Open Access at UT Austin

For authors who are interested in self-archiving their work to make it openly available, this list provides some examples of disciplinary and institutional repositories that can be used by the UT Austin community.

Not seeing a repository that will work for you? Please reach out to either Colleen Lyon or your subject liaison for assistance in finding the appropriate repository.

Any time you are considering publication in any journal that is new to you, you should thoroughly review that journal to make sure it's the right place to publish. Things you should consider include:

• Reputation - Look at recent publications to get a sense of the quality and ask your colleagues if they have opinions on the journal.
• Look at the editorial board - Do you recognize the editors? Do they represent a variety of geographic and institutional affiliations? Do those editors list their association with the journal on their own personal websites?
• Peer review - Look for information about the peer review process. Journals that promise unreasonably quick turnaround may not be doing quality peer review.
• Discoverability - Is the journal indexed in DOAJ, Web of Science, or disciplinary indexes?
• Fees - Any article processing charges (APCs) should be easy to find on the journal website. If the journal does not charge an APC, that information should also be prominent. Beware open access journals that do not have any information about fees or lack of fees on their website.
• Copyright - Any fully open access journal, including those from major publishers, should allow authors to retain their copyright. If the journal requires an exclusive transfer of copyright or an exclusive license for publication and distribution, ask why.
• Publishing ethics - Is the journal or publisher a member of OASPA? Does the journal have a statement of ethics on their webpage along with information regarding policies related to research misconduct, plagiarism, or other ethical violations.

Many faculty are interested in creating online profiles or access to their work. Some accomplish that through their own website, through repositories, or through academic social networks like ResearchGate and Academia.edu (Academia.edu is not affiliated with an educational institution). Before choosing a location to share your work, consider your goals and the platform's overall purpose.

• Are you primarily interested in long-term preservation of your work? If so, you should use an established repository that has a long-term preservation plan like PubMed Central, arXiv, or Texas ScholarWorks.
• Are you primarily interested in creating a profile of your scholarly work? If so, there are several options you could consider. Keep in mind that several academic social network platforms are commercial services. Your data is used to monetize the platform. That's part of the reason they typically ask for access to your address book - so they can email all your contacts with an invite to participate. Most of these academic networks also make no guarantees to long-term access. It's possible the service could be shut off with little or no notice. With that in mind, please don't use an academic social network as your only comprehensive access to your work. ORCID provides a profile system that is interoperable, non-proprietary, and non-profit. 
• Are you primarily interested in the social aspect/networking options available? If so, then ResearchGate or Academia.edu may meet those needs. However, you should be aware that documents and your actions on the site constitute the data they sell to paying customers. They should not be your primary research sharing venue. 
• Are you interested mainly in metrics? If so, check out the options on the different platforms and see which ones fit your needs. Consider combining quantitative metrics with more qualitative metrics that do a better job of communicating the impact of your research.