Skip to Main Content

Digital Commons and Faculty Publishing: Obtain more Readership

Add Open Access Articles to Digital Commons

Open access articles are free to all readers and not hidden behind paywalls.

Almost any article that you publish can be uploaded to Digital Commons.

To have your articles added to Digital Commons, please contact:

Bailey Berry (bailey.berry@pepperdine.edu)

There are three types of open access and Digital Commons can host any of these categories of open access

Gold: Articles that are completely free on the publishers’ websites. When most people think of open access, they are thinking of gold open access. In many cases authors pay article processing charges that can range from $500 to $5,000. Example of a gold open access article in Digital Commons.
Bronze: This category refers to the most common mechanism for Open Access. These are  “articles made free-to-read on the publisher website, without an explicit Open license.”

Hybrid: Open access articles that appear in traditional, subscription based journals. Authors are required to pay an article processing charge to make their articles open access.

Green: This category which is also known as  self-archiving provides authors with the option of uploading the full-text of published articles that are hidden behind paywalls to institutional repositories like Digital Commons. Example of a green open access article in Digital Commons.

Primer on Manuscript Versions:

Primer on manuscript versions:

  • Preprint: This is the version of your article that you initially submitted to the publisher. The article has *not* gone through peer review.
  • Accepted (peer-reviewed): This is the version of your manuscript that was accepted for publication and incorporates all of edits and suggestions from peer reviewers. However, this version of the article doesn’t include publisher enhancements like typesetting and pagination. 
  • Final published version (also known as the version of record): This is the final  version of the article that is published on the publisher’s website and is indexed in library databases.  Publisher enhancements like typesetting, copy editing and pagination.

Example:

  • Here is the version of an article on the publisher's website that *cannot* be added to Digital Commons because it includes typesetting and pagination from the publisher.

Add Gold & Hybrid Open Access Articles to Digital Commons:

Adding Gold & Hybrid Open Access to Digital Commons:

  • If your article is Gold or Hybrid Open Access, the full-text of the article will be available at the publisher's website without any paywalls
  • You can either provide links to Gold or Hybrid open access articles from Digital Commons or Upload the full-text

What version of my article can be added to Digital Commons?

  • The final version of your article with the publisher's typesetting and pagination can be shared on Digital Commons

Add Green Open Access Articles to Digital Commons:

Adding Green Open Access Articles to Digital Commons

Here are some advantages of  Green open access:

  • There are never any article processing charges for authors when they self-archive.
  • Nearly any journal from major publishers can be self-archived. In many disciplines, very few of the highest-ranked journals are gold open access and green open access includes the widest range of journals.

What version of my article can I self-archive to Digital Commons? 

You can upload the accepted (peer reviewed) version of your manuscript without the publisher's pagination and typesetting.

How long is the embargo period for self-archiving/green open access?

  • Embargo periods vary by publishers and can range from 0-24 months depending on the subject matters. Here are policies from the major journal publishers.

Publisher Embargo for publishing Accepted (peer-reviewed) manuscript
Elsevier 12-36- Search for your journal with the embargo finder for exact information.
Wiley 12 months for STEM fields and 24 months.
Springer 12 months.
Taylor & Francis Use the journal finder to find the embargo period for your journal. In most cases 

there is an 18 month embargo for social sciences & humanities journals and 12 months for STEM fields.

Zero embargo for Library & Information Science journals.
Sage No embargo period!
Oxford University Press Check the directory for your journal. In most cases there is a 24 month embargo for social sciences & humanities journals and 12 months for STEM fields.
Cambridge University Press Zero embargo for social sciences & humanities journals and 6 months for STEM fields.
Emerald Zero embargo (can be self-archived as soon as the article appears on Emerald’s website).

You can also contact your journal’s publisher to learn about self-archiving policies.

Another option is search for your journal in the Sherpa Romeo website which aggregates green open access/self-archiving policies for several journals.