About Digital Commons

Digital Commons is open to submissions by current WNE faculty and students (with faculty sponsorship). To submit to Digital Commons, follow the step-by-step instructions or watch the video below. Faculty who wish to submit journal articles can review the FAQ below for guidance on following publisher policies. 

What is the difference between a preprint, postprint, and publisher's version of an article?

In general these terms are defined in the following way. Keep in mind that publisher's may define these terms differently so if you're uploading previously published work to Digital Commons, you can check your publisher's agreement and/or Open Policy Finder.

• Pre-print: the version of a paper before peer review. These can usually be submitted to Digital Commons at any time. 
• Postprints: Sometimes called the Author's Accepted Manuscript (AAM), the version of a paper after peer-review but has not yet been formally formatted. These can usually be submitted to Digital Commons after being accepted by the journal. 
• Publisher's version: Official versions of works that have been formatted and posted on publisher websites.

(Image from Wikimedia Commons, CC:BY 4.0)

What does the publisher allow?

Open Policy Finder

• is a searchable database of publishers' copyright and self-archiving policies for pre-prints and post-prints.
• is searchable by publisher, journal title and ISSN.
• find out if your publishers' copyright rules allow you to deposit in your institutional repository.
• summarizes publishers' conditions and categorizes publishers by colors, indicating level of author rights.
• shows which publishers comply with funding agencies' conditions on open access.

What to do if a journal isn't found in Open Policy Finder:

1. Link out to the article if possible.
2. Check the publisher's website and follow the policies on re-posting.
3. Write to the publisher asking for permission.

What is an embargo? Should I request one?

An embargo delays full-text access to your work. A limited amount of information (the title of your work, and abstract) will be available once your material is submitted, but the full text of your work will not be visible for a set period of time that you choose. Once the embargo concludes, the full text of your work will be made available online. If you have previously published your article, check the publisher guidelines for information regarding any required embargo periods. Students, please discuss with your advisor as to whether or not you should embargo.  ​