The Research Process

Publishing is only the first step in the scholarly communication process. After creation and publication comes the distribution and discovery of your work.  While your publisher will help, you can assist with the dispersal of your work to increase views and references to your publication. 

If your work has been published, your licensing agreement with the publisher may not allow you to publicly/freely share the full text of your work. 

Before sharing your work online, please follow these steps to ensure you do not misstep: 

1. Find your license.
   1. Check your email for the original copyright agreement for your manuscript.
      • Review it to see whether there is language that specifies that you may make your work available via an institutional repository.
   2. Use the Open Policy Finder list of publisher copyright policies and self-archiving. This allows you to search for the journal title or publisher if you do not have access to the copyright transfer agreement.
   3. Check the publisher's website for author licenses. For example, here is Taylor & Francis' policy. 
2. Confirm that you can publicly share your manuscript in the location you desire, such as:
   1. An academic social network (e.g., ResearchGate, academia.edu)
   2. Your personal website 
   3. Your institutional /employer website
   4. A specific repository, such as your institutional repository or a repository designated by your grant funder 
   5. Any repository or any non-commercial repository. Note that academic social networks (e.g., ResearchGate, academia.edu) are not repositories.
3. Confirm what version you are allowed to deposit, including:
   • Published manuscript = the published version (i.e., with the publisher's formatting and page numbers).
   • Accepted manuscript = includes revisions made through the peer/editorial review process, but it should not include publisher branding or final editing.
   • Pre-print/submitted =  the article draft as you first submitted it for publication. It does not include revisions made through the peer/editorial review process, nor include publisher branding or final editing.
4. Confirm if there is an embargo on your manuscript.
   • This is a period of time, post-publication, that you must wait before the publisher allows it to be publicly shared.

Our institutional repository is a digital collection that serves as a centralized platform for preserving and disseminating scholarly output and intellectual property generated by National University faculty, researchers, students, and staff.

Visit our NU Institutional Repository page to deposit your work.