Open Access for Research

An author accepted manuscript (AAM's) is the final author-created version of the manuscript, which includes any changes made after peer-review and has been accepted for publication by the journal, but before the publisher's final copyediting, typesetting, and formatting.​ ​

CQU strongly encourages the depositing of your AAM into Research Elements where they may be made available on open access (depending on publisher policies) in aCQUIRe CQU's institutional repository.

Submitting your AAM is a quick, easy and free way to meet the green open access of funders requirements.

The benefits of depositing your AAM’s include:

• No cost: There are no fees or charges associated with making your author accepted manuscript Green OA through aCQUIRe.

• Greater exposure: By providing free access to your author accepted manuscript, you make your work more accessible and allow it to have greater exposure and impact.

• Increased citations: Research released as Green OA benefits the most from the 'Open Access Citation Advantage'

You should have retained a copy of your AAM as part of the publishing process. However, if you do not have a copy of your AAM, you can request a copy from the publisher using the following suggested wording:

“Could you please provide me with a copy of the revised, peer-reviewed personal version of the paper (the Author’s Accepted Manuscript, or post-print, version).”

If you are not the corresponding author, you should contact the corresponding author for a copy of the AAM in the first instance.

You can check if you can deposit your author accepted manuscript without breaking publisher copyright and open access archiving policies in the following ways:

• All author accepted manuscripts have a coversheet attached according to the publisher’s policy, and include the DOI where the published version can be found. This should outline publisher copyright and open access archiving policies.
   
• SherpaRomeo is a website where you can enter the Journal’s title or Publisher to receive a summary of the publisher copyright and open access archiving policies.
   
• If in doubt, contact the publisher directly to request clarification around their open access archiving policies when depositing into CQU’s institutional repository aCQUIRe

CQU’s Open Access for Research Outputs Policy encourages the submission of the Author's Accepted Manuscript (AAM), using the File upload option available when depositing a Journal Article via Research Elements (RE).

When adding files to your journal article publication simply add the Author's Accepted Manuscript file and select the "Proof of commercial publisher" as the file type. Click done when completed.

You can collect both citations and alternative metrics from your AAM. It is important to note that metrics gained from your AAM are separate to the metrics attached to your publisher article version. The responsible use of metrics requires that you stipulate which article version you are highlighting.

Citations

Citation counts can be collected by preforming a title search across indexing databases like Google Scholar, Scopus and Web of Science. Extract self-citation and duplicates to produce the total citation count. For more details on how to conduct a citation count use the Research metrics: Finding yourself library guide.

Alternative metrics

An advantage of having an accepted author manuscript in Research Elements and aCQUIRe is the ability to see aCQUIRe download and view statistics. Posting your AAM's DOI on your social media platforms means you can provide complementary metrics around social media and website analytics, media mentions or reviews, downloads or view counts. Used in addition with other metrics, Altmetrics can help provide further evidence of engagement and 'societal impact'. They are not intended as an indicator of quality. For more details on how retrieve alternative metrics the Research metrics: Finding yourself library guide