In addition to impact and cost-effectiveness, other factors to consider when choosing a publisher include the publisher's copyright and archiving policies. A consortium of UK academic institutions has developed the Sherpa/Romeo database. You may use this database to find a summary of permissions that are typically given as part of each publisher's copyright transfer agreement. Use this as a baseline from which to negotiate with the publisher for greater control over your scholarship.
| ROMEO colour | Archiving policy |
| green | can archive pre-print and post-print or publisher's version/PDF |
| blue | can archive post-print (ie final draft post-refereeing) or publisher's version/PDF |
| yellow | can archive pre-print (ie pre-refereeing) |
| white | archiving not formally supported |
Here is another example of the publication patterns in, Biology. In the last 10 years, the top publishers of journal articles authored by UNC Biology faculty were:
· BioMed Central Ltd.
· Elsevier BV
· Springer Netherlands
· Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
Among these top 4 publishers, 3 of the publishers (BioMed Central, Elsevier & Springer) are Green Publishers; these publishers allow authors’ to archive pre-print and post-print of their articles. Wiley-Blackwell is a Yellow publisher; they allow authors’ to archive pre-print of their articles.
Many faculties are choosing alternative modes of publications. We’ve noticed increasing trends of Open Access publications in recent years. Your UNC colleagues in the discipline of Biology have published peer-reviewed articles in the following open-access publications: