Research Publishing Policy

QA237 Research Publishing

Description

The University of Galway is committed to research publishing that supports excellence, impact, visibility and equity. Research publications are recognised as a vital institutional asset, and this policy aims both to drive high-quality publishing in domain-leading outlets and to ensure that the University’s research is openly available, reusable and preserved for the long term.

The policy pairs the ambition to publish in leading journals, presses and platforms with responsible open dissemination of outputs. It supports robust peer review, rigorous editorial standards, equitable access to knowledge and responsible research assessment. Open publishing is understood as making research outputs available free of charge online, without subscription barriers, in ways that respect author rights and institutional intellectual property.

The policy aligns with the University’s strategy, UNESCO Recommendations on Open Science, Plan S, EU Open Science policy, Horizon Europe Open Science requirements and relevant funder mandates. It is informed by the National Open Research Forum (NORF) and the SCOIR project, and implements the University’s endorsement of the National Action Plan for Open Research. The University supports the national objective to achieve 100% open availability of research publications by 2030 and encourages researchers to adopt open research practices across the research lifecycle.

Application

This policy applies to all staff and students of the University of Galway. It covers research publications such as journal articles, conference papers, books, book chapters, monographs and reports. Artistic, creative and literary works are recognised as important research outputs but are excluded from the mandatory elements of this policy. Authors of such works are encouraged, where appropriate, to consider open publishing options.

Authors are encouraged to target domain-leading publication outlets that maximise the visibility, impact and reputation of University research. A curated list of domain-leading outlets is maintained under the oversight of the Research and Innovation Committee.

Authors must make their research publications openly available immediately on acceptance, via one or more of the following routes, unless an approved exception applies:

Repository-led (Green Route), by depositing the Author Accepted Manuscript (AAM) or Version of Record (VoR) in an open repository
APC-free (Diamond Route), where the final published version is made open without author-facing charges
Publisher-hosted (Goldg Route), where the VoR is made immediately open on the publisher site, including where costs are covered by read-and-publish or similar agreements.

The AAM or VoR must be deposited on acceptance for publication in the University of Galway Research Repository (the institutional open repository) without an embargo, unless an approved exception applies.

To enable immediate open publishing, authors are required to retain sufficient rights in their work. This is done by asserting author copyright in the publication process. Authors should use a rights retention statement when submitting to publishers or otherwise ensure that they do not sign away their rights in a way that prevents immediate open repository access. This enables the AAM to be made openly available under a permissive licence on acceptance.

Each member of staff grants the University of Galway a non-exclusive, irrevocable, worldwide licence to make a version of their research publications publicly available under an open licence, such as a Creative Commons licence. This maximises access, reuse and collaboration, while preserving author ownership and respecting institutional intellectual property rights.

Publications should include a clear statement indicating how others can access underlying research data, original software or materials. For outputs arising from University employment or student research, the primary affiliation listed on publications and in persistent identifiers such as ORCID must be “University of Galway”.

Exceptions to immediate open publishing may be approved where there are legal restrictions, ethical concerns, issues of national security, commercial sensitivity, or other overriding public interest reasons, including certain long-form works and major digital resources. Any postponement of open availability must be requested at the time of submission and is considered by an Embargoes sub-committee of the Research and Innovation Committee. Any approved postponement should be for the shortest period necessary. Publisher restrictions on sharing the publisher PDF are not, in themselves, a valid ground for exception, as authors retain rights in the AAM.

The University does not support publication in outlets that have deceptive, predatory or poor practices. Authors are expected to exercise due diligence when choosing where to publish and to prefer publishers and outlets with recognised editorial and research integrity standards. Outputs published in questionable outlets may be ineligible for internal support or excellence-focused initiatives.

Procedures

Before submission, ensure “University of Galway” is listed as your primary affiliation on the manuscript and in your ORCID record. Also include the following rights retention statement in the submission cover letter and, where possible, in the acknowledgements: “For the purpose of open availability, the author has applied a public copyright licence to the Author Accepted Manuscript arising from this submission to enable immediate repository dissemination.”

When your publication is accepted, go to the University of Galway Research Repository and follow the How to submit guidance at the Help dropdown. If you need support with your submission, email researchrepository@universityofgalway.ie.

Upon receipt of your submission, the Library will:

Ensure the submission is a PDF to facilitate display and preservation
Verify that the appropriate version has been deposited
Review appropriate exceptions, copyright, and license statements
Publish the appropriate version Open Access at the earliest possible date, considering any approved exceptions. In all cases, make the metadata publicly available immediately
Create a University of Galway DOI for the item
Facilitate harvesting by other repositories and global systems by conforming to European metadata standardisation using openAIRE.

This procedure will be replaced in Q2 2026 with a new procedure for submitting Open publications via the CRIS, with workflows managed using the CRIS. Open publications from the CRIS will be pushed automatically to the University of Galway Research Repository. Note: An institutional Open Repository remains essential alongside a CRIS to ensure long-term access, preservation of University of Galway research publications, Open Access compliance, legal and funder policy adherence, enhanced interoperability and visibility, and robust integration with persistent identifiers and digital preservation networks.

Support and further information

The following services and infrastructures support the implementation of this policy. They enable high-quality publishing and open dissemination of research outputs.

University of Galway Research Repository for repository-led (Green Route) open publishing and alignment with national and international discovery services.
OpenPress at University of Galway for open publishing of long-form texts, including monographs, with support for multilingual outputs.
The Current Research Information System (CRIS) for managing researcher profiles, publications and grants.
Read-and-publish agreements and APC-free (Diamond Route) open platforms, negotiated nationally through IReL and supported by the Library, which enable immediate Open Read on publisher platforms without additional cost to authors where covered.
A Publication Support Scheme (Internal Access) for exceptional publication charges not covered by existing agreements, managed by the Office of the Vice-President for Research and Innovation with Planning & Institutional Research and the Library.
Library guidance and training on copyright, rights retention, open licences, research repositories and responsible journal selection.