FAQs

Glossary

E-Print
electronic copy of an academic paper
Preprint
pre-refereed, unpublished paper
Postprint
post-refereed paper

General FAQs

  1. What is OceanRep?
  2. Why should I publish my works with OceanRep?
  3. Why should I deposit in OceanRep even though my work can be published in a famous commercial journal?
  4. What items are eligible to submit and can I upload older papers to OceanRep?
  5. How can I submit an item to OceanRep?
  6. Is there any quality control of OceanRep?
  7. What type of format do you require for submission?
  8. How do I convert my file to PDF format?
  9. How long does it take for an item to become publicly available in OceanRep?
  10. How long will the documents be made available?
  11. May I remove an item once it has been submitted?
  12. Is there a limit to the number of items I can submit?
  13. Can I export the documents I used from the OceanRep to my own reference management system, such as Endnote?
  14. How do I add a link on my personal homepage to my list of publications? How do I add a link on my research divisions' webside to our publicaitons?
  15. Who can I contact for help with an entry, citation impact data or what databases to use?

Copyright FAQs

  1. What are the general copyright issues associated with submitting to OceanRep?
  2. Who holds the copyright on my refereed post-print paper, book or book chapter?
  3. Who holds the copyright on my thesis or conference paper?
  4. How do I receive copyright permission to submit to OceanRep?
  5. At what stage do I submit the items to the GEOMAR-OceanRep?
  6. Can I decide what can be done to my work within the limits of law?

General FAQs

1.) What is OceanRep?

OceanRep is a full-text archive comprising all electronic publications (ePrints) of GEOMAR and its employees.

back to top

2.) Why should I publish my works in OceanRep?

All publications in OceanRep are open and freely accessible: Thereby provisions have been made for spreading the publications as broad as possible. Investigations have shown that Open Access publications are much more often quoted than Non-Open Access publications.

As more and more libraries are being forced to cancel journal subscriptions to stay within budgets, it is important that you also disseminate your works via alternative channels. This makes them easier to access and more visible.

The GEOMAR library takes care of the exchange of the metadata with other servers through OAI-PMH. OceanRep is scanned by all current search engines.

Items will be retained indefinitely and the repository will try to ensure continued readability and accessibility.

Hence, OceanRep improves the visibility of your works and enhances your personal impact on scholarly research.

back to top

3.) Why should I deposit in OceanRep even though my work can be published in a famous commercial journal?

For young scientists publications in famous journals are still important. Many journals grant simultaneous publication with an institutional open access server either at the same time or after a time limit of mostly 6 months. You get further information about „Publisher copyright policies & self-archiving” at http://www.sherpa.ac.uk/romeo.php. You should take advantage and deposit your work additionally in the OceanRep server every time it is legally allowed. You will increase the visibility of your publications and you will get quoted more often.

If you just want to publish a printed version, negotiate with your publisher that you will keep copyright. It is your choice to publish electronically simultaneous or not.

Read more at http://www.open-access.net/.

back to top

4.) What items are eligible to submit and can I upload older papers to OceanRep?

OceanRep has two archives:

  1. “Public Archive”: contains publications of staff members since the founding year of IFM-GEOMAR (2004).
  2. “Private Archive”: contains publications of the time before 2004 of IfM staff as well as GEOMAR staff. Additionally authors have the possibility to deposit publications created before their employment with IFM-GEOMAR or Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel - GEOMAR to complete their own bibliography.

All documents related to the scientific research of GEOMAR can be accepted for publication in OceanRep, for example, journal articles, conference presentations and proceedings, books, book chapters, internal and technical reports and dissertations.

On the other hand, information material such as flyers, announcements, etc. will not be accepted.

You can upload publications:

  • that are already published elsewhere (electronically or print)
  • that will be published elsewhere (electronically or print)
  • that will only be published in OceanRep

Attention should be paid to the copyright restrictions stipulated in the contracts that you have signed with your publishers.

back to top

5.) How can I submit an item to OceanRep?

If you want to deposit your work in OceanRep, you have two options:

  1. You may send us your data and material and we will deposit it.
  2. You may deposit your data and material yourself.

For the publication of your work, we require:

  • the bibliographic data (metadata) corresponding to your publication
  • your publication in an electronic format. If you are submitting a PDF-file, please do not lock it
  • specifications how people can reuse and share your work: Creative Commons
  • a copyright declaration stating that:
    1. you grant us the non-exclusive right to publish your work in OceanRep and to archive this work on a long-term basis (if necessary, to make technical changes)
    2. you tell us if there are any individual arrangements with your publisher concerning the copyright
    3. the publication of your work in OceanRep will not infringe the rights of a third party

Subsequently, we will check the metadata, format and copyright issues and then release the data and, if possible, the full-text for open access. The entire editorial process will usually take a few days to be completed.

back to top

6.) Is there any quality control of OceanRep?

Every item uploaded to OceanRep will be checked (item type, mandatory fields, typing errors, format and copyright issues) before it is made publicly available.

back to top

7.) What type of format do you require for submission?

The documents should be in a uniform and platform-independent format. This format is currently PDF (Adobe Portable Document Format) as it provides the most benefits. Should you be unable to present your documents in the PDF-format, we will be glad to do the PDF-conversion for you. Please ensure that you do not lock the PDF, as otherwise a full-text indexing is not possible.

The following formats will be accepted – PDF, Postscript, HTML and ASCII (plain text). The corresponding file suffixes on a PC are .pdf, .ps, .htm or .html, and .txt.

back to top

8.) How do I convert my file to PDF format?

For PC users, download the free application PDFCreator from http://sourceforge.net/projects/pdfcreator/ and install it. Open your file in Word (or whatever other package you used) and select Print. You will see an extra 'printer' in the name box at the top of the print dialog called PDFCreator.  Select it and click Print, following the instructions on the screen. Instead of printing you will create a PDF file on the computer. That's all, except you can now do it again whenever you like.

Please contact library staff if you require further clarification or help.

back to top

9.) How long does it take for an item to become publicly available in OceanRep?

This depends on the number of items waiting in the ‘review archive’ to be checked, and the submitted item having no copyright issues that need further resolution.

Library staff will endeavor to upload items within a week of submission and will contact registered users if there is a problem with their item.

back to top

10.) How long will the documents be made available?

The documents in OceanRep are archived on a long-term basis. In principle, these documents will be made available for as long as possible.

back to top

11.) May I remove an item once it has been submitted?

No, but you can lock access to an item by sending a request to the library staff.

back to top

12.) Is there a limit to the number of items I can submit?

No, there is no limit to the number of items a registered user may submit.

back to top

13.) Can I export the documents I used from the OceanRep to my own reference management system, such as Endnote?

Yes, the EPrints-Software can export the documents to your own list of publications. Further programs for exporting to OceanRep are: ASCII Citation, Bib TeX, Dublin Core, EP3 XML, Eprints Application Profile, HTML Citation, JSO, METS, Object IDs, OpenURL, ContextObject, Refer, Reference Manager. Also you can import the list of used literature from your reference management system to OceanRep if the appropriate article is going to be deposited in the institutional repository.

back to top

14.) How do I add a link on my personal homepage to my list of publications? How do I add a link on my research divisions' webside to our publicaitons?

Sorry - available on in german at the moment! The german information can be found here

back to top

15.) Who can I contact for help with an entry, citation impact data or what databases to use?

bibliotheksleitung@geomar.de

back to top

Copyright FAQs

1.) What are the general copyright issues associated with submitting to OceanRep?

There are three main copyright issues involved in submitting to OceanRep. First, you must either hold the copyright of the material you are submitting, or you are submitting the material with permission from the copyright owner, or the copyright owner (such as a publisher) has given a license that allows the submission of the material. Second, the material you submit will be, by default, available openly on the internet world-wide. By putting material in OceanRep you are giving the Institute the right to copy, store and communicate your work. And last, authorship is an issue both from a moral rights perspective and academic one. The information you give about authorship should be accurate and comply with academic conventions and the requirements of funding bodies.

back to top

2.) Who holds the copyright on my refereed post-print paper, book or book chapter?

Traditionally, when authors have submitted an article to a journal or had a book or book chapter published, they have been required to assign copyright to the publisher. This means the author only retains any rights the publisher allows in their agreement with author (with the exception of moral rights). In recent years some publishers have only required the author to give them an exclusive license and, in some cases a non-exclusive license, but the predominant model is still the traditional one. However, there is a trend that even publishers who require the full assignment of copyright give back rights to the author to self-archive their works in institutional repositories such as OceanRep.

When submitting material to publishers it is a good idea to request the right to self-archive:

„Der Verlag und der Autor sind sich einig, dass dem Autor das nichtausschließliche, unterlizenzierbare und übertragbare Recht verbleibt, das vertragsgegenständliche Werk mit dem Erscheinen im Rahmen einer Open Access-Plattform, wie etwa OceanRep (http://oceanrep.geomar.de/), öffentlich zugänglich zu machen.“
"The author retains the non-exclusive sub-licensable right to post an electronic version of the final publisher‘s file of the article on the author‘s current institutional internet server (OceanRep, http://oceanrep.geomar.de/) for distribution, provided that proper notice of the publisher‘s copyright is included and that no separate or additional fees are collected for access to or distribution of the article."

back to top

3.) Who holds the copyright on my thesis or conference paper?

Normally, the author holds copyright in a thesis. Certainly GEOMAR does not usually make any claims over the copyright of students’ theses. Occasionally funding bodies might require some rights over the work they have funded. Conference papers are a difficult area. Often authors retain copyright in conference papers even though the conference organizers might compile them and distribute copies. However, some major conferences publish the proceedings as a journal or a monograph and sometimes require authors to assign or exclusively license their copyright to them.

back to top

4.) How do I receive copyright permission to submit to OceanRep?

Material can be both published traditionally and deposited in a digital repository, provided all the necessary permissions are obtained. It is not an either/or situation - it depends on the details in your contract with your publisher.

back to top

5.) At what stage do I submit the items to the OceanRep?

The SHERPA/RoMEO Listings provide details of journal publishers' policies with respect to the self-archiving of scientific and scholarly publications. The listings are not, however, legally binding. In case of doubt, the publishing agreement prevails: http://www.sherpa.ac.uk/romeo/.

Please contact library staff if you require further clarification or help in determining the appropriate version to upload.

back to top

6.) Can I decide what can be done to my work within the limits of law?

Yes, you can by using several copyright licenses known as Creative Commons license. Creative Commons is a non-profit organization devoted to expanding the range of creative works available for others to build upon legally and to share. These licenses allow creators to communicate which rights they reserve, and which rights they waive for the benefit of recipients or other creators.

back to top

These two pages containing references to Copyright – first in english, second in german: "Self-archiving FAQ" - "Informationsplattform Open Access"