ePrints, Google and Open Access

People do not need to know about QUT ePrints to find ePrint records. The magic of ePrints
records is that they are highly ‘Google-able’. Typically a new ePrint record will be
searchable in Google within 1 week of being made available on QUT ePrints.
Articles that you publish in a journal are generally only available to subscribers. The
subscription barrier denies access to some potential readers, limiting the potential number
of citations that the article will accrue. Providing an “open access” copy to supplement the
journal version can ensure that citations are not lost.

Most journals allow authors to provide open access to their own version of their article (i.e.
the final draft version) even when copyright has been transferred to the publisher. This
information is normally contained in the ‘rights retained by authors’ section of the journal’s
publication agreement. Here at QUT, we ask authors to upload their final corrected Word
version of their journal articles to QUT ePrints. The Library checks the publisher’s policy on
open access and sets an appropriate access level. The Library also converts the file to
PDF, adds any required copyright statements and links the ePrint record to facilitate access
to the copy-edited version.