Publishing & Preserving
Publication and preservation of research results is the long-term goal of any research endeavour. Dal libraries offers resources to help determine where to publish, to know your rights as an author, and provide guidance on storage and dissemination that can help make your research as open as possible.
The Office of Research Services (ORS) can advise on bringing your grant to a close and complying with all the final requirements.
Open Access
CONTACT: Subject Liaison Librarians, Open Access
When publishing, always consider open access options, and determine if your funding agency requires that you publish in an open source. Open access creates more accessible research for scholars, professionals, students and the general public as it is free of charge and available in an online format. The Dalhousie Libraries offers subject-specific resources on open access publishing and can offer some author processing charge (APC) discounts and waivers.
Services and tools:
- For information on what open access is, explore the Open Access research guide. This guide also provides a list of APC waivers and discounts available at Dalhousie
- Look at the Tri-Agency OA Publication Policy
- To discover more about publishing an open access journal, consult Publishing with Open Journal Systems (OJS).
- Explore the Architecture or the Information Management research guides for subject-specific perspectives on open access.
- Contact your subject liaison librarian for more information on open access journals in your discipline.
Author Processing Charges (APCs)
Author publishing charges (APCs) are often levied by journal publishers to cover publishing costs. Dalhousie does not have an author fund to directly cover the cost associated with APCs. Dalhousie Libraries has negotiated agreements that include discounts or waivers of APC charges with many large and small publishers.
Services and Tools:
Explore the Dalhousie APC guide to learn which publishers we have deals with.
Identifying appropriate journals
Publishing is a fundamental aspect of the research lifecycle. Finding the preferred journal to publish your work in can depend on your desired audience, goals, and discipline. In the journal world, predatory journals lurk. Predatory journals are pseudo-academic journals that charge feels while failing to uphold acceptable standards for quality. Dal libraries provides guidance on how to identify journals for potential submission and information on identifying and avoiding predatory journals when publishing your work.
Services and tools:
- Contact your subject liaison librarian for discipline-specific publishing information including more information on predatory journals in your discipline.
- Search and compare journals by title, subject or publisher on the library website.
- Use the Journal/Author Name Estimator (JANE) to find PubMed journals that may be suitable for your research by entering the title or abstract of your work.
- Consult the Open Access research guide to learn what predatory journals and conferences are, how to spot them and what practices you should use while publishing.
- Explore the Commerce, Management, Economics, Health Sciences, Public Administration, Scholarship of Teaching and Learning or the School of Law research guides for subject-specific resources on journal rankings and influence and predatory journals.
Author rights
CONTACT: Copyright Office
Ownership of research is determined by collective agreements, employment contracts, publisher policies, and funder policies. The library provides resources, guidance, and information on retaining and determining your authors rights and the copyright process.
Services and tools:
- Determine who owns your research. Will ownership be divided between researchers? How do publisher or funder policies affect ownership?
- Consult the Copyright Office’s website for information on retaining your copyright while publishing.
- Review the CARL Guide to Using the Canadian Author Addendum before you submit your paper for publication.
- If you have already published your work find out how to make it Open.
Patents and trademarks
CONTACT: Legal Counsel Office
Patents and trademarks are integral parts of publication process as they protect your intellectual property. The University’s Legal Counsel Office provides information and legal advice related to patents and trademarks both before and during your publication process.
Services and tools:
- Explore the Find Patents research guide for information on patent sources, terms, databases and how to cite patents.
- Consult the Legal Counsel Office for university-related legal issues like patents and trademarks.
Data repository
CONTACT: Research Data Management Team
Data sharing is beneficial to researchers as it can lead to more collaboration and confidence in your discoveries. A growing number of funding agencies are requiring data sharing as a condition. The library provides useful resources on how you can share data in Dalhousie University’s Dataverse as well as external repositories.
Services and tools:
- Consult the Research Data Management guide for information on to deposit data in Dalhousie’s Institutional Dataverse as well as other digital repositories such as DalSpace and the Federated Research Data Repository.
- Check on funder requirements for data sharing including the Tri-Agency Data Policy.
- Contact the Research Data Management Team if you have any other questions related to sharing your data.
Institutional repository
CONTACT: DalSpace
Self-archiving involves submitting a free copy of your work to an open repository in effort to provide the broadest possible access to it. Dalhousie University offers resources on self-archiving for students and faculty members.
Services and tools:
Closing grants
CONTACT: ORS
Most research grants and contracts have expiry dates attached to them - it is important to be aware of your deadline and all necessary steps involved before expiry. The Office of Research Services (ORS) offers support for research guidance, documentation, and compliance for closing grants.
Services and tools:
- Consult the Office of Research Services (ORS) website for guidance on managing your research, understanding what documentation is needed and other services related to the management of grants.
- Contact the ORS grants and contracts manager for more assistance and information.
Documenting metadata
CONTACT: Research Data Management Team
Providing metadata for your research is an important aspect of publishing and preserving your work as it will allow your research to be searchable and accessible to others. The library provides information and resources about documentation, metadata, and metadata standards.
Services and tools:
- Consult the Research Data Management research guide for information on metadata, metadata standards and how you should document metadata in your own research.