Self-archiving

Self-archiving is made following Aalto’s prior licence model, with immediate open access and under the Creative Commons license required by the funder. If the funder doesn’t require a license, peer-reviewed manuscript is self-archived without an embargo and without a license.

1. Open Science and ACRIS team will contact you and inform you about the options in self-archiving, depending on the externally funded projects acknowledged in the publication. Options include following the prior licence model and the possibility for opt-out, if the funder doesn’t require immediate open access.
2. Ensure your co-authors permission for self-archiving the peer-reviewed manuscript, see Co-authored publications.
3. Send the peer-reviewed manuscript to manuscripts@aalto.fi.
4. Open Science and ACRIS team self-archives the peer-reviewed manuscript to Aalto's publication repository according to your notification. 

Co-authored publications 

• Self-archiving should be agreed upon with the co-authors, similar to the authors' roles and their order in the article, choice and openness of the publication channel. You can inform your co-authors for example:
  • Our university follows a prior licence model, under which peer-reviewed manuscript versions are self-archived in our university’s publication repository without an embargo and under a CC license required by the funder. If these conditions for self-archiving are not acceptable to you, please inform me by [date]. 

Opt-out 

• You have the possibility to opt-out from the prior licence model. No justification is needed. Opt-out means that the peer-reviewed manuscript will be self-archived following the publisher's terms, including embargo.
• Opt-out is also possible if one of the co-authors does not approve of self-archiving following Aalto's prior licence model.
• Please note that many research funders require immediate open access under a CC license. 

Aalto University prior licence model does not apply retroactively to manuscripts submitted for peer-review before 1.1.2026. Peer-reviewed manuscripts are self-archived following the publisher's terms and conditions. 

1. Open Science and ACRIS team asks you to send the peer-reviewed manuscript.
2. Ensure your co-authors permission for self-archiving the peer-reviewed manuscript, see Co-authored publications.
3. Send the peer-reviewed manuscript to manuscripts@aalto.fi.
4. Open Science and ACRIS team self-archives the peer-reviewed manuscript to Aalto's publication repository in accordance with the publisher's terms and conditions. 

Co-authored publications

• Self-archiving of the peer-reviewed manuscript should be agreed upon with the co-authors, similar to the authors' roles and their order in the article, choice and openness of the publication channel. 

If the article is published as an open access publication under an open license (e.g. Creative Commons), you do not need to do anything. Open Science and ACRIS team will take care of self-archiving the published article in university's publication repository to ensure its long-term preservation.

If the article is published behind a paywall, the peer-reviewed manuscript (e.g. Author Accepted Manuscript, AAM, final draft) can be self-archived. This is called green open access. Open Science and ACRIS team will contact you and ask you to send the peer-reviewed manuscript. 

There are three different versions of a journal article or other research output: preprint, peer-reviewed manuscript, and published article.  

1. Preprint is the manuscript version that has been submitted for review, but not yet undergone peer review.
   • Please note: Preprint doesn't comply with funders' open access policies, because funders require that peer-reviewed scientific articles are available open access.
2. Peer-reviewed manuscript (e.g. AAM, Author accepted manuscript, final draft) is the version that has been accepted for publication by the publisher. It does not have publisher's layout or logo on it.     
   • Please note: If the article is not published open access under open license, peer-reviewed manuscript can be used for self-archiving. This is called green open access.
3. Published article (e.g. VoR, Version of Record, final published version) is the final version that has been peer-reviewed and published in a journal or proceedings, and has undergone editing and typesetting, and will have the publisher's logo on it.
   • Please note: If the article is not available open access under an open license, it cannot be used for self-archiving. 

Creative Commons licenses are the most common open licenses that enable the creator to specify how someone else may use their work. The creator always retains the copyright to their work. For example, the CC BY license allows the work to be freely copied, distributed, and modified, even for commercial purposes. The original work must always be attributed, and the creator's name must be mentioned. Several research funders require the use of the CC BY license.   

Open content licenses - Creative Commons | Aalto University

Use of discipline-specific repositories commonly used and endorsed by the respective research communities is recommended, because it increases the visibility and impact of the research. However, the full-text versions of peer-reviewed manuscripts or published articles should be self-archived also to university's publication repository to ensure long-term availability in national repositories.

Self-archiving applies also in cases where the author leaves the university before the article is accepted for publication. Your publication is based on research or other expert work at Aalto University, so the affiliation of your publication will remain the same even if your employer changes. 

Self-archiving applies to peer-reviewed research articles in journals, conference proceedings, and anthologies published under Aalto University's affiliation. However, it does not apply to publications where a Bachelor´s or a Master´s student is the sole author, because publications by undergraduate students are not taken into account in the Ministry of Education and Culture's publication data collection. 

Publication data collection instructions for authors 

Internationally, prior licence model is known as the Rights Retention Strategy. Researchers retain the right to self-archive their peer-reviewed manuscript (e.g. Author Accepted Manuscript, AAM) without an embargo period and under the Creative Commons license required by the funder in Aalto's publication repository, regardless of any restrictions set by publishers. 

The prior licence model will apply to manuscripts submitted for peer-review starting 1 January 2026. However, in practice the prior licence model is applied only if the article is published behind a paywall and peer-reviewed manuscript is self-archived (green open access). If the article is published open access in a journal or proceedings under Creative Commons license, there is no need to self-archive the peer-reviewed manuscript.

Prior licence model supports researchers in retaining rights to their peer-reviewed manuscripts and ensures long-term preservation of Aalto University’s research publications. The aim of the prior licence model is to support researchers' possibilities to publish in the publication channel that is most suitable for them and meet funders' open access requirements through self-archiving of the peer-reviewed manuscript (green open access), where compliance is not otherwise possible.

Prior Licence Model Introduced in Finnish Universities in 2026 – Finnish University Libraries’ Network

Prior licence model applies to manuscripts of peer-reviewed articles in journals, conference proceedings, and anthologies (publication types A1–A4 in the Ministry of Education and Culture’s publication data collection). 

• A1 Journal article (refereed), original research
• A2 Review article, Literature review, Systematic review
• A3 Book section, chapters in research books
• A4 Conference article in proceedings 

No. The prior licence model provides researchers with more options for choosing a publication channel. Self-archiving following the prior licence model allows researchers to meet funders' open access requirements even in cases where paying the open access fee (APC fee) in so-called hybrid journals is not feasible, or publisher's policy does not allow self-archiving of the peer-reviewed manuscript without an embargo or under Creative Commons license required by the funder. 

You have the possibility to opt-out from the prior licence model. No justification is needed. Opt-out means that the peer-reviewed manuscript will be self-archived following the publisher's terms, including embargo. However, please note that many research funders require immediate open access under a CC license. 

Self-archiving of the peer-reviewed manuscript should be agreed upon with the co-authors, similar to the authors' roles and their order in the article, choice and openness of the publication channel. If any of the co-authors does not approve of self-archiving following Aalto's prior licence model, it is possible to opt-out. In such cases, the peer-reviewed manuscript will be self-archived following the publisher's terms, including embargo. However, please note that many research funders require immediate open access under a CC license. 

No, Aalto University will inform publishers about the prior licence model directly and on its web pages.

Yes, you can sign the publishing agreement. The embargo period does not apply as your university's prior licence model precedes the publishing agreement. 

Currently, similar policies to prior licence model (internationally known as Rights Retention Strategies) are applied in more than 150 universities, and there are no known cases where researchers affiliated with these institutions have faced legal actions by the publishers.  

It is highly unlikely that publishers would pursue legal actions before giving the possibility to remove the peer-reviewed manuscript from the institutional repository. In the event of a dispute concerning interpretation and application of the prior licence model, university is legally responsible for solving it. 

Some publishers (e.g. (esim. ACS and IEEE) have introduced so-called repository fees. These publishers may charge separate fees for self-archiving of a peer-reviewed manuscript without an embargo, or for the use of a CC license in self-archiving. These fees are not included in open access agreements with publishers. 

For more information, please contact: acris@aalto.fi. 

If you wish to publish your manuscript (preprint, version prior to peer review) in a discipline-specific repository, check from Open policy finder or directly from publisher whether the policy of the target journal is clear that a preprint will not pre-empt its publication. Please note that social media network services (e.g. ResearchGate, Academia.edu) are usually not acceptable repositories by publishers. 

Licenses used for preprints

Several repositories allow the possibility to use Creative Commons licenses for the preprint versions. However, if possible, we recommend using restrictive licenses for preprints (e.g. the non-exclusive license offered by arXiv), to limit re-use before the final publication of the peer-reviewed article.

Webinar: How to publish preprints 3.11.2022

Preprints and funders' open access policies

Please note that publishing preprints doesn't comply with funders' open access policies, because funders require that peer-reviewed scientific articles or peer-reviewed manuscripts are available open access.

Widely-used repositories for preprints

Usually, publishers allow self-archiving in subject-specific repositories (e.g. arXiv) and institutional publication repositories (ACRIS/Aaltodoc), but not, for example, on ResearchGate. Please also note that social media networks are not accepted as repositories by the funders, because permanent availability in these services is not guaranteed, and publications may be openly accessible only to logged-in users.