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Self-Archiving in Digital Commons: Workflow

The purpose of DigitalCommons@UMaine is to provide long-term access to the scholarly and creative output of University of Maine faculty and staff. Consult this suite of tutorial pages to learn how to archive your work.

Step-by-Step Workflow

Copyright symbol  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.

Understanding Version Definitions

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).

Understanding General Conditions Summaries

Example Publisher Policy from Sherpa Romeo

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

Sherpa/RoMEO Logo

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.

Contact

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Kimberly Sawtelle
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5729 Fogler Library
University of Maine
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Phone: 207-581-1692
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