Open policy finder (Jisc)
Open Policy Finder by Jisc (formerly SHERPA Romeo/SHERPA Services) helps authors and institutions make informed decisions about open-access publishing and compliance. It provides easy access to publisher policies and supports researchers in understanding their rights and responsibilities when publishing articles, monographs, and book chapters. We have compiled information on what Open Policy Finder is, why it is useful, and how it can be used when publishing scholarly works.
What is it and why it is useful
Open Policy Finder provides easy access to publisher policies for articles, monographs, and book chapters. It allows authors to check what they can do with different versions of their work and helps them understand their rights and open-access options.
In Open Policy Finder, you, as an author, can find information about:
- self-archiving permissions and repository options
- copyright and rights retention
- available CC licences
- publication and open-access fees
- publisher policies for submitted, accepted, and published versions of a work
This information can help you make informed decisions about publishing.
How to use it
Go to Open policy finder and type in a journal title, publisher or funder in the search field.
In this example we will search for publisher Edward Elgar.
There might be several different options for the same publisher in the result list. Choose the alternative corresponding best to your publication.
How to use it for articles
After choosing the publisher, the result page presents the Journal listings for articles.
Click on a journal to see what rules apply to the title.
All journals are divided into the different stages of the author flow: submitted, accepted and published. What the author is allowed to do in each of these stages depends on several factors, such as: which open access model is used, if the publication is associated with funder requisites and which CC-license is chosen.
The journal used in this example, Advances in Economics, has the following options:
| Submitted | Options with no embargo - (not specified, but when funder-requisites) |
| Accepted |
Options with 6 months embargo - when no funder-requisites Option with funder-requisites, no embargo & CC BY license - when funder-requisites (UK) Option with funder-requisites, no embargo & CC BY license - when funder-requisites (all) |
| Published |
Option with associated OA fees, no embargo & CC BY-NC-ND-license - when no when funder-requisites Option with funder-requisites, no embargo & CC BY license - when funder-requisites |
| Policy links | Links to the publisher for more in-depth information on self-archiving and publishing fees. |
Options linked to funding requirements are usually more generous regarding open access, as there are less frequently embargoes or restrictive CC licenses, and fewer limitations on authors' rights.
By clicking on each stage of the author workflow, you can see in detail what applies to the following:
| OA fee | If there is an OA publishing fee |
| OA publishing | If the option includes OA publishing |
| Embargo | Whether there is an embargo |
| License | Whether and which CC-licenses options there are |
| Copyright owner | If the author retains the right to the publication |
| Locations | If and where self-archiving is allowed |
| Conditions | Other conditions applying to the publication |
| Notes | Notes applying to the publication |
Not all of these are specified everywhere.
How to use it for monographs and book chapters
After choosing the publisher and the result page presents the Journal listings for articles click on the "Open Access Book Policies" option in the top meny. The "Policy type" should be "Monograph", but can also be changed to "Book chapters".
Here the same options as for articles appear informing what you as an author can do in each stage of the author work flow. In the policy links information about publishing fees can be found.
