What version of a publication should I make open access under Western's OA policy?
You can share any version of your publication to comply with the policy: the final published version, the post-print, or the pre-print. Which version you can share will depend on the journal you are publishing in and what the journal allows for. Shareyourpaper.org is an online system that automatically works out what version of your paper can be shared.
We encourage you to share the version that is as close as you can get to the final published version; in general, this is the order of preference for sharing:
The final published version: This is allowed when you publish in a fully OA journal, pay a fee to make your article OA, or publish with a journal that has a policy allowing the final, published version to be deposited in an OA repository.
The post-print version, or author accepted manuscript: This is allowed by many journals that do not offer an OA publishing option or that charge a fee to make a publication open access.
The pre-print version or submitted manuscript: This is also allowed by many journals that do not offer an OA publishing option or that charge a fee to make a publication open access.
