Research Publishing

Log in to STORE to deposit your research

STORE is the University of Staffordshire Online Research Repository for your research outputs. STORE is an Open Access repository. Where copyright permits, full text material held in the repository is made freely available online. Otherwise an embargo will be applied in accordance with publisher and copyright guidelines. 

Depositing research in STORE

University of Staffordshire is committed to making all research of its research publicly available and searchable. As part of the University's Open Access mandate, colleagues involved in research are required to upload their University of Staffordshire affiliated work to STORE once it has been accepted. 

Don’t delay putting your research into STORE  - Follow the guidance below.

Benefits of Open Access deposit to the researcher and University include: 

• Increased exposure of research via Google, RSS feeds and other search services
• Increased citation
• Digital preservation of scholarly output
• Increased funding opportunities where conditions require Open Access
• Deposit enhances and promotes the growing body of free high quality academic research
• Deposit raises the research profile of University of Staffordshire and maximises impact within both the academic research community and more widely within society
• Deposit in line with the mandate ensure the output is compliant with funder requirements, publisher requirements and the REF Open Access policy 

• Journal articles, communications, and short papers
• Conference proceedings, papers, and presentations
• Exhibitions that have a research focus • Books and book chapters or sections that have a research focus
• Technical commissioned reports and other unrefereed outputs with a research focus
• Official University documents that require public accessibility and that have a research focus
• Blogs and Newsletters of significant Research groups 
• Multimedia, audio visual materials and still images that have research focus.
• PhD and Professional Doctorate theses successfully submitted and passed by University of Staffordshire for the relevant award. These must include a completed ETHOS form. 

For outputs in any other form that are identified as part of research activity please contact the Research & Systems Librarian for further guidance.  If an output owner is unsure whether an output is ‘research-focused’ and therefore whether it is appropriate for it to be uploaded to STORE, the owner should seek advice from their Associate Dean for Research and Innovation (ADRI). If necessary, the final decision as to whether an output should be on STORE will be made by the Director of Research, acting on advice from the ADRI and Research & Systems Librarian. 

• To upload relevant research outputs to STORE in a timely manner in accordance with both the University’s OA mandate and current REF OA policy
• To ensure that the correct version of a manuscript is uploaded with the research output in accordance with the University of Staffordshire OA Mandate and current REF policy (This should usually be the Author Accepted Manuscript (AAM)
• To engage with the information offered by the University on OA matters and to attend training sessions and workshops as appropriate
• To engage with the wider academic community with regards to the current policies on OA and REF
• To make every effort to respond to requests for their embargoed work via the request a copy function within STORE.
• To contact the relevant teams with any queries relating to OA or REF 

Log in to STORE to deposit your research

What do I need to deposit? 

You should deposit any new research outputs (as defined in the Open Access mandate)  accepted or published whilst in employment at University of Staffordshire.  

When do I need to deposit?

It is the author's responsibility to deposit their Author Accepted Manuscript (AAM) in STORE as soon as the publisher notifies the author that the article has been accepted for publication. Or within 3 months of this date. 

How to deposit?

We encourage research staff to self deposit within STORE, although we do offer a service where we can assist you with adding your research to the repository. 

What happens next?

Once you have submitted your output, the STORE team will verify the details of your deposit and contact you with any queries before it is made public. More information is available online. If you have any queries about your deposit, please contact the STORE team by emailing store@staffs.ac.uk  or Research and Systems Librarian – Sarah Beighton 

Research Excellence Framework (REF)
For more in depth information regarding researcher responsibilities for REF please refer to the page What is REF?

University of Staffordshire recommends green open access

Green open access:

• Allows authors to enjoy the advantages of both traditional journal publishing and open access
• Allows authors to publish without having to rely on access to funding for article processing charges (APCs)
• Is effective
• Is sustainable

Green OA involves making a version of the research paper available through a repository as an OA paper and publishing in a journal with no direct cost to the researcher; however the publisher is allowed to embargo the final version of the article to enable the publisher to recover costs through journal subscriptions. 

University of Staffordshire recommends that authors deposit the author-final copy (Post print) of their work in STORE (the University Open Access research repository) whenever possible.  In order to see if and how a journal or publisher supports green open access, you can use JISC SHERPA tools listed below. 

Gold OA if you are considering publishing via the Gold Open Access route, please contact your UOA lead for advice.

University of Staffordshire now has an Open Access Mandate 

This requires staff to make their published, peer-reviewed journal articles and conference papers open access, by self-archiving their final, peer-reviewed drafts in the institutional repository - STORE (Staffordshire Online Repository Environment).

For more information go to Research Integrity: https://www.staffs.ac.uk/research/research-governance/integrity