One of the most commonly asked questions by first time authors of research articles is how to share their research article legally with the public. Since most researchers, especially those from the developing world, do not receive funding for open access publications, it becomes difficult for them to share their work with the public. I have listed five ways in which researchers can do this legally, without violating any copyrights law.
1. Sharing pre-prints: The first option is to share the pre-print of the article on pre-print servers. A pre-print is that version of the article that has not yet been peer-reviewed or sent to a journal for publication. Some sites where one can share their pre-print are- ResearchGate, arXiv, bioRxiv, etc. Sharing a pre-print is ideal in case the researcher feels that it is critical that the findings of a study are quickly shared with the public as the peer-review process takes a significant amount of time.
2. Sharing the accepted version of the article on research networking sites (might be subject to an embargo period): The second option is to share the accepted version of the article on research networking sites such as ResearchGate and Academia.edu. The accepted version of an article is that version of the article that has been through peer-review and has been accepted by the editor for publication. However, it is a version that has not undergone typesetting. Nevertheless, it is a good enough version, which other researchers can read and cite. I have uploaded the accepted version of three of my research articles on ResearchGate.
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However, one must read the copyrights rules before posting the accepted version because in some cases, there is an embargo period laid down by the publisher or the journal (usually one year after publication), until which time, the researcher cannot post the accepted version anywhere.
3. Sharing the accepted version of the article on institutional repositories (might be subject to an embargo period): If you are part of a university, then it’s likely that your university or institute has an institutional repository where faculty members and research scholars can upload their articles. My university has subscribed to DSpace and I have uploaded the accepted version of my articles there as well.
4. Sharing the read only version of the final article on social networking sites: Some publishers offer free e-copies or special links to the read-only version of the article to the authors. These are essentially links to the final version of the article that can be shared on social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, to name a few. These links can also be shared over email with colleagues and other researchers. I am personally aware of three publishers that offer this kind of service- Springer (with a programme called SharedIt), Sage, and Taylor and Francis. There could be others as well.
5. Sharing the accepted version of the article on one’s personal website or blog (might be subject to an embargo period): In case the author has a personal website, they can share the accepted version of the article (subject to an embargo period) on their personal website. In case the authors do not have a website of their own, they can easily create their own blog and share their publications there. For example-
https://www.blogger.com/blog/posts/4742147742780806306
I hope researchers from around the world find this useful. As researchers we have the responsibility to ensure that our findings are shared with the public as soon as possible, but at the same time, we must respect the copyrights laws that govern our publications. Please feel free to share your thoughts and ideas as well. Thank you.
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