Research Publishing

What authors need to do

Use the steps below as a checklist for research publications covered by the QA237 Research Publishing 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 essential research outputs but are excluded from the mandatory elements.)

1. Plan publishing outlet and open route

• Identify suitable journals, conferences or presses that are recognised in your field. Check College or School guidance or publishing strategies (Example of Utrecht University Toolkit for College Publishing Strategies) and the curated lists of domain-leading outlets (Internal Access) managed by the Research and Innovation Committee
• Decide how the output will be made openly available, taking into account funder and policy requirements. See routes to Open Publishing describing repository-led (Green), APC-free (Diamond), and publisher-hosted (Green, Diamond, or Gold)
• Check for eligibility under national read-and-publish and other open publishing agreements. The National Deals for APCs page sets out current agreements and conditions, including the need to assert University of Galway affiliation.

If you are unsure about a journal, publisher, or press, consult Library guidance on responsible journal selection and predatory publishing or ask for individual advice from experts in publishing in the Library.

2. Before you submit

• Use “University of Galway” as your primary affiliation on the manuscript and in your ORCID record, where relevant.
• Make sure you will have the correct Author Accepted Manuscript (AAM) file, required metadata (authors, funder, grant, DOI), and permissions for any third-party content so you can deposit in the local Research Repository without delay on acceptance or publication.
• Under the University of Galway Research Publishing Policy, you retain copyright and license to the publisher. The Library has already notified publishers that eligible AAMs can be made open in the University of Galway Research Repository under CC BY on acceptance. You can add a rights retention statement to your cover letter if you wish, but you do not need to negotiate this with the publisher. Email openanddigitalresearch@universityofgalway.ie with any questions or issues from publishers.
  • Suggested text: "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."
• If you anticipate legal, ethical, security or commercial sensitivities that might require delayed access, contact the Library and your Research Office representative before submission so that a possible exception can be discussed with the Embargoes sub-committee.

3. When your publication is accepted

• Prepare the version you are allowed to share. Preferably, the Version of Record (publisher PDF), where permitted, otherwise the Author Accepted Manuscript.
• Deposit this version in the University of Galway Research Repository using the “How to submit” instructions and include accurate metadata, including funder information and grant numbers
• If you need help with the deposit process, contact the repository support service in the Library.

Note: In 2026, a new workflow will be introduced that allows you to submit open publications via the Current Research Information System (CRIS), with eligible publications automatically pushed to the Research Repository. We will update these web pages with up-to-date instructions as these workflows go live.

4. After deposit

The Library will:

• Verify that an appropriate version has been deposited and check metadata
• Check any exception requests, copyright and licence information
• Make the deposited version openly available under the policy and any approved embargo
• Register DOIs for items where appropriate and ensure metadata are harvested by national and international discovery services. 

You do not need to repeat these steps on other repository platforms unless required by a specific funder or collaborator.