＊Japanese version is here→“埼玉大学オープンアクセス方針及び実施要領”
Saitama University stipulates Open Access Policy to publish results of education and research free of charge.
By clicking “▼Implementation Guidelines▼” at the end of each policy article, you can check the details of each Policy Implementation.
Saitama University Open Access Policy
October 17, 2024
Approved Education and Research Council
（Objective）
１ Saitama University (hereinafter referred to as “SU”) is committed to offering an Open Access Policy in order to contribute to the international community by making the results of education and research (hereinafter referred to as “Research Outputs”) created by its officers and faculty members (hereinafter referred to as “faculty and staff”) available free of charge both inside and outside the university and by contributing academic knowledge toward addressing global challenges facing humanity.
１－１ Open access (OA) refers to the publication of academic information (academic journal articles, conference papers, etc.) on the Internet, so that anyone can access and view it free of charge without restrictions on time or place.
１－２ OA is also considered to have the following benefits for authors.
➀ Making your Research Outputs freely available online increases the visibility of your research results and increases the likelihood that your paper will be cited.
➁ This contributes to making Research Outputs more accessible to society and promotes their use.
１－３ There are two main types of OA methods.
➀ Green OA
This is a way to self-archive Research Outputs in repositories other than publisher websites (after the embargo period decided by the publisher, registering manuscripts (author’s accepted manuscript, preprint, etc.) on sites that can be accessed free of charge) in order to make them available for viewing free of charge. Many institutions, such as universities, operate institutional repositories (IR) which contain Research Outputs of their affiliated researchers.
Our university’s institutional repository is the Saitama University Cyber Repository of Academic Resources SUCRA (hereinafter referred to as the IR “SUCRA”).
➁ Gold OA
This is a way to publish a paper so that everyone can access it for free. For example, the author pays the APC (Article Processing Charge) and submits it to an OA journal. This is a system in which authors pay the publication fee of academic journals, instead of being covered by the readers as a subscription fee to enable access to OA papers.
１－４ Range of “officers and faculty staff”
➀ This policy applies to full-time officers and faculty members enrolled in SU.
➁ Research Outputs of part-time lecturers (who do not have a full-time job), fixed-term employees, emeritus professors, and graduate students can also be registered in the IR “SUCRA” and published as open access.
１－５ Handling of Research Outputs from Retired Faculty and Staff
Research Outputs registered in the IR “SUCRA”, published by SU faculty and staff during their tenure, will continue to be preserved and published even after they retire or change jobs to other institutions.
１－６ Saitama University Basic Policies（Excerpt）
１ Saitama University contributes to the international community.
(2) Faculty and staff will contribute knowledge towards addressing global challenges facing humanity.
（Authority to make Research Outputs publicly available）
２ SU makes publicly available the Research Outputs of its faculty and staff that have been published in academic journals published by publishers, academic societies, universities, etc., through the IR “SUCRA” or other method selected by the authors.
However, the copyright of the Research Outputs does not transfer to SU.
２－１ This policy applies to the persons defined in section １－４➀.
２－２ Range of “Research Outputs”
Under this policy, Research Outputs eligible for open access consist of peer-reviewed academic papers (peer-reviewed research papers published in e-journals (including authors’ accepted manuscripts) and scientific data (research data that are required to be published from the viewpoint of ensuring transparency and reproducibility in the writing guidelines and publication regulations of electronic journals in which the scholarly publication is published).
In addition, items other than the above (bulletin papers, research reports, books, academic journal items, teaching materials etc.) can also be published in the IR “SUCRA” if the author wishes.
２－３ Examples of “other methods selected by the author” include the following:
➀ Publication on the author’s website.
➁ Publication through submission to an OA journal (Gold OA).
➂ Publication in an external repository.
２－４ Registering Research Outputs in the IR “SUCRA” does not transfer copyright to SU. Copyright remains with the original copyright owner.
（Opting Out）
３ If a faculty or staff member notifies SU that it is inappropriate to make the Research Outputs available in the IR “SUCRA” due to unavoidable reasons such as copyright restrictions, or if SU determines that the Research Outputs are inappropriate to make available, regardless of whether or not a request is made by faculty and staff, SU will not make the Research Outputs available.
３－１ The following can be considered “Cases where disclosure is inappropriate”.
➀ When copyright is transferred to a publisher, academic society, etc. and permission is not granted to publish any version, including the author’s accepted manuscript.
➁ When permission from all co-authors cannot be obtained.
３－２ Regardless of whether or not a request is made by a faculty and staff, there are cases in which SU may deem an Research Outputs inappropriate for disclosure and may not make it public, such as the following．
➀ If the content contains personal information or privacy-related content that is inappropriate to post on the Internet.
➁ When misconduct in research activities such as fabrication, falsification, plagiarism, etc. has occurred.
➂ Any other case in which the Director of SU Library deems disclosure to be inappropriate.
（Non-Retroactivity）
４ This Policy does not apply to any Research Outputs published before its implementation or to any Research Outputs for which a contract that conflicts with this policy was entered into prior to the implementation of this Policy.
４－１ This policy applies to Research Outputs published after the implementation date (October 17, 2024). However, the registration of previously published Research Outputs into the IR “SUCRA“ is encouraged where possible.
（Electronic data submission and repository registration）
５ When faculty and staff make their Research Outputs available in the IR “SUCRA”, they must provide SU with an appropriate version that has been approved for the IR “SUCRA” registration by the publisher or other party, as soon as possible, free of charge, and after obtaining consent from all co-authors.
Matters relating to the IR “SUCRA”, such as registration, publication and handling after publication will be handled in accordance with the 「埼玉大学学術情報リポジトリ（SUCRA）運用指針」.
５－１ 埼玉大学学術情報リポジトリ（SUCRA）運用指針
”埼玉大学学術情報リポジトリ（SUCRA）運用指針” (operation guidelines) are posted below.
https://sucra.repo.nii.ac.jp/page/56
※Unfortunately, there is no English translation available at this time.
５－２ Method of provision
Please see “成果物の登録方法” (registration instructions) in the IR “SUCRA”.
※Unfortunately, there is no English translation available at this time.
https://sucra.repo.nii.ac.jp/page/31
If you have any questions, please contact us.
(Library and Academic Information Division)
E-Mail: sucra＠gr.saitama-u.ac.jp
５－３ Acceptable versions for the repository
The only versions of academic journal articles that can be registered in the IR “SUCRA” are those approved by the publisher. In many cases, this is the author’s accepted manuscript (a version that reflects the peer review but has not yet been finalized by the publisher), but there are also cases where the publisher’s version will be accepted, or where only the pre-peer reviewed version will be accepted. The version closest to the publisher’s version will be the appropriate version for deposit in the repository.
If you are unable to determine the licensed version, or if you feel that the licensed version is not suitable for publication in the repository due to differences with the publisher’s version, etc., please contact the SUCRA staff in the Library and Academic Information Division.
５－４ Verification of Copyright
Based on the Research Outputs provided by faculty and staff, the library will check whether they can be made available in the IR “SUCRA” and check the embargo period. In addition, if the publisher’s version is permitted to be made available in an institutional repository, the Library and Academic Information Division will obtain the publisher’s version and make it available in the IR “SUCRA”.
Please note that we do not anticipate engaging in individual negotiations with publishers, but we will respond to inquiries regarding confirming the OA requirements of the target publication.
５－５ File Formats
In principle, please submit electronic files in PDF format. If a file is submitted in a format other than PDF, the Library and Academic Information Division will convert it. If only a paper copy (booklet) is available, the Library and Academic Information Division will scan it and convert it to PDF.
５－６ Co-authors’ Consent
Authors must obtain consent from all co-authors.
By getting permission from co-authors to register the paper in an institutional repository beforehand when writing the paper, you can avoid a cumbersome confirmation process. There is no need to submit the co-authors’ consent in writing.
（Responsibilities of SU）
６ As an environment for implementing immediate OA for Research Outputs that are subject to immediate OA requirements set by national policy, SU has a responsibility to maintain and operate an institutional repository and to support researchers in achieving immediate OA in cases where immediate publication through an institutional repository is difficult.
６－１ The details of national policy which is described in section 6 are below;
➀National Policy on Promoting Open Access to Publicly Funded Scholarly Publications and Scientific Data (Decided by the Integrated Innovation Strategy Promotion Council on February 16. 2024)
And
➁ Measures for the Implementation of “National Policy on Promoting Open Access to Publicly Funded Scholarly Publications and Scientific Data” (decided by the Integrated Innovation Strategy Promotion Council on February 16, 2024) (Agreement of the relevant ministries and agencies on February 21. 2024)
➀https://www8.cao.go.jp/cstp/oa_240216.pdf (Japanese)
https://www8.cao.go.jp/cstp/oa_240216_en.pdf (Provisional English translation)
➁https://www8.cao.go.jp/cstp/openscience/r6_0221/hosaku.pdf (Japanese)
https://www8.cao.go.jp/cstp/hosaku_en.pdf (Provisional English translation)
➀ and ➁ are available on the Cabinet Office website.
６－２ Maintenance and Operation of Repositories
We will maintain and operate the IR “SUCRA” so that researchers can register and publish their Research Outputs using the methods described in 2 and 5, and support researchers in smoothly registering their research results.
６－３ Cases Where Immediate Repository Publication Is Difficult
As described in Section 5-4, many scholarly journal articles deposited in institutional repositories are subject to an embargo period. For example, after publication in an academic journal, the Research Outputs and its underlying research data may be deposited in the institutional repository immediately, kept non-public during the embargo period, and then made publicly available automatically or manually once the embargo period has expired.
In addition, SU will strive to reduce the burden on researchers in Gold OA by promoting and maintaining “Transformative Agreements” that add quotas for making researchers’ articles open access (OA) to electronic journal (EJ) subscriptions.
（Others）
７ In addition to what is set out in this policy, necessary matters concerning OA at SU will be decided through consultation among the relevant parties.
The matters necessary for the implementation of this policy are set out in these guidelines.
In addition, if changes are required in the future due to changes in external circumstances such as national policy or the state of OA publishing, or due to coordination with related departments within the university, the contents of the guidelines will be discussed and decided by the Library Committee and updated as necessary.
（Implement date）
８ This policy will be implemented from October 17, 2024.
This policy was formulated on October 17, 2024, and will be implemented from the same date.
