Publications

Basic principles 

In accordance with EPFL’s Open Access policy, in force since February 2019, EPFL actors must disseminate the results of their work according to the Open Access (OA) publication model. These individuals remain free to choose the journals in which they wish to disseminate the results of their research.

Open Access is synonymous with free access, wide and free of charge in the furtherance of scientific knowledge, without financial barriers (subscriptions) or legal barriers (distribution rights). Simply put, anyone who surfs the internet may access and download the publication.

The different forms of Open Access are:

  • Green Open Access: free for readers and authors alike. It consists of depositing a journal-approved version (generally the version accepted prior to layout and formatting by the publisher) of an article published in a journal available by subscription into an open repository (Infoscience at EPFL). The publisher’s policy may restrict this practice, for instance by imposing an embargo period.
  • Gold Open Access: free for readers, generally fee-paying for authors or institutions. It consists in publishing in a journal whose entire content is freely accessible to anyone on the internet, in its final version, formatted by the publisher. The journal is funded by way of publication fees (Article Processing Charge – APC) which vary according to the journal. “hybrid OA” consists of paying an OA option for a journal available by subscription in order to make the article freely accessible. Access to the publication is thus paid for twice: through the subscription and through the OA option. This is termed “double dipping”.

Open Access aims to provide researchers with the greatest possible visibility for their scientific output and leads to an increased number of citations. Moreover, it serves to comply with the requirements of most funding sources, including the Swiss National Science Foundation and European programmes.

EPFL encourages publication in Gold Open Access and supports authors to this end, notably by partially covering the APC subject to certain conditions. However, EPFL does not support the “hybrid” publication option for the reasons mentioned above, unless this type of publication is provided for in a Read&Publish agreement. These contracts cover both access to journals (“Read”) and the Open Access publication costs (“Publish”).

In the case of Green OA, EPFL requires that its authors deposit the full text of their publications in Infoscience, the EPFL institutional repository, at the latest 6 months after publication. Where the publisher’s policy and EPFL’s Open Access policy are non-compatible, EPFL recommends that its authors communicate and submit the “EPFL Author Amendment” addendum to the publication contract. Authors are also strongly advised, where possible, not to transfer copyright ownership to the publisher in order to retain the maximum rights to reuse the work.

Responsabilities 

EPFL actively supports wide dissemination of research findings generated by its researchers and accompanies them throughout the publishing process. The EPFL Library is the reference for all matters related to scientific publication.

Legal basis 

Further informations

Advice for day-to-day business

For articles published in Gold Open Access for which the final publisher’s version is freely accessible on the journal’s website, the filing of a copy of this version (pdf) in Infoscience is authorised.

For articles published in the traditional manner, the filing of the accepted version in Infoscience is generally authorised, with or without an embargo period. Only a minority of publishers do not allow the deposit of these versions.

Contact the EPFL Library in case of doubt about the right of self-archiving or the type of version to be filed.

Contact

Scientific publication
[email protected]

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