Open Access (OA) to information refers to the free, immediate and online access to the results of scholarly research to the worldwide scientific community. Open Access removes the barriers to accessing the results of scholarly research and scholarly publications. Increased discoverability and exposure of scholarly research and publications will directly lead to furthering the academia, medicine, science, industry and society as a whole.
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Open Access mandates are policies implemented by universities, research institutions, research funders or governments which require researchers to make their published peer-reviewed journal articles and conference-papers available in an open access institutional repository, for example: A*Star Open Access Mandate​. Other than to preserve an organization’s research legacy, the aim of such mandates are to ensure that the institutions’ research are made freely discoverable and available to the wider research community thus empowering further research. It is important for researchers to comply with the open access mandates put in place by the respective institutions as this will ensure that the collective knowledge of the institutions are preserved.

In line with the growing worldwide trend to make research publications freely available on the Internet, NTU has implemented an open access policy on its research publications with effect from 1 July 2011. Under this policy, All NTU faculty and staff must deposit their final peer-reviewed manuscript of journal articles and conference papers electronically to the Digital Repository (DR-NTU) maintained by the Library upon acceptance of their publications, so that these can be made available, whenever possible, for global access through the Internet. All PhD and Masters degree (by research only) students are required to submit the complete full-text digital version of their theses to the Library via DR-NTU for open access. For details of the policy, please click here.


2. Funders’ requirements for Open Access 

Local Singapore research funding agencies including Agency for Science and Technology (A*STAR), Ministry of Education (MOE), Ministry of Health (MOH) and National Research Foundation (NRF) require publications to be made open access within 1 year from publication date.

3. Tips to meet the open access requirements by funders and NTU

To meet the open access requirements by funders and NTU, please take note of the following matters:

1) Publish and keep your copyrights
In most publication agreements, all rights, including copyright, belong to the journal. However, this may result in researchers unable to comply with the open access requirements imposed by funders and employing institutions. Researchers will not be able to gain maximum exposure for their work as authors when a publication cannot be archived online nor disseminated to the community. However, it is possible for authors to get their paper published but also retain the rights to self-archive and disseminate their work, please refer to the SPARC Author Addendum to get legal instrument on how to modify the publisher’s agreement to allow authors to keep key rights to their articles here.

2) Do not lost the accepted version of your papers!
Many journal publishers allow authors to self-archive their publications in open repositories such as DR-NTU, but different publishers may allow different version of the papers to be archived: some allow publication version, some allow pre-print (ie pre-refereeing) and post-print (ie final draft post-refereeing), some allow either post-print or pre-print only, and some do not formally support archiving at all. According to RoMEO statistics, about 41% of academic publishers allow pre-print and post-print to be archived for open access, thus, NTU authors get a chance to deposit their final manuscript after peer-review, namely the accepted version, in DR-NTU for a higher accessibilities and wider exposure, please do not lost it!

3) Checking of publisher copyright and self-archiving policies
Prior to submitting a manuscript to DR-NTU, please ensure that your publisher allows the publication to be made open access and the exact version that is allowed for archiving. To check the publisher’s copyright and self-archiving policies, you may check the publisher’s website or use the SHERPA RoMEO website.

4. DR-NTU (OPEN ACCESS)

DR-NTU (Open Access)​​ is the University’s institutional repository, which captures, stores, and preserves the journal articles, conference papers, theses and dissertations (PhD and Masters by Research only) of NTU staff and students. Free access is granted to the public to view the full text.

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Why use DR-NTU?
There are a few reasons for you to choose DR-NTU to deposit your publications:

• Permanent URL to your publications: Once your publication is submitted to DR-NTU, a persistent URL (i.e., a permanent URL which will not change) will be assigned to it. You can insert this in any web pages or forward it to your students, colleagues and the public to link and read the full-text from DR-NTU 
  
  
• Permanent Archive of your publications: DR-NTU acts as a permanent archive of all your submitted publications. Once your publications are in DR-NTU, you can easily retrieve them anytime and anywhere. You no longer need to remember which hard disk or CD you keep them
  
  
• Wider audience: More people will have access to your publications as they will be freely available rather than being limited to exclusive subscribers of databases and journals
  
  
• Easily retrievable via search engines: Your publications will be easily searchable on Google, Google Scholar and other search engines. The wider exposure of your publication is likely to lead to a higher citation count of your works
  
  
• ​Indication of use of your publications: DR-NTU provides features that will keep you informed of how many users download your publications and other usage statistics. This will give you an indication of the use of your publications
  

​5. Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Here are some Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) about the Open Access Policy at NTU.

​1.​​	​What kinds of publications could I submit to DR-NTU as part of the NTU’s Open Access Policy? For faculty and researchers, you should submit the following publications into DR-NTU as part of the OA Policy: Conference papers Journal articles Faculty and researchers are also encouraged to submit their books and book chapters to DR-NTU, provided that they submitted a proper version which complies with the publisher’s copyright and archiving policy. For PhD and Masters Degree (by research only) students, you are required to submit the full-text of your thesis or dissertation in pdf file to DR-NTU for open access.
​2.	​Can I deposit my conference presentation slides, posters, course notes into DR_NTU? According to NTU’s Open Access Policy, only journal articles, conference papers and theses can be deposited in the DR-NTU for open access.
​3.	​Which version of papers do I submit to DR-NTU as part of the OA Policy? Different publishers may allow different versions of the paper to be archived: some allow publication version, some allow pre-print (ie pre-refereeing) and post-print (ie final draft post-refereeing), some allow either post-print or pre-print only, and some do not formally support archiving at all. According to RoMEO statistics, about 41% of academic publishers allow pre-print and post-print version to be archived for open access, thus, you should submit your final manuscript after peer-review, namely the accepted version which incorporates referee’s comments.
​4.	How do I know which version of my article the publisher allow me to deposit? Please check the website, Sherpa Romeo, to ensure that the publisher of your article allows self-archiving of the paper in PDF. Sherpa Romeo is a site that lists publisher’s information on self-archiving rights. When in doubt or when information is not available, always submit the accepted version to DR-NTU.
5.​	How do I identify different versions of my paper? Published version: Final version of the publication produced by the publisher. The layout of published version is formatted by the publisher, with the volume, issue, page number and publisher’s logo displayed. Accepted version: Author’s final manuscript of the publication after peer review, which is submitted to the publisher for publication. Also known as the Post-print version. The layout of accepted version is unformatted, with default page numbers but usually without publisher’s logo.     Pre-print version: Author’s complete manuscript before peer review. Post-print version: The version of the publication after peer-review, with revisions having been made. This is the final version of the publication before it is sent off the journal for publication. Also known as the Post-Print. Before you submit your paper to DR-NTU, please check your publisher’s website about their self-archiving policy to ensure that they allow you to do self-archiving and you have submitted a proper version.
6.​	If the publisher does not support self-archival policies, can I still submit my publications to DR-NTU? Yes. The Library will then publish only the bibliographic details and abstract of your publications on DR-NTU.
7.​	Can I deposit my conference papers into DR-NTU before being published? To ensure that we do not infringe publishers’ copyrights, authors are strongly encouraged to submit their publications to DR-NTU after the papers have been published.
8.​	My thesis has confidential information; may I ask for an exemption? According to NTU’s Open Access Policy, all PhD and Masters Degree (by research only) students are required to submit the complete full-text digital version of their theses to DR-NTU for open access. If your thesis contains data or information, such as pending patent application or journal/conference publication, you can set an embargo period when uploading the PDF. During the embargo period, only the title and abstract can be viewed. The full text will only be released after the embargo date is expired. Normally, an embargo period should be between 6 months and 24 months. In special cases, a maximum of 5 years may be allowed with sufficient reasons.
9.​	Why is the full-text of my paper not available in DR-NTU (open repository) even after I have successfully submitted it? Even though you have successfully submitted the document into DR-NTU, the Library will still need to process and verify the document before it is made available on DR-NTU (open repository). Please note that the Library complies with the respective publisher’s self-archiving policy, for example, some publishers may require an embargo period to their publications before making them open access. As such, should the publisher of your paper request an embargo setting, the PDF version of your paper will be released for public viewing only after the embargo period has expired. Publications that are affected by publishers’ embargo instructions will have limited information available for public viewing during the embargo period.
10.​	I did not submit my paper to DR-NTU, why is my paper available in DR-NTU? This is because the library has done a librarian-mediated submission on behalf of NTU’s authors to comply with the OA policy of NTU. Librarians download NTU paper records from Scopus and Web of Science regularly and deposit the proper version of these papers to DR-NTU according to the publisher’s self-archiving policy. So, please do a title search for your papers in DR-NTU before you submit to avoid duplicates. Please contact us if you have further questions or need any clarifications.
11.​	I have some papers published before I joined NTU, can I deposit these papers into DR-NTU? Currently DR-NTU aims to capture, store and preserve the scholarly output of Nanyang Technological University (NTU). Authors are strongly encouraged to submit their publications to their own universities or institutional repositories when these papers were published.

1. DR-NTU (Open Access) 
   
   You can find published works written by NTU scholars such as journal articles, conference paper, book chapters and many more here. These works are free to access for the public.
   
   If you are a researcher who would like to submit your paper or a higher degree (PhD or Master by research) student to submit your thesis, please log in here with your NTU network account and password. You can click here for more information on the paper submission, or click here for the higher degree thesis submission guide.
    
2. DR-NTU (Restricted Access) 
   
   You can find unpublished works written by NTU student and scholars such as theses, final year project reports, research reports and many more here. The full-text of these works are only accessible to NTU staff and students.
   
   If you are a undergraduate to submit your FYP report or a Master degree (by coursework) student to submit your thesis, please log in here with your NTU network account and password. For more information about the submission guide, please click here.
    
3. DR-NTU (Data) 
   
   You can find published research data by NTU researchers here.
   
   If you are a NTU researcher who would like to deposit your final research data, please login here with your NTU network account username and password. For more information about the steps to deposit, please refer to this guide.

1. It is the author’s responsibility to ensure the quality, validity and authenticity of the submitted materials.


2. You need to check the publisher’s self-archiving policy via Sherpa/Romeo for the allowed version of the paper that can be deposited in DR-NTU. Please see the image below to differentiate an accepted version from a published version.
   
   


3. If the publisher requires an embargo period for their publications, you can set an embargo period for your paper during the submission.

1. Submit to DR-NTU (Open Access) directly:
   1. Login to DR-NTU
   2. Click on Submissions to start a new submission
   3. Follow the instructions on the screen and enter all the necessary information
   4. Attach the appropriate version of your paper in PDF format
   5. Set embargo if requested by the publisher
   6. You will be required to grant NTU Library a Non-exclusive Distribution License upon submission
      
      
   Your paper will be added to DR-NTU for open access after the Library has processed your submission.
   
   Alternatively, you can submit your paper via RIMS. After logging into RIMS, you can submit your paper by clicking the “DR-NTU” tag. Please complete the required fields as fully as possible and attach the appropriate version of your paper in PDF format. If you encounter any problems or require clarification, please email spi@ntu.edu.sg.


2. Do a librarian-mediated submission
   In order to minimize any inconvenience to faculty and staff, NTU Library does a librarian-mediated submission to increase the coverage of DR-NTU:
   
   
   1. Library staff download NTU paper metadata from citation databases such as Web of Science and Scopus
   2. Library staff check the publisher’s archiving policy to avoid any copyright infringement before asking the paper from NTU authors
   3. Library staff solicit a proper version of the paper from NTU author(s) and get his/her agreement to grant NTU Library a Non-exclusive Distribution License.
   4. Library staff proceed to submit the paper into DR-NTU for open access.
      

• Selecting the right journal for your submission
• How to Select a Journal to Submit and Publish Your Biomedical Paper?
• Audience Matters: A study of how authors select educational journals
• Bibliometrics: tracking research impact by selecting the appropriate metrics

Structure of a DOI:

Resolver Service https://doi.org	​This ensures the DOI resolves to an online metadata record about the content.
Prefix e.g. /10.32655/	The prefix is used to identify a registration agency, ie NTU Library.
Suffix	Assigned by NTU Library for the specific resource and is unique.

Benefits of a DOI:

• DOIs are permanent unique identifiers assigned to publications, data, and other scholarly products.
• DOIs make it easier for researchers’ work to be discovered, cited, and credited to them.
• As part of the scholarly record, DOIs are indexed permanently and remain available in perpetuity.

DOI minting for papers, data and higher degree theses

The Library provides DOI minting service for papers, data and higher degree theses for NTU staff and students. In order for the Library to mint a DOI, the item must fulfil these essential criteria:

• The item must be a scholarly output of NTU staff and students
• The item does not have a DOI from your publisher
• The item must be open in DR-NTU.

To apply a DOI for your paper, please contact us at spi@ntu.edu.sg, you need to provide the minimum required metadata information for the item as listed below. The metadata information submitted will be open to the public and used freely for discovery.

• Document Type
• Title
• URL
• Authors
• Publication Dates

If your data is hosted in DR-NTU (Data), a DOI will be assigned to it automatically. If you need to know more about data DOI minting, please contact rdm@ntu.edu.sg.

All the higher degree theses (Ph.D. and masters by research only) submitted to DR-NTU have been automatically assigned DOIs. The embargo status of theses does not change with the DOI minting.

To find the DOI of your thesis, go to DR-NTU to do a title or name search or you can also search via Google. Click on the title of your thesis, and the DOI will be listed in the record. Please include the DOI when citing your own thesis. If you have any questions, please contact us at spi@ntu.edu.sg.

Open Publishing Models

There are 2 open publishing models authors can choose to publish their work:

Green Model

One way is to publish an article in a subscription–based journal and then self-archive it in a repository where it can be accessed for free. The repository can be an institutional repository such as DR-NTU or subject-based ones such as arXiv and RePEc. This is known as Green Open Access or Green Model. The repository allows search engines such as Google to crawl their content so the articles are accessible on the Internet.

Most academic publishers allow their authors to self-archive their publications in this way, though most only allow archiving of the “accepted version” of the article. This version is the final manuscript that has been peer reviewed and changes have been made, but not the final formatted version published by the journal. Some publishers require a 6-12 months embargo, before the article can be available in the open repository. NTU supports this route.

To use the Green Model to make your paper open accessible, rather than depending on the publisher’s self-archiving policy to support green model, your own self, as the author of the paper, can act in a more proactive way. It is common that many publishers’ publishing agreements have asked authors to surrender more of their rights than necessary for publication. By strategically managing the contract negotiation conversation with the publisher, you will be able to place yourself in a good bargaining position to retain copyright to your articles for open access. Researchers who need help with their publishing contracts can contact the Library at spi@ntu.edu.sg.

Gold Model

The other way authors can make their articles open access is by publishing it in either a pure open access journal, or a hybrid open access journal. This is known as Gold Open Access or Gold Model.

A pure open access journal does not charge usage fee from the users, however, many do charge an article processing charge (APC) from the author before they proceed to publish the article.

A hybrid open access journal is a journal whose business model is at least partially based on subscriptions, and only provide Gold open access for those individual articles for which their authors (or their author's institution or funder) pay an APC.

The APC varies but can go as high as US$3000-4000. Some publishers say they will waive this fee in certain circumstances. If you wish to go this model, you need to use your own source of funding (e.g. research funds, school funds, etc.) to pay for the APC. The Library does not provide funding for this so it is recommended that Principal Investigators factor in this cost into their grant proposals.

How to avoid Predatory Publishers

One issue that arises among open publishing is the predatory open-access publishing, an exploitative open-access academic publishing business model that involves charging APC without providing the editorial and publishing services associated with legitimate journals. Predatory publishers will accept your publications as long as you pay the APC.

Previously, Beall’s list provided a listing of possible predatory publishers, which many consulted when they are not sure about the OA journal they are interested in. Beall’s list had been closed in January 2017, but archived version of the list can still be found on the Web.

The Library has developed a one-stop guide (How to Avoid Predatory Publishers) to aid researchers to be informed of the risks associated with publishing in these journals.

Other scholarly publishing services

NTU Library is committed to facilitating the development of open access, peer-reviewed publishing. If you are planning to start a journal, Library is able to support you in this endeavour. After you have chosen an area to focus on, selected a suitable name and assembled your editorial team, there are a few more things that need to be done.

ISSN/ISBN registration:

The ISSN is the standardised 8-digit international code that uniquely identifies a serial publication, i.e. a publication issued in successive parts to be published under a common title for an indefinite period. The National Library is the ISSN National Centre for Singapore and issues Singapore ISSNs to serials published in Singapore. Faculty who has plans to start a new journal can email the Library at spi@ntu.edu.sg to request for an ISSN.

The ISBN is the standardised 13-digit international number that uniquely identifies a monographic/book publication. It benefits and allows publishers, book suppliers and libraries worldwide to easily locate and order items. Any member of the NTU community who needs an ISBN for their publication, such as a School or College publication, can approach the Library at spi@ntu.edu.sg to apply for one.

Two copies of every publication published or produced in Singapore and made available for sale or public distribution in Singapore are required to deposit them with the National Library within four weeks from the date of publication. Options for depositing electronic publications have also been provided. For more information, please refer to Legal Deposit.

DOAJ registration:

With several thousand open access journals and many more articles, finding an open-access research article can be challenging. In 2003, Lund University, Sweden, launched DOAJ as an aid for researchers. DOAJ aims to ensure that all journals listed in its database have been subjected to quality-control standards for content. DOAJ metadata is widely available for anyone to use. Indexing in DOAJ will increase traffic to journal sites and visibility of content. Similar to ISSN registration, Library is able to register our journal with DOAJ. If you need any assistance, please contact Library at spi@ntu.edu.sg.

Platform for content hosting:

We provide custom-designed web sites to host journal content, one example is Studies in Religion and the Enlightenment; we also provide advisory services related to author’s rights, publishing contact. If you need any assistance, please contact us via spi@ntu.edu.sg.