What is the RUC?  

The UDC Repository (RUC) is the university's own digital library where full-text documents reflecting the institution's academic, teaching and research activities are preserved and disseminated. The RUC is committed to the open science movement. Therefore, all documents uploaded to the RUC are open access, with very few exceptions. Participation in the RUC is voluntary for all UDC services and members. Its management and maintenance are primarily overseen by the University Library. 

 

Why should you deposit your works? 

By making your work openly accessible in our repository, you will significantly enhance its visibility (as RUC documents are highly ranked in Google search engines) and ensure its long-term preservation (which will not depend on private entities). 

Many studies have shown a positive correlation between the increase in citations received and open access publication of research articles, regardless of the version deposited. According to the terminology used by Open Policy Finder (and internationally accepted) we can find: 

• The published version: publisher's version, or final version as it appears on the journal's platform. 

• The accepted version: final version without the editor's layout. (It includes all the changes made during the peer review process).  

• The preprint: the version first submitted to the publisher. (It has not yet incorporated the changes from the peer review process). 

It is worth noting that, since 2023, ANECA requires that those contributions to be submitted for evaluation (for accreditations or six-year research), published either open access or subscription-based, must first be deposited in an institutional or thematic repository. While both the published and the accepted version (post-peer review) are acceptable for ANECA, preprints (version prior to peer review) do not fulfill this requirement. 

 

Keep us updated on your latest work

To ensure that your latest publications are promptly added to the RUC, we rely on your help. Although we monitor WoS and Scopus, we may miss something. Please let us know immediately if you have new work to share via: 

Email: informatica.bib@udc.gal 

Form (preferably) 

Please, note that the sooner your publications are uploaded to the RUC, the better your viewing and download statistics will be within the platform. This data can be included in your evaluations and accreditation applications to justify the scientific impact of your publication. 

 

OA or subscription-based articles 

In case of open access (OA) articles, we will only need you to send us the title or DOI of the work, as in that case we will be able to upload the published version. On the other hand, if it was published under a closed access model (the publisher is the copyright holder of the work), here we will need the accepted version (final version after peer review, but without the publisher's final layout). 

 

Can any work be uploaded to the RUC? Licences and permissions 

No. We can only upload those works in which the authors (you) retain the copyright, as in the case of open access articles. Moreover, these works are published under a third-party use licence, usually a Creative Commons licence. These licences allow third parties (including us) to upload the articles to other platforms (such as the RUC). 

Regarding articles published in subscription-based journals (private), we can generally deposit the accepted versions in institutional repositories. Major publishers (such as Elsevier, Wiley, SAGE or Springer) have adopted, under pressure from governments, funding agencies and the academic world in general, self-archiving policies that often allow the immediate or delayed deposit of accepted manuscripts. Sometimes, however, they require an embargo period (between 12 and 24 months) during which the publication can be deposited in the RUC, although not available in open access. 

For smaller publishers and conferences, it can be challenging to determine whether self-archiving in the RUC is permitted. This is often due to a lack of clear open access policies on the part of the publisher or uncertainty regarding copyright ownership (especially common in conferences). 

Therefore, we recommend, especially in the case of conferences, that you familiarize yourself with the organizer’s copyright policy beforehand, and carefully review any copyright transfer agreements you may be asked to sign. Ideally, you should grant, whenever possible, a non-exclusive license to your copyright, as this allows you to retain ownership of the work and, consequently, maintain control over future uses.