Open Science

Publishing research results in the University of Lapland is guided by the Publication Policy. Our research results are published in high-quality national and international science and art publications and in appropriate channels intended for professionals and the general public. In all publishing and opening research outputs, we are committed to the guidelines for the responsible conduct of research and for handling allegations of misconduct published by the Finnish National Board on Research Integrity (TENK).

Here you can find information about publishing scientific texts and open access publishing in the University of Lapland. Since there are many discipline-specific differences in publishing, it is essential to familiarize yourself with the practices in your own field, for example with the support of colleagues and supervisors. Always read carefully the publisher's instructions to the authors.

A scientific article is open access (OA) if it is freely accessible on the Internet without restrictions. Open access publishing enhances the visibility, accessibility and impact of research.

When making your research results open access, you can choose to publish:

• in a full open access journal (Gold OA) where your article is open as soon as it is published. The publishers usually charge article processing fees (APC).
• by self-archiving a copy of your article in an open access repository like the university's repository (Green OA) when it is published in a pay-for-access scientific journal. Article processing fees are not charged but there may be an embargo.
• by paying a pay-for-access journal for opening the article (Hybrid).

The terms of open access are agreed in a publishing agreement. This might also include giving the article a license. The most common license is Creative Commons. The University of Lapland uses Creative Commons licenses.

Recomendations for OA

• Research outputs produced at the University of Lapland will, whenever possible, be self-archived in the University of Lapland’s institutional repository in accordance with the publisher’s conditions, and in compliance with the author’s copyrights. Self-archiving also applies to publications that have been published open access.
• The University encourages researchers to publish their work in high-quality full open access journals if available in the discipline or field of art concerned. Reuse of published work should not be limited unless necessary.
• The University does not recommend hybrid publishing.

The costs

• Costs of open access publishing are covered by the faculties, units, and research projects.
• In projects funded by the Research Council of Finland, the costs of open access publishing are covered from overheads.
• Costs of open access publishing must be considered when making research and financing plans.
• The FinELib consortium, consisting of Finnish universities, research institutes and public libraries, has negotiated discounts on article processing charges (APC) and book processing charges (BPC). Responsible authors affiliated to the University of Lapland can use these discounts.

Copyright licenses

• Publications produced at the University of Lapland, including theses and doctoral dissertations, are, as a rule, open and the University recommends that they be licensed under Creative Commons CC BY 4.0.

Responsibilities of the author

• As the author, you agree on the opening of the publication and its terms in the publication agreement. A copyright license is often given to the publication to guide its use.
• Make sure you follow the open access requirements of your funder.
• It is the author’s responsibility to obtain the necessary licenses and permits for self-archiving.
• Authors are responsible for assessing the quality and impact of their chosen publication channel. The Lapland University Consortium Library will provide support and guidance in conducting the assessment.

Self-archiving the full texts of research articles is required if the publisher's policy allows self-archiving. Alternatively a link to open access full text on the publisher's web site can be added to the metadata of the article.

You can self-archive your articles by yourself or ask the Library to do it for you. Instructions can be found in our Research portal guide.

By uploading the full-text file or by giving it to the library for uploading you accept the conditions of self-archiving.

The rights and responsibilities related to publishing an article, a book or a section of a book are always agreed by entering in to a publishing agreement. Each author makes a separate publishing agreement. The editor of a book can not do the agreements for the authors. In addition to writers the persons who have produced for example artistic elements to the publication are considered as authors.

The authors are responsible for entering in to publishing agreements. If needed, the library and the university lawyers can help with the agreements.

In the publishing agreement the author:

• gives the publisher the right to produce a printed and/or electronic publication from he manuscript
• gives the publisher the right to distribute, sell, and market the publication
• guarantees that they have all rights to the manuscript including pictures, photos etc. that are required for publishing and not violating anyone else's rights when giving the publisher rights to produce the publication
• agrees upon the rights of the author(s) to distribute and republish the material
• agrees upon the rights and responsibilities of the publisher.

Some of the publishers offering open access are considered as predatory journals or publishers. Their main goal is to earn money by article processing charges. Their peer-reviewing practices are usually not acceptable, and they typically cannot guarantee long term preservation for the articles. Publishing with a predatory journal or publisher can be considered demerit for a researcher.

Here are some typical features of predatory journals:

• the scope and aim of the publication are unclear or suspiciously wide
• the name of the publication is very close to a well known and respected publication
• the journal has no ISSN-number
• the publication is very actively, even aggressively, advertised by email
• the publication's website lacks information or contains multiple errors in contact details or in writer's instructions
• there are errors or confusion in the information and contact details of the editorial board
• the publisher or owner of the publication is not credible or for example acts like it is European although the web address points to Asia or Africa
• the peer-review process is not clearly described at the web site of the publication or there is no description of it
• the peer-review process is advertised as very quick
• the publication is not indexed in proper international indexes, it can not be found in well-known international article databases or the journal or publisher is not included in the Finnish Publication Forum or the rating is 0
• the journal can not be found in Directory of Open Access Journas database (DOAJ).

In addition to predatory journals, a journal may be hijacked. In this case, the hijacker poses as a scientific journal and copies, among other things, the journal's website and ISSN number. The aim is to collect publication fees (article processing charges). Scams can be very convincing.

There are lists of predatory and hijacked journals but they are always outdated since the situation is changing so rapidly. Please ask help form the Library if needed.

Preprints are article manuscript versions that are published before peer-review. They can be manuscripts that have already been sent to a publisher or the aim might be to gather comments and feedback before offering the manuscript to a publisher. Preprints are a way in which a manuscript containing scientific results can be rapidly communicated to the entire scientific community.

Preprints are a form of open access publishing but they are not considered as open publications in the julkaisutiedonkeruu. That is why it is important to self-archive the peer-reviewed article after publication to get credit of open access publishing.

There are numerous preprint servers available. Some publishers see preprints positively but others do not accept the manuscripts for publishing if the preprint has already been published. Check the policy of the publisher before uploading the preprint.