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SOAR Submission Policy - Faculty & Staff Scholarly and Creative Works

Guide for faculty and staff to contribute scholarly and creative works into SOAR.

Copyright and Permissions

  • Do all authors have to agree to deposit their scholarly and creative works?
    • Yes, for each scholarly and creative work deposited in the institutional repository, the author grants to SUNY New Paltz nonexclusive permission to make that work freely and openly available to the public.
  • If a work is co-authored, each co-author can grant a non-exclusive license by accepting the deposit agreement without permission of the other co-authors. However, it is recommend that the depositing SUNY author talk with their co-author colleagues prior to submitting the work to the SUNY Open Access Repository to avoid potential disagreements.
  • How can I find out the copyright and self-archiving policies of a particular publisher?
  • If I deposit my work, what rights do I retain? How can I control how others may use my work?
    • It depends upon who owns the copyright
      • If you retain copyright or it has been published under a Creative Commons license, you will be able to submit it to SUNY NP’s OA repository.
      • If the publisher retains copyright, you need to follow their policies. You can check the journal’s policies at Sherpa Romeo or Transpose.
      • If you published in an open access journal, your work will most likely have a Creative Commons License attached which is set by the journal. Visit this Creative Commons website for more information.
  • What are “green” and “gold” access?
    • In a “green” OA initiative, authors self-archive works in an institutional repository at no additional cost and must abide by the publisher’s restrictions. The publisher may require an embargo, typically a delay of 12-24 months, before deposited work may be made public. The “gold” OA initiatives allow works to be made available at the time of publication in an open access journal, or a journal that provides an open access option (hybrid model). The author usually must pay an article processing charge and typically will have less control over the reuse of the work. Funding agencies sometimes require authors to share their work in a gold open access or hybrid journal.
  • Will I have to pay the publisher to make my work public in this way?
    • The New Paltz repository is a “green access” initiative, which means that no costs are incurred so long as you adhere to any restrictions such as embargoes that the publisher may impose.
  • My sponsor requires that my work be made available at the time of publication (gold access). Am I required to comply, given that our repository is a “green” access initiative?
    • Yes, in this case, the work must be deposited at the time of publication. If applicable, the sponsor may cover any article processing charges (APC).
  • Removal of work
  • If an author deposits an article in the SUNY Open Access Repository (SOAR) and later learns that the work is in violation of copyright or the policy of the publisher of the work, the Sojourner Truth Library SOAR administrator will remove the work from SOAR.