FAQ's

What is Open Access?

Open Access means free availability on the Internet of academic and scientific literature, allowing any user to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search or reference full text documents.

Support for Open Access has been evolving gradually to consolidate itself, through international conferences and declarations, encouraging researchers and scientists to deposit their papers in a digital repository:

How can Open Access be implemented?

There are two channels through which the work of the authors / researchers can be available on Open Access.

One way is to publish in Open-Access journals: scientific journals with peer review, editing and publishing comparable to traditional journals, but they are accessible without the need of purchase or subscription. You can find more information about them by consulting the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ).

The other way is self-archive in an open access repository: this means that, in addition to the publication of articles in scientific journals ("traditional" or open-access articles), authors can deposit them in institutional or disciplinary (thematic) repositories.  There is a list available of these repositories in the Registry of Open Access Repositories (ROAR) and the Directory of Open Access Repositories (OpenDOAR).

What are the benefits of self-archive in RUA?

ASome of the benefits of archiving digital works in the Repository at the University of Alicante are the following:

What materials can self-archive in RUA?

Any material in any format, can be self-archived in RUA, provided they meet the following basic conditions:

What teaching materials can be filed in RUA Teaching?

What kind of content can be deposited on Research RUA?

RUA Research accepts any material generated by members of a research group in their research work, whether it has been previously published or reported in public for the first time. Some examples are:

Can doctoral theses be published in RUA?

In order to publish doctoral theses in RUA, within the Doctoral Theses Collection, students should submit to the Secretary’s Office of the Doctoral School the following material:

If the document has been previously published in a magazine, book, etc.. What version should I file of it in RUA Research?

In general, RUA Research may file the final version published by the journal or publisher. However, there are publishers that do not allow open access to the final PDF published (post-print), but the final version with the modifications suggested by reviewers and / or the original version sent to the journal for review (pre-print). In any case, RUA administrators check the editorial policy on this before putting the paper in open access.

Will documents filed in RUA Research be in open access through the Internet?

At first, all documents filed in RUA Research remain in restricted access for members of the corresponding Research Group. Once the journal or publisher’s policy regarding self-archiving of materials in repositories has been checked by RUA administrators, these restrictions may be removed and the document will be in open access.

Can a file be removed or modified after self-archiving in RUA?

Generally, once a document has been filed in RUA, it cannot be modified or removed from the repository, but the following exceptions apply: