Self-Archiving in Digital Commons: Workflow

  Copyright permissions must be established prior to uploading full-text articles and other works to DigitalCommons@UMaine.

Step 1: Create a bibliography of works for submission. For guidance with this step, visit the Get Started tab.

Step 2: Confirm each submission was created while the author/creator worked or studied at the University of Maine.

Step 3: For published articles, search Sherpa/RoMEO for copyright policies of the appropriate journals. For guidance using this resource, continue reading this page. For assistance with copyright checking, please contact your Subject Specialist.

Step 4: If Sherpa/RoMEO indicates copyright permissions are granted according to journal policies, the approved version of the full-text work may be uploaded to DigitalCommons@UMaine.

If no information is available in Sherpa/RoMEO, review the journal publisher's website about Open Access posting.  As appropriate, contact the publisher in writing to request permission to self-archive in DigitalCommons@UMaine. Download a letter template, in pdf format, available from Fogler Library. Copies of letters granting copyright approval to post full-text content in Digital Commons must be sent to: Technical Services, 5729 Fogler Library, Orono, ME 04469-5729.

Step 5: If Sherpa/RoMEO, the publisher website, or a letter from the publisher denies copyright permission, the work may not be uploaded to DigitalCommons@UMaine.

Step 6: For book chapters and conference proceedings, contact the appropriate publisher to request copyright permission. Download a letter template, in pdf format, available from Fogler Library. Copies of letters granting copyright approval must be sent to: Technical Services, 5729 Fogler Library, Orono, ME 04469-5729.

Step 7: Once copyright permissions are established, proceed with uploading approved version of the content to DigitalCommons@UMaine.

Questions about checking copyrights?  Contact your Subject Specialist for assistance.

What's what when it comes to determining which version of your peer-reviewed article can be uploaded to Digital Commons? 

Author’s Pre-print = Pre-refereed paper, prior to any edits (aka Submitted Version in Romeo)
Post-print = Author's accepted version (i.e. the final draft with all edits post-refereeing; no formatting) 
Publisher's version = Publisher's formatted pdf (i.e. the published version the publisher paid to format).

Based on user feedback and the growing complexity of scholarly publishing, Sherpa-Romeo retired the former color-coding for publisher permissions in 2020. Romeo now provides text-based guidance on publisher policies pertaining to an author's submitted version of a paper (aka Authors Pre-print), the accepted version of a paper (aka Post-print), and the published version (aka Publisher's version).

For additional assistance checking copyrights, contact your Subject Specialist. 

Sherpa/Romeo is an online resource that aggregates publisher and journal open access policies from around the world. As of 2020, Sherpa/Romeo included policy information from over 4,250 publishers.  Search journal titles or ISSNs in Sherpa/RoMEO.

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