Guidelines for depositors
SAS-Space and Open Access
This page contains guidance for University of London researchers depositing their research outputs in the institutional open access repository, SAS-Space.
Open Access refers to material that is free at the point of access and licensed for reuse, so readers can use, reuse and share research easily. Research that is openly accessible supports the visibility of researchers and their work across all career stages, fosters collaboration and maximises its intellectual, social, cultural and economic impact.
The following policies and guidance contain more information for University of London researchers about making their research outputs open access:
The Open Access in the Humanities online training course on the School of Advanced Study’s RESHAPED platform offers an introduction to open access publishing.
For support with using SAS-Space, including issues with logging in and depositing, contact SAS-Space.info@sas.ac.uk.
For support with making your research outputs open access, contact open.research@london.ac.uk.
How to deposit in SAS-Space
Use the ‘Staff Login’ link at the top right to log in to SAS-Space using your University of London login credentials (the username and password that you use to access your institutional e-mail). Your username will usually be in the format ‘firstname.lastname’.
If you would like to deposit in SAS-Space and you do not have a University login, or you have trouble logging in, please email SAS-Space.info@sas.ac.uk.
Please ensure that files to be uploaded are in an appropriate format. File formats guidance is provided below, under the headings for different kinds of research outputs (e.g. ‘Datasets’).
You will be asked to provide metadata about the research output, including the work’s title, authorship information, publication details, subject area, and licence information.
If the output is the result of funded research you will need the Project ID code (available from research@london.ac.uk if unknown). There is an autocomplete available for funder ID, just start typing in the name of the funding body and select the relevant result.
All deposits are reviewed by repository staff before appearing on SAS-Space. We may contact you if we have questions about your deposit.
Research outputs deposited in SAS-Space will automatically appear on your profile page on the Directory of Research and Expertise.
Publications
As per the University of London’s Open Access Policy, all research staff, research students and fellows of the University should make their scholarly work open access by depositing their research outputs in SAS-Space as soon as possible after they have been accepted for publication. This includes peer-reviewed journal articles, book chapters, and monographs.
If your work has been published open access on the publisher’s website (using the ‘gold’ route to open access), deposit a copy of the published version in SAS-Space. Otherwise, deposit the Author Accepted Manuscript (AAM) version, to make your work open access. The Author Accepted Manuscript is the final pre-publication version of the manuscript which includes peer-review adjustments, but does not include the publisher’s typesetting and formatting.
Many publishers allow the Author Accepted Manuscript to be made publicly available in a repository only after the expiry of an embargo period. Please check your publisher’s Open Access policy, and contact open.research@london.ac.uk for guidance. When depositing in SAS-Space, there is an embargo option which allows for deposited files to be held back for the requisite period, whilst making the descriptive metadata available.
For research outputs which are the result of funded research, your funder may have requirements concerning when they are made open access, and how they are licenced. Please check your funder’s Open Access policy, and contact open.research@london.ac.uk for guidance.
Deposit of non peer-reviewed research publications in SAS-Space is welcomed. These include ‘grey literature’ such as working papers and reports, book reviews, editorials, and conference papers.
Publications should be deposited in PDF format.
Datasets
There is now an increased emphasis on managing and sharing data produced in research. Many of the research funders who support the work of the School of Advanced Study require that research data are openly available with as few restrictions as possible. Research datasets can be deposited in SAS-Space so that they are secure and archived for future preservation and (where possible) available for use and re-use by other researchers. Typically, research datasets are deposited when a project or piece of research is complete, or where they support a publication.
Before depositing a research dataset in SAS-Space, ensure that it is properly organised, documented, and labelled. Documentation should provide sufficient contextual information to enable the data to be accessed, understood, interpreted, and reused by future users. Please see the Research Data Management Guidance for information.
File size: SAS-Space can take small datasets that are intended for public access. Please contact SAS-Space.Info@sas.ac.uk for advice.
File formats: Open and non-proprietary file formats are recommended for preserving and sharing research data in SAS-Space. Please contact SAS-Space.Info@sas.ac.uk for advice.
SAS Dissertations and Theses
It is a University requirement for all School of Advanced Study doctoral theses to be deposited to the University’s repository, SAS-Space. This means that the full text will be available Open Access via SAS-Space. The School also offers students who receive a distinction for their master’s dissertation the option to have a copy of your work deposited into SAS-Space. You will receive an email to this effect after you have been awarded your degree. In each case, it is your responsibility to raise any concerns about your thesis or dissertation including issues concerning third-party copyrighted permissions and/or privacy or ethical difficulties in making the research Open Access. Embargoes can be requested in line with SAS policy. Theses and dissertations completed in the School, but which are not covered by the above, may be included at the discretion of individual institutes and individual students.
Dissertations and theses should be deposited in PDF format.
Copyright and Licensing
You retain your copyright in research outputs deposited in SAS-Space. If you own the copyright in a work, you may grant other people permission to copy your work by means of a licence. Researchers who deposit work in SAS-Space are asked to grant two licences.
One is a licence to allow the University to reproduce the item in digital form, so that it can be made available open access in the repository. The terms of the licence which you are asked to grant to the University for this purpose are as follows: I grant to the University of London the irrevocable, non-exclusive royalty-free right to reproduce, distribute, display, and perform this work in any format including electronic formats throughout the world for educational, research, and scientific non-profit uses during the full term of copyright including renewals and extensions.
The other licence is for the benefit of those who wish to make use of items stored in the repository. In accordance with the University of London Open Access Policy, peer-reviewed publications are expected to be deposited under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) licence. If research outputs are the result of funded research, your funder may have requirements concerning how they are licenced. Please check your funder’s Open Access policy, and contact open.research@london.ac.uk for advice.
Before depositing your work in SAS-Space, you must verify that any third-party copyrighted materials that you have included, such as images and figures, are cleared for open access digital publication, or are redacted from the deposited version. In cases where an element is expunged, it is good practice to replace that element with text: 'This item has been removed from this version due to third-party copyright. The item can be found here [link to online location if available or description]'. In exceptional cases a Closed Deposit can be made to SAS-Space for work which contains material that is third-party copyrighted and of which those items are crucial and underpin the research contained within the publication, and of which their removal for purposes of open access would severely undermine the research presented.
You may deposit copies of published articles into SAS-Space, provided that your agreement with the publisher allows you to do so, or you have obtained permission from the publisher. Please contact open.research@london.ac.uk for advice.