What your university librarian told you is only partly correct. It depends on the status of the publication. Open access publications can be posted immediately (although there are different kinds of open access, one has to check this in each case). Some publishers/journals allow preprint posting. However, some users simply ignore the rules. Here are some statements and instructions from ResearchGate: https://explore.researchgate.net/display/support/Copyright

Wolfgang is right. If the publication is OA, it's almost certainly OK to put it on RG. Also, arguably, posting on RG is a non-commercial use and might be permitted under exceptions to copyright law (do the exceptions include "for non-commercial research or private study"?) in your country.

You still have to be very careful because some publishers and journals do not permit articles to be shown on sites like RG if not Open Access.

If the individual owns the copyright, or if the article is OA, the author can always post onto RG. Even if the journal owns the copyright, it cannot object if reproduction on RG is under an exception to copyright - irrespective of what the journal might state.

Hello Pamela Luft

Sorry, I think I might be biased (and my reply a bit pessimistic) because the majority of my work is not open access and/or I do not own the copyright.

Dear Pamela Luft,

You can share your OA articles, as you still own the copyright. Concerning paywalled articles, what you can share normally is the accepted manuscript, after peer review but without the journal's layout, and after an embargo period (with a full reference to the published article). See the Sherpa Romeo website for more details. I can also add that Research Gate is a for-profit company, so it is generally not regarded as non-commercial. I wrote a blog post on this subject some time ago: https://libraryblog.graduateinstitute.ch/2019/11/11/should-you-share-your-published-articles-on-academic-social-media/

I do what Catherine does - supply the accepted manuscript before journal layout/final editing. I never submit articles to journals that claim an embargo period anyway.

The site Sherpa Romeo attempts to collect information about open access policies for individual journals and publishers. This includes information about posting copies of your research on sites like ResearchGate. Please see, https://v2.sherpa.ac.uk/romeo

Pam, Hi! It looks like the feedback you have received is pretty much correct. What I would point out for the sake of taking greatest precaution is that when the publisher owns the copyright and does not provide open access, you can only freely post the last version of the manuscript you submitted to the journal for review. Once they accept it for publication, anything else you do is owned by them when they retain copyright. (Oxford University Press, the publisher of the Journal of Deaf Studies & Deaf Education, is very clear about this point in their guidance on this matter.) As for me, if the publisher provides open access, I simply provide the DOI and let people click on the link for it themselves, so I can avoid any entanglements entirely. I hope you've gotten all of the info you need. Best wishes, Ross

Hi Ross,

Thanks and yes, it makes sense to publish only the last draft with info on where to access the published version, including the DOI. That was the direction I was headed but wanted to be sure. A few years ago a couple of journals indicated waiting a year to post online was acceptable. I also think the ubiquity of posting has now made journals more cautious overall.

Hope you're doing well!

Pam