Self-archiving of scholarly publications

As an employee at Nord University you are obliged to archive your scholarly publications in the Norwegian Research Information Repository (Nasjonalt vitenarkiv, NVA). By doing this, your work becomes more visible and it will be easier to share your research with your colleagues.

Info September 2025:

The Norwegian Research Information Repository (Nasjonalt vitenarkiv, NVA) replaces the discontinued institutional repositories (incl. Nord Open Research Archive) and the current research information system Cristin. Content from the old systems, incl. student theses, PhD theses, reports etc., has been migrated to NVA. NVA and the instutional respositories have the same purpose: to make publications openly accessible to the public on the internet. The accessibility of those materials also remains the same.

Nord University has adopted a rights retention policy (applying to scholarly journal articles published 01.09.2023 onwards) which ensures that researchers at Nord University always can make at least the accepted version accessible immediately (upon publication in the journal, i.e. without an embargo period) in the Norwegian Research Information Repository (Nasjonalt vitenarkiv, NVA).

The publisher’s self-archiving policy contains information on which version of an article that may be made available, embargo periods (if they apply) and other conditions. Information on the publisher’s self-archiving policy may be found in authors’ contracts with the publisher, on the publisher’s website or (for journal articles) in the Open policy finder, previous Sherpa Romeo.

In accordance with Nord University's Open Access (OA) policy (PDF), all researchers are obliged to archive their scholarly articles and PhD theses in NVA. This applies also to articles published Open Access.

In addition, the policy encourages researchers to upload other scientific publications as well, e.g. book chapters. Furthermore, all researchers who have been granted financial support from the Open Access Fund, are committed to archiving these publications in NVA.

How to upload a publication in NVA is described in the lowermost part of this webpage and in Sikt's user guide "Register results in NVA".

Process description of self-archiving. Illustration

Articles should be uploaded as early as possible. Articles and books published under an open licence can be self-archived without a further check of rights. Once authors assign their rights to a publisher, the rights must be checked, also by the authors themselves, before the publication may be used. Read more on the copyright clearance of scholarly publications and compilation theses.

Copyright clearance

The University Library is responsible for copyright clearance of publications uploaded to NVA. The University Library checks e.g. the uploaded article version. Publications are only made openly accessible if this can be done in accordance with the book publisher’s policy for self-archiving or Nord’s right retention policy (that does not apply to books).

For scholarly books / book chapters, the University Library contacts the publishers if their self-archiving policies are unclear. Furthermore, the University Library is also responsible for copyright clearance of publications that are part of compilation theses (read more on archiving of PhD theses)

Article versions

If a publication has an open licence, authors may make the published version available in an open repository. For articles published non-OA (i.e. in subscription mode), the version to upload in NVA is usually the accepted version (Author’s Accepted Manuscript, AAM).

This is the version of an article prior to peer-review (submitted version). Authors retain copyright until entering into a contract with a publisher. Nearly all journals allow authors to self-archive preprints in open repositories, but not all journals allow sharing of preprints before the final article is published.
This is the peer-reviewed and accepted version of an article, but not the final formatted version published by the journal. Many journals allow authors to make this version available in non-commercial, open repositories.

Accepted versions / Author’s Accepted Manuscripts (AAMs) are the article as published in terms of content, but not in terms of appearance, as publishers often reserve for themselves their own arrangement of type-setting and formatting. The Author’s Accepted Manuscript (AAM) is a version without the journal's formatting (page numbers, volume etc.). The accepted version is the final manuscript version authors submit to the publisher after peer-review (see an example of an accepted manuscript).
This is the version published in a journal – the final version that has been formatted and proofread by the publisher. The published version contains the logo of the journal, formatting, and final references. Usually, publishers possess the rights to this version. For articles published behind paywalls (non-OA, not with an open licence), most journals are restrictive in terms of making this version available in open repositories (this also applies to proof-versions that often contain the publisher’s design and layout).

Overview of article versions in the publication process. Illustration

How to self-archive scholarly publications in NVA?

1. Log into NVA and find the publication in question. If the publication is not yet registered, you have to do this first.
2. Tap the pencil in the top right to edit the result.
3. Choose the tab “File, licence and link”
4. Upload the correct version.
5. Choose "Open file".
6. State which version of the publication you are depositing. Generally, publishers allow authors to self-archive the “accepted version”, so this version shall be uploaded (valid for non-OA articles).
7. For OA articles (published version to be uploaded), choose the same licence as on the article.
8. The University Library will receive the uploaded full-text and check
  - that the publisher allows self-archiving of the uploaded version. If the published version may be self-archived, this is the version that will be deposited.
  - whether the publisher requires an embargo period (delayed accessibility) for the full-text to be made openly accessible. In this case, the University Library will set the embargo date.