA and made open access.
Publishers use the following names for the different versions of manuscripts*:
| Pre-print | The original version submitted to a journal, which has not gone through a peer review process yet. |
| Post-print (accepted author manuscript, accepted version) | The version that includes any author changes following peer review. It does not include any publisher value added features such as copy editing, formatting and pagination. Keep and deposit this version in NOVA. |
| Publisher’s version (published version) | The version that appears on the publisher’s website. It includes professional typesetting and publisher logos. |
Open Access Button has developed some tips on how to locate and identify your pre-print, post print and publisher version.
*Adapted La Trobe University. What you need to know about redistributing your work