Postprints

Postprints (also called Green Open Access) are free-to-read versions of accepted manuscripts after peer-review without paywalls. Specifically, postprints are the accepted but unformatted version of a manuscript. This means that the manuscript is not the typeset version from the publisher, but the author version from, for example, LaTeX or a word editor.

Due to Copyright Transfer Agreements, sharing of postprints requires a bit more attention than the sharing of Preprints. How much attention is needed, depends on the specific agreement and the policy of the journal. For most journals, the policy on postprints is included in the SHeRPa/ROMEO database and is permissive after a specific embargo.

Some countries have laws that state that making postprints available is a moral right of the author, regardless of the journal policy and content of the Copyright Transfer Agreements. Posting postprints is then allowed after "a reasonable time" (the Netherlands), which is often equated to twelve months (as is the case in France and Germany).

Postprints are often shared in centralized repositories, instead of personal websites, to increase findability and make sure these stay available over time. If shared on a personal website, services such as Google Scholar, oaDOI, and other services have trouble finding these copies and are less likely to help link people to these free-to-read versions. Also, due to Reference Rot on the Internet, personal websites are not reliable for access. Many institutions have their own repositories to deposit postprints too. Preprint servers are good places to deposit postprints in, making it natural to post the manuscript from submission through acceptance.

Sharing postprints is a good first step in promoting availability of your work to interested readers but requires you to self-archive your work. It may also still be restrictive in how people are allowed to share that research and redistribute it. For example, posting an article on your digital course forum may still be restricted due to Copyright, despite the fact that you can access the information in a postprint. The main problem is that Copyright Transfer Agreements often require the author to transfer all copyright. To promote permissive reuse of your research, read more about Licensing.

Exercises

• Install Unpaywall to access postprints more easily as you browse articles.
• Find a paper you really enjoyed reading and find it on the Internet. Can you access it by yourself?
  • If you could access it yourself: Is this due to your institution's access or is it freely available (e.g., from your phone without WiFi)?
• Can you access the paper with the Unpaywall extension? If yes, that means the postprint was deposited (or the paper was freely available to begin with).
• Pick one of your own papers and repeat the access exercises above.
• Couldn't access your own paper? Go ahead and deposit it on one of the preprint servers (list available on the Preprints page).
• Talk with your direct supervisors or colleagues about what level of postprint sharing you'd be comfortable committing to for future manuscripts (or variations of these levels).

Level	Commitment
0	Restrictions to post postprints
1	Encourage posting postprints of manuscripts
2	Post postprints of 50% of accepted manuscripts
3	Post postprints of all accepted manuscripts