When you deposit an accepted manuscript in the University’s repository, wherever possible the text becomes available via the public webpages. However, this is just one way readers can find and access your research. Once metadata and PDFs are deposited, they can be harvested and aggregated by other open access cross-search services.

Here are just some of the ways depositing in an institutional repository allows readers to find your papers:

1. CORE

CORE is a service which brings together open access content from repositories and journals all over the world, allowing users to search in one place. CORE currently aggregates over 194 million open access articles. Readers can use this centralised search function to find and gain access to your research, thanks to metadata harvested from the University’s repository.

Why not try using CORE to search for open access articles in your current area of interest?

2. Unpaywall

Unpaywall offers a browser extension which identifies open access versions of papers while you’re viewing a journal’s website. This functionality allows a reader who encounters a journal article behind a paywall (where the reader has no personal or institutional subscription access to the content) to find open access versions of the manuscript. Using this tool, the reader can be linked instantly from your final published article on the journal webpage to the University’s repository, gaining free and legal access to your research.

3. Google Scholar

Google Scholar pulls in metadata from many sources across the internet, including institutional repositories. Once of the most widely-recognised search engines, Google Scholar is used by many readers to find research. Different versions of articles are grouped together by their matching metadata, so readers can be simultaneously directed both to the official journal website and to an open access version in a repository.

These are some of the mechanisms by which depositing your research in the University’s repository allows more readers to find your work.

For any questions about depositing in the repository, or other open access matters, contact repository@napier.ac.uk at any time.