Publishing agreements

Authorship

Aalto University is committed to the goal set by the Finnish National Board on Research Integrity (TENK), according to which:

1. the principles of authorship are discussed at the planning stage of the research project
2. the authorship is agreed upon before the manuscript is submitted for publication, at the latest.

The Authorship and explanation of responsibilities related to scientific publications -document provides a tool to prevent disputes regarding authorship.

The Finnish National Board on Research Integrity (TENK): Agreeing on authorship. Recommendation for research publications Aalto University guidelines for agreeing on authorship

Publishing agreements

A publishing agreement specifies how the publisher, the researcher, and the researcher's university may use the publication. For example, it defines whether the researcher is permitted to self-archive the article in the university's institutional repository and which version of the article may be deposited. Self-archiving in commercial services such as ResearchGate is often prohibited. The publishing agreement also often specifies the license to be used for open access publishing. 

In accordance with Aalto University's copyright policy, the researcher signs a publishing agreement as the copyright owner. Publishing agreements should be archived, as they specify how the publication may be used.

Read more about Creative Commons Open Content Licenses

Compliance with funder requirements in publishing agreements

In externally funded research projects, copyright ownership of all project results is transferred to Aalto University in accordance with Annex 1 of the employment contract. For scientific publications resulting from such projects, Aalto University is responsible for ensuring compliance with the funder's open science and open access publishing requirements. In accordance with its copyright policy, Aalto University transfers the signing of publishing agreements to the researcher, provided that the agreement complies with the funder’s requirements.

Please check your funders' open science requirements before signing the publishing agreement. For example, the funder may have requirements related to immediate open access publishing and licenses.

Funders' open science requirements

Publishing agreement and self-archiving

Publishers determine which version of a publication may be deposited in an institutional repository (e.g. ACRIS/Aaltodoc at Aalto University) and whether an embargo period applies. 

1. If the article is published as an open access publication under an open license (e.g. Creative Commons), the final published version can be self-archived. 
2. If the article is published behind a paywall, typically the permitted version is the peer-reviewed manuscript (Author Accepted Manuscript, AAM). The peer-reviewed manuscript includes revisions made during the review process, but does not contain the publisher’s layout, logo, or pagination. 
   • Aalto University prior license model (Rights Retention Strategy, RRS) secures researchers' right to self-archive their peer-reviewed manuscript in Aalto University’s publication repository and ensures immediate open access, regardless of any restrictions set by the publisher.

You can check the default self-archiving policies of well-known, international publishers on Open Policy Finder. 

Self-archiving

Copyright and social media

Copyright also applies to sharing publications on academic networking and social media platforms, such as ResearchGate, Academia.edu and Mendeley. Researchers must take copyright issues into account when sharing publications through these platforms. It should also be noted that the long-term availability of publications is not guaranteed on these sites. Information on which version of a publication may be shared on social media and networking platforms is available through the online service "How can I share it”. However, not all publishers are included in the service.

How can I share it?

Support

For help, please contact acris@aalto.fi.