Publishing

The ambition of The Hague University of Applied Sciences is to publish open access. On the page Publication Policy THUAS you can read more about this publication policy, the different forms of open access publishing and the advantages of open access.

Want to know more about what open access is all about? You can get a brief introduction by watching this five-minute film made by the University Libraries Partnership (SHB). In the one-hour online training Open Access publishing, developed by the library, you learn all the ins and outs.

Selecting a Journal

Selecting a journal to publish in, can be done in the following ways: through Sherpa Romeo you can select journals based on publishers' policies on copyright and open access. With Altmetrics & Impact Factor it is possible to select journals based on impact of articles and journals. When selecting a journal, do consider publication costs, usage licences, quality scores and the peer review process. Also look out for dubious publishers.

When publishing your research, you must also take into account the guidelines of The Hague University of Applied Sciences concerning copyright, the preservation of your rights and the Creative Commons licence (under what conditions may a work be reused?). More information can be found on the Copyright page.

ISBN Procedure

The ISBN procedure for research group publications is currently as follows:

The management assistant (in collaboration with the researcher) fills in the metadata on the form on the Dutch ISBN site

The costs are paid by the research group cost centre (just like all other costs that are made to make a book, such as layout and printing)

The management assistant shall either forward the ISBN number to Traffic or fill in traffic@hhs.nl on the form so that Traffic receives it directly afterwards, if possible

The management assistant or researcher enters the publication into Sharepoint Research Groups after which the HB receives an alert for step 5

If possible, the HB will place the publication (depending on copyright) in the HBO Knowledge Base, making it findable via Google Scholar and also available in Netherlands Research Portal.

In the case of publications by an external publisher (other than THUAS or Eburon), the publisher will arrange the ISBN number and bear the costs.


 

Open Access Publishing

General

With increasing digitalisation, new ways of sharing research are possible. In the university world in particular, this has led to a reconsideration of the role of scientific publishing. All Dutch universities of applied sciences (and many foreign universities) have now signed the Berlin Declaration. A declaration endorsing the basic principle of Open Access (OA):

Scientific publications, especially those financed with public funds, must be accessible free of charge and quickly to anyone with an internet connection. This free accessibility ensures a wider public reach and strengthens knowledge circulation.

Many researchers understand the value of open access. But they do not know exactly what to do. The first step in making research results accessible is to carefully manage your rights as an author. Make sure, for example, that you have the right to use your publication within your own institution or to publish the post-print on your own website or to have it included in a repository. (See above.)

There are various ways of making publications openly accessible.

  • Publishing in open access repositories (the so-called green route)
  • Publishing in open access journals (the so-called golden route)
Publishing in Open Access Repositories

Place your publication in a digital open access archive ('repository') managed by your institution. You can ask your repository administrator how that works. With the publisher's permission, you can place the post-print of your publication in the repository and otherwise the preprint. Sometimes there can be a period of embargo. Educational institutions can work with an institutional repository (access restricted to their own institution) and/or a national repository (access public). The national repository for the universities of applied sciences is the HBO Knowledge Base: http://hbo-kennisbank.nl. The national repository for research university education (WO) is Netherlands Research Portal: https://netherlands.openaire.eu/

For researchers, it is important to publish with a (scientifically recognised) reputable publisher. It is possible to publish a publication both through a publisher and to make it freely available through an open access repository. As a copyright owner, you can decide who you give which rights to. You can agree with your publisher on a licence that gives the publisher all rights necessary for publication. In this licence it can be agreed that the publication will also be made public through an open access repository (immediately or after an embargo period). More and more publishers are agreeing to this. Even if a publisher insists on transferring copyright, it is often permitted to make the publication (sometimes only the preprint) available via repository. The number of publishers agreeing to this is increasing.

Publishing in Open Access Journal

Submit your publication to an open access journal. The Directory of Open Access Journals(www.doaj.org) provides an overview of more than 6000 peer-reviewed journals. New magazines appear online every month. The number of digital open access journals is increasing and so is the opportunity to publish in them.

Hybrid models are also being experimented with more frequently: digital journals in which open access articles are included alongside 'normal' ones. More and more publishers are offering this option: BioMed Central, Springer Open, Wiley Open Access, etc.

The SHERPA RoMEO website provides information on the policies of a large number of publishers in the field of copyright and open access.

Open Access Publishing in the HBO Knowledge Base

Open Access Publishing in the HBO Knowledge Base

The HBO Knowledge Base is the showcase of 25 major universities of applied sciences in the Netherlands, including The Hague University of Applied Sciences. Student theses and research papers are available for everyone to view free of charge: more than 50,000 in total. Different CC licences may apply, but the aim is to ensure that all of them are compatible. The requirement from 2020 onwards is more and more CC BY licences and open access. SURF, The Netherlands Association of Universities of Applied Sciences, the KB, DANS, SIA, the HON and the SHB are among those collaborating on the HBO Knowledge Base. The HBO Knowledge Base has the designation of institutional "Trusted Repository" (often a requirement for subsidy providers) and is considered an archive in terms of publisher terms for green open access.

A variety of publication types can be registered on the HBO Knowledge Base: from conference contributions and videos to articles and books (book chapters).

There is also no limit to the number of publications that can be registered. There is no limit to the length of time the publications can be stored, so even if a research group is discontinued, they can still be viewed.

If a publication by a staff member can be seen in the HBO Knowledge Base, it will also be visible on the academic platform NARCIS via the professors or via the title/subject of the publication, and (via NARCIS) also on Google Scholar (for example, Professor Vincent Smit in NARCIS). Finally, it is permanently stored in the e-depot of the KB.

In 2020/2021, the HBO Knowledge Base for research publications will probably merge into a new "National Platform for Applied Sciences".

Which of my publications can already be found on the HBO Knowledge Base?

The library has developed a great tool to help you find out: the "Open Access Roadmap". Please contact the library.

How do I get my publications in the HBO Knowledge Base?

If a publication is to be included in the HBO Knowledge Base, the preferred method of submission is currently still via the Publication Application Form, which can also be found via:

Employee Portal -> Start page -> Direct to and on Library -> Search and Find -> Theses and Publications.

This form may seem extensive, but it is specifically intended to enable the publication to be placed in the HBO Knowledge Base with the correct metadata as quickly as possible. By providing as much metadata as possible (such as e.g. keywords, a legend summary and the CC licence) the publication can be found and used more easily. Please also make sure that the correct version is sent (preprint/author's version, post-print or the publisher's version), including any obligatory publisher's notes and references.

If there are many publications, please contact the library.

Archive Policy of Publishers

Under certain conditions, publishers of journals in which research publications are published can offer authors the possibility to archive a specific version of their research publication in a repository (green route). At The Hague University of Applied Sciences, this means that research publications can be placed in the HBO Knowledge Base. Learn more about which versions of research publications there may be, the most common conditions and where to find publishers' policies.

Sherpa Romeo

One way to arrive at a selection of journals to publish in is to look at the open access and copyright policies of traditional and hybrid (mixed open access and non-open access) journals and of publishers. Sherpa Romeo provides this. For each publisher and each journal title, you can see when ("embargo period") which version (preprint, post-print, publisher's version) may be included where (especially in the HBO Knowledge Base), after your article has been published in that specific journal, with possibly specific conditions. For example, you might consider publishing in a journal where you can also have a preprint placed in the HBO Knowledge Base.

Open Access, Peer Review, Licensing and OA Costs

You can also decide to publish directly in a fully open access journal, or alternatively in a hybrid journal. Scientific journals often charge a fee per publication to have the article published open access (OA): the so-called APCs (Article Processing Charges). Almost 70% of OA publications are free of charge. For the remaining 30%, the average cost is €1,500 per item. Take this into account when applying for grants from SIA, NWO, ZonMW, EU, etc. For that matter, more and more funds require OA publication.

The DOAJ list provides a comprehensive overview of approximately 10,000 good quality OA journals, including any usage licences (Creative Commons [link naar interne vertaalde pagina]), transparency on the peer review process, and APC rates.

The QOAM list is also an overview of high-quality OA and hybrid journals with their quality score, OA transparency and APC rates.

There are also fully OA publishers such as Copernicus, PLoS, Biomed, Frontiers, PeerJ and MDPI, where publication costs are often below the €1,500 average, but which may not always be very relevant in their field.

Dubious Publishers

There are also publishers with a dubious reputation who seek direct contact and charge publication fees (APCs) without organising proper editorial services and peer review, the so-called 'predatory publishers', who only want to make money.

You can use the 2017 Times Higher Education (THE) Thirteen Ways to Spot a 'Predatory Journal' for this. Some of the 13 tips: a publisher with a solid academic reputation will never ask you directly to publish with them; the suspected journal covers a wide area of science with curious combinations; the website contains language errors and vague images and is mainly aimed at getting contributions from authors with a promise of a quick peer review process; the Index Copernicus Value (ICV) is promoted on the website.

Versions

Publishers often distinguish between these primary versions of a publication:

  • Preprint version: the version of the publication as submitted to the publisher (prior to the (peer) review process), also referred to as the author's version.
  • Postprint version: the version of the publication as accepted for publication (this version may include any changes suggested as a result of the (peer) review process).
  • Publisher's version: the version of the publication as published, with the publisher's logo and/or layout.
Prerequisites

Publishers can impose conditions on this open access route, such as an embargo period. Then the publication may only be placed in the repository after a certain time following the publication date in the journal. This embargo period usually depends on which version is used: the preprint version may be placed in the repository immediately, but the postprint version only after x months. Other conditions may include, for example, a link to the publisher's site.

Policy location

Check the publisher's website to see what policies they have regarding copyright and archiving of publications. Look at 'Instructions for authors', 'Open Access Policy' or 'Archiving conditions'. This specifically concerns the possibility of publishing open access via the green route in an institutional repository.

SHERPA/RoMEO is the main database of publishers' policies on open access. RoMEO stands for RightsMEtadata for Open Archiving. The database makes it possible to check in a uniform and orderly manner which open access possibilities a specific journal offers.

The Dutch national Open Access Journal Browser gives an overview of journals which publish in open access and you can also find the publishers' archives. Via the homepage of openaccess.nl you can search directly in the Open Access Journal Browser.