Research SupportOpen Science Glossary

Glossary

A glossary of frequently used terms in the context of Open Access, Research Data Management and Open Science more generally

Author accepted manuscript (AAM)

The final version of a paper accepted by a journal, containing all the modifications and changes that resulted from peer review. This version of the manuscript is produced by the author and as such it is not yet copy edited, type-set, metadata-labelled and formatted for online (and sometimes print) publication. The author accepted manuscript is sometimes referred to as post-print.

Bibliographic metadata

A set of information and meta tags to describe and identify a publication. Bibliographic metadata enable indexing and make articles, books and other types of scientific outputs discoverable in digital archives and by search engines. Examples of standard bibliographic metadata are author name, author identifier (e.g. ORCID), affiliation, title, abstract, journal name, journal ISSN, publisher name, publication year, type of publication. When entering a new item in Converis, Converis asks you to provide the bibliographic metadata of that item.

Data Management Plan (DMP)

A data management plan (DMP) is a formal document that describes the data that are collected/generated/processed in a research project. In addition to describing the data and its provenance, the DMP discusses how the data are handled both during and after the end of the project, including how the data are stored, shared, archived and made secure. Moreover, the DMP includes details about the data and metadata standards that are used as well as any legal and ethical constraints that apply to the data. A full DMP also includes an indication of the cost of data management activities.

FAIR data principles

FAIR data are data that are Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable, both by humans and by machines. FAIR data principles were defined and codified by Wilkinson, Dumontier, Aalbersberg, et al. in a Scientific Data article in 2016, with the aim to increase the reusability of scientific data. The principles of FAIRness are increasingly extended from research data to other research outputs in recent years.

Journal embargo

The delay, imposed by some journals, between the moment a paper gets published and the time it can be made available on another online platform (preprint server, institutional repository, author webpage etc). Embargo periods vary from publisher to publisher and from discipline to discipline. The online database Sherpa/RoMEO allows you to look up the policies of most journals with regards to self-archiving and embargo periods.

Open Access publishing

Publishing a research article in such a way that it is freely accessible to everyone, everywhere, forever. OA publishing is usually associated with a Creative Commons (CC) license and the copyright stays with the author.

Gold OA
Publication in open access through payment of an Article Processing Change (APC) to the publisher.
Green OA
Placing an article in a repository, such as the Bolzano Institutional Archive (BIA), or a preprint server that is freely accessible to everyone, everywhere. No fees are charged to the author.
Hybrid journal
A journal that publishes articles accessible only for readers who have a subscription and, in addition, gives authors the option of paying an APC to make an article open access.
Fully Open Access journal
A journal that only publishes articles in open access.
Diamon journal
A journal that publishes open access articles without charging authors nor readers.

OpenAIRE Explore

A discovery tool of the European Commission for publications and other research outputs (e.g. data) where those outputs can be linked to EU funded projects. OpenAIRE Explore also allows you to search by EC funded project and see the associated outputs. Outputs that appear linked to projects in openAIRE show up also in the project’s continuous reporting webpage, automatizing the reporting of EC funded projects.

Open Research Europe (ORE)

An open access publishing platform launched in March 2021, set up by the European Commission for H2020 and Horizon Europe grantees. Publishing there is optional, not compulsory. Articles published in Open Research Europe (ORE) undergo transparent peer-review with a publish first-review later editorial workflow and they automatically comply with the H2020 and Horizon Europe policy requirements. Open Research Europe sends every article to Zenodo, which is harvested by openAIRE. Publishing in ORE is free and can be done even after the project has ended.

Persistent Identifiers (PIDs)

A persistent identifier (PID) is a unique digital reference to a document, file, website, or other object, that allows one to locate the object over the long term, i.e. it is persistent. In the scientific context, one of the best-know persistent identifiers is the Digital Object Identifier (DOI) which provides a unique and persistent reference to digital outputs, such as publications and data. Persistent identifiers are key to making research outputs FAIR.

Predatory journals

Journals that are self-serving, act in bad faith and do not provide value to the research community or maintain the integrity of the scientific literature. The bad practises adopted by these journals are several and not homogeneouusly adopted. A consensus definition of predatory journals and publishers was published in December 2019 in Nature.

“Predatory journals and publishers are entities that prioritize self-interest at the expense of scholarship and are characterized by false or misleading information, deviation from best editorial and publication practices, a lack of transparency, and/or the use of aggressive and indiscriminate solicitation practices.”

Grudniewicz et al., Nature 576, 210-212 (2019)

Preprint server

A platform for early sharing of papers, before publishing in a peer-reviewed journal. The version of the manuscript posted on the preprint server is referred to as ‘preprint’. A manuscript can usually be updated with a revision. When thinking of posting a preprint, take advise from your peers as to the customs of your discipline to identify which preprint server is appropriate and check that the journal you wish to submit to does not have a policy against preprints. Increasingly journals are becoming preprint friendly.

A useful resource to learn more about preprints can be found in: A Practical Guide to Preprints: Accelerating Scholarly Communication, Kristina Hettne, Ron Aardening, Dirk van Gorp, Chantal Hukkelhoven, Nicole Loorbach, Jeroen Sondervan, & Astrid van Wesenbeeck. Zenodo (2021) DOI:10.5281/zenodo.5600535

Research Data Lifecycle

The research data lifecycle is a model that describes data-related activities through a research project lifecycle, from project planning through to its implementation and after the project ends.

Self-archiving

The practise of placing a copy of a published manuscript in an open repository, such as BIA. Whether the deposited copy is the author accepted manuscript or the version of record depends usually on the policy rules of the journal, institution and/or funder you abide by. Journals often impose an embargo period for self-archiving. The Sherpa/RoMEO web tool allows you to look up the policies of most journals with regards to self-archiving and embargo periods .

Transformative agreement

A deal between a journal publisher and a university or research institution that gives access to all contents in hybrid journals and at the same time enables researchers from that institution to publish OA in a hybrid journal without having to pay the APC or with a heavily discounted APC rate. NB: To come into effect usually it requires the affiliated author to be listed as corresponding author.

Version of Record (VoR), aka publisher's version

The final version of the publication as produced (copy edited, type-set, metadata-tagged and formatted) by the publisher and made available through the publisher´s distribution channels.

Useful Links

Policies

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Liise Lethsalu and Maria Bellantone at the Research Support Office will answer your questions about Open Access and RDM, including training requests, questions about funders’ and journals’ policies, internal and external funding for Open Access and the Open Research Award. The Research Support Office can also be contacted for more information about the Open Access and the Research Data Management Working Groups in Eurac Research.

For questions about the current research information system Converis and the institutional repository BIA, please contact Antje Messerschmidt at the Library.