Guides: Open Access Publishing: Add the full-text of your articles to Digital Commons with Green Open Access

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)

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: 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: 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.

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.