The transformation of scientific publications, the consolidation of institutional repositories and growing demand by researchers to access and share information and results means it essential to study the publishing policies of the journals where researchers publish.

The Sherpa Romeo portal will help you learn about the publishing policies of international scientific journals. Within Spain, you can use the Dulcinea portal.

Below we show you the different publication routes (source URL rectorate).

• Gold: journals that use the gold publication route provide free, open access and give the option to reuse and disseminate published articles without restrictions. To publish documents in these journals, authors often have to pay for publishing costs (Article Processing Charges - APC), and assert the rights to exploit the documents through Creative Commons licenses.
  
• Green: the authors deposit the previous versions of the articles published in the subscription journals in an institutional repository such as RECERCAT, or in a thematic one. These previous versions can be: the version submitted (also known as preprint) or the version accepted prior to article layout (postprint). The green route may involve certain types of embargo on the deposited text, which can range from 6 to 24 months. Do you want to publish an article in RECERCAT? Contact your library!
  
• Hybrid: some journals offer authors the possibility of publishing their articles in open access by paying an APC or publishing the article in the traditional way (i.e. at no cost to the author but transferring the exploitation rights to the publisher). These journals include open access articles alongside articles that cannot be viewed unless the corresponding subscription is paid.
  
• Bronze: this refers to publications in which the text of the articles can be consulted freely, but the publisher retains all the rights of exploitation over the documents. The journal, in this case, is free access, but not open access because it does not allow content to be reused.
  
• Diamond: this provides open and free access to articles with the possibility of reuse, through Creative Commons licenses. This route has no cost to the authors.
  
• Black: this refers to the illegal publication of articles with all rights reserved through platforms such as SciHub, ResearchGate, Academia, etc.

From the moment we start writing an article until its publication, our work goes through different versions. It is important to become familiar with their names and know what they mean:

• Draft / Discussion Paper
  
• Preprint / Submitted Version
  
• Postprint / Accepted Manuscript (Final author's version including the changes proposed by the reviewers). Also known as the Author's final version
  
• Published Version (Final version published by the publisher)

Large publishers usually allow the release of the Postprint version into repositories, so it is important that you save this version: you will get more visibility for your work without violating the terms of your publishing contracts.

Promoting the open source publication of scientific projects does not stop at the results. The publication of research data is also becoming increasingly important.

The CSUC Research Support Working Group has prepared the document Good practices in research data management: organize, name, and assign file versions with the following infographic as additional material.

And to make it easier for you to carry out your Data Management Plan, the University Consortium offers the DMP Tool (Data Management Plan)

Finally, we offer you the document on Data Sharing: what is research data and how can it be shared. Recommendation manual for information managers prepared by the Spanish Society of Documentation and Scientific Information, SEDIC

• Emerald, Springer Nature, American Chemical Society (ACS)and Wiley. Ramon Llull University has signed various agreements with these publishers through which the researchers and master and PhD students of the URL can publish a limited number of open access articles free of charge. Check the details of the agreements here, and contact your library if you are interested in applying for grants.
• Editorial Frontiers: you have a 10% discount for publishing by open access in their journals, as long as you identify yourself with the institutional email (@ blanquerna.url.edu)