FAQ

Use your personal Open Access Assistant Papago to get an information sheet tailored to your specific situation.

Open Access at the University of Fribourg

Green Open Access

  • 1. What is the Green Road of Open Access?

    The Green Road refers to the parallel publication of a version of the manuscript in an open repository, which can be institutional, as FOLIA at UNIFR, or disciplinary. The publication is often delayed (embargo period). To learn which manuscript version and embargo period is accepted by your publisher please consult Sherpa Romeo or Papago

    . There are no costs for researchers to follow this road.

    Further information at Publish in Open Access | Research Promotion Service | University of Fribourg (unifr.ch)

  • 2. What is an Open Access repository? What is FOLIA?

    An Open Access repository is a digital platform that holds scientific publications t and provides free,  and permanent access to research results for anyone to use, download and share (according to the chosen licence). A repository can be institutional or disciplinary.

    It opens up the academic works of the institution to a worldwide audience, maximizing the impact and visibility of these publications, measuring research and teaching activities.  Collecting and curating digital output encourages interdisciplinary approaches to research.

    FOLIA is the institutional repository of the University of Fribourg and the University of Teacher Education of Fribourg (HEP Fribourg). Researches of the University of Fribourg are expected to deposit their scientific works on FOLIA. The platform provides free access to the publications. FOLIA is managed by the Cantonal and University Library of Fribourg (BCU Fribourg).

  • 3. How and what can I deposit on FOLIA?

    Researchers of the University of Fribourg have to deposit their peer-reviewed scientific publications (fulltext), such as journal articles, book chapters and conference papers (in proceedings) on the FOLIA platform themselves using their SwitchEdu-ID login.

    The librarians will assist you with the upload of other document types (books, research reports, working papers, master and bachelor theses) on FOLIA. In order to get support, please contact your FOLIA contact person.

    Abstracts only and presentation slides are not accepted.

    In order to publish doctoral theses please contact the Research Promotion Service: research@unifr.ch

    Copyright issues are the responsibility of the researcher.

    It can take up to 4 weeks until your work will become available on FOLIA. In urgent cases please contact your local librarian.

  • 4. What is SOAP2? Who can publish a journal on SOAP2?

    SOAP2 (Shared Open Access Publishing Platform) is a platform for publishing Open Access academic journals. It is a joint project of the Universities of Fribourg, Lausanne, Neuchâtel, Central and University Library of Lucerne and HEP Vaud.

    If you are a member of the University of Fribourg and you edit an academic journal or you are part of the editorial board of such a journal, you can publish your journal on SOAP2 in Open Access free of charge.

  • 5. What are a preprint and a postprint?

    A preprint manuscript is the version of an article submitted to a journal, but not yet accepted (non-peer-reviewed version).

    A postprint is the peer-reviewed author's manuscript (AAM - Author's Accepted Manuscript). It contains all changes resulting from the peer review process. This is the version most recently written by the author and accepted by the publisher for publication. The postprint content is identical to the publisher's PDF, but does not contain the publisher's layout or logo.

  • 6. What is an embargo period?

    An embargo is a time during which access to academic works is not allowed to users who have not paid for access or do not have access via their institution. The purpose of embargos is to ensure that publishers have the revenue to support their activities.

    In Green Open Access, an embargo refers to the period in which the final version of the manuscript will remain inaccessible in the institutional repository after publication. Only the metadata (see question 7) will be visible. Once the embargo period expires, the manuscript will also become available on the institutional server.

    According to different funding agencies, an embargo period can last a maximum of 6 or 12 months. The European initiative PlanS will not allow any embargo.

  • 7. What are metadata?

    Metadata are information describing the publication like the title of the article, the authors’ names, the year of the publication, abstract, keywords, publisher, DOI, etc.

  • 8. Do I have to wait for the end of the embargo period before uploading my article to FOLIA?

    No, on the contrary, we advise you to deposit your publications on FOLIA immediately specifiying the duration of the embargo. During the entire embargo period, only the metadata (title of the article, names of the authors, year of publication, summary, etc.) will be visible (see example below). At the end of the embargo period, the publication will become automatically accessible on FOLIA. This solution has two advantages for researchers: by immediately depositing your publication on FOLIA, it will be available at the exact end of the embargo period without any need for you to intervene. Moreover, thanks to the early publication of metadata, the visibility of your work will be increased.

    Metadata published on FOLIA (embargo period):

Gold Open Access

  • 1. What is the Golden Road of Open Access?

    The Golden Road of Open Access (or Gold OA) is achieved by publishing scholarly works in an Open Access Journal and thereby making them immediately and freely available. In order to do so, authors may be required to pay a publication fee (Article Processing Costs APC or Book Processing Costs BPC). These costs will often be covered by funding agencies like the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF). If the funder of your project does not cover Open Access costs, then the UNIFR internal  fund for the support of Open Access publications may be an option. The Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) currently lists over 7’500 Open Access journals and can be used to browse OA journals by subject.

    Further information at Publish in Open Access | Research Promotion Service | University of Fribourg (unifr.ch)

  • 2. What is a hybrid publication?

    Hybrid Open Access refers to a publishing model in which subscription-based “closed” journals allow authors to make individual articles immediately available in Open Access on payment of a fee. Such subscribed publications are not considered as full Open Access by the SNSF and other funding agencies and are therefore not financially supported. In certain cases, fees can be covered via Read&Publish agreements.

  • 3. What are Article Processing Charges (APCs)?

    APCs are publication fees charged by publishers to authors usually to make a work available as Open Access. Authors, authors' institution, or their research funding agencies may cover these fees.

  • 4. Do all Open Access journals charge APCs?

    No, many Open Access journals do not charge Article Processing Charges (APCs). In fact, for most of the journals listed in the Directory of Open Access Journals, DOAJ, no APCs are requested.

    However, also journals without APCs need funding. Gold OA journals that do not charge APCs still rely on financial support from universities, funding agencies, scientific associations, libraries, etc, in order to function. Those subsidized Open Access journals are implementing the Platinum (or Diamond) OA model which corresponds to free publishing by researchers and free read access.

  • 5. What are Book Processing Charges (BPCs)?

    BPCs are publication fees paid by authors, authors' institutions, or research funding agencies to publish their books in immediate Open Access (Gold Open Access).

    Also PhD thesis can be published as a monography and the corresponding BPCs are paid by the SNSF.

    BCPCs (Book Chapter Processing Charges) are specifically referring to book chapters.

Copyrights, contracts and publishers

  • 1. I have already published parts of my dissertation. How can I publish my PhD thesis in Open Access?

    The University of Fribourg supports and facilitates the electronic publication of PhD theses. The faculties and the Research Promotion Service are responsible for the electronic publication of dissertations and provide the necessary information. However, if parts of the dissertation have already been published elsewhere, the conditions of the publishing contract or the applicable legal provisions must be observed and the formal requirements of the journal or publisher must be taken into account. Please make sure to take into account the doctoral regulations of the faculties as the publication standards differ between scientific disciplines.

    Further information at Publishing Thesis online | Research Promotion Service | University of Fribourg (unifr.ch).

  • 2. I have published an article in a subscription-based journal. Can I still deposit it on FOLIA?

    Yes, but if a copyright agreement with the journal has been concluded, e. g. in the form of a publishing contract (written or oral), the conditions must be complied with. If this is not the case, the provisions of the Swiss Code of obligations relating to the publishing contract shall apply (only for Swiss publishers). Art. 382: "Contributions to collections or anthologies and relatively lengthy magazine articles must not be published elsewhere by the originator within three months of the appearance in print of such contribution or article." Hence authors of scholarly articles such as in-depth contributions to collective works are allowed to upload their work on another server three months after publication. This applies to the author’s version (accepted manuscript).

  • 3. What form does a publishing contract take?

    The conclusion of a publishing contract is not bound to a certain form  (Art. 380 et seq. CO). From a legal point of view, a contract by e-mail or the sending of a manuscript by the author with the request to the publisher to publish it is already a publishing contract, if the publisher publishes the text or at least agrees to do so. The publishing contract certainly requires the agreement of both parties. However, it does not necessarily have to be put down in writing. A publishing contract can be concluded without a written or oral agreement but entirely through the corresponding conduct by the author and publisher. Before entering a publishing contract, researches should be aware of their rights and obligations.

  • 4. What is a Creative Commons (CC) licence?

    A Creative Commons (CC) licence is one of several public copyright licences that enable the free distribution of an otherwise copyrighted "work". The University of Fribourg recommends using the licence CC BY 4.0.

  • 5. Where can I find publishers’ copyright, Open Access policies, embargoes and fees?

    Check Sherpa/Romeo, an online resource that aggregates and analyses publishers' Open Access policies from around the world and provides summaries of publishers' copyright and Open Access archiving policies on a journal-by-journal basis.

  • 6. I would like to publish in Open Access but my publisher does not agree. What can I do?

    If you publish your article in a subscription-based journal, but still want to reserve the rights for archiving on an Open Access server, the easiest way is to only leave the simple rights of use to the editor. You can reserve the necessary rights for later Open Access archiving by

    • Cancelling restrictive sections (e.g. “cession of all rights“) clearly before signing the contract. It is recommended to notify the editor about the cancellation.
    • Adding a contract amendment. The most known amendment is the SPARC Author's Addendum. Thanks to the Copyright Addendum Engineprovided by Science Commons and SPARC authors can set up automatically an addendum with the following variants: Access-Reuse, Delayed Access, and Immediate Access. Another addendum is proposed by the MIT Libraries.

    Here is an example that must not be absolutely integrated into the contract but can be signed as an amendment (if not explicitly prohibited by the publishing contract):

    Example addendum to the publishing contract:
    This addendum completes the publishing contract entered into by the contracting parties and shall take precedence over any contrary provisions referred to therein. Six months (three years in the case of books) after publication the author is allowed to deposit his work on an internal network of an educational and research institution, on institutional repositories, or on his own homepage or to authorize third party to do so. If the publisher transfers the rights of use to third party, he commits to meet the commitments stated in this addendum.

    To validate this addendum, it must be accepted also by the editor. The simple fact of publishing a work is not enough to deduce an acceptance of the addendum if the publisher has not accepted it explicitly. The onus of proof of the acceptance by the editor lies on the author (Art. 8 CC).

  • 7. My publisher allows me to publish my work on my personal website. Am I, in this case, also allowed to deposit it on FOLIA?

    Publishing contracts and agreements may entitle the author to publish his work on his personal website. Such a provision is part of the freedom of contract and therefore legal. However, if the agreement expressly mentions the publication on the author‘s website, the employing university‘s document repository is not included. Such an interpretation would go too far. Nevertheless, the author or the repository operator is free to set a hyperlink that refers to the author‘s personal website and the work accessible there.

  • 8. I would like to publish an article with several co-authors. What do I have to consider?

    If there is a publishing contract, it must first be verified if a deposit on an Open Access repository is permitted. If this is the case, the consent of all authors is necessary for depositing on FOLIA. It is possible that the authors appointed one person as their representative. In this case, this person is entitled to dispose of the rights on the common work (Art. 7 para. 2 CopA).

    In the case of a CC-BY Licence (see question 4), the consent of the co-authors is not necessary: everyone can distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the work, even commercially, as long as they credit for the original creation.

  • 9. My publication contains images whose rights belong to a collecting society. How can I publish it in the Open Access repository?

    It must be clarified whether the collecting society has authorized the publisher to grant the rights to the images for further publications and whether the publisher grants these rights to the author. As a rule, the author often has to obtain permission from the collecting society, which may entail costs.

    For further information please contact your local librarian.

Open Access Funding