Submit to SocArXiv

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Open Social Work Research encourages the use of SocArXiv. SocArXiv is a publicly accessible platform for the sharing of papers in the social sciences, built in partnership with the Center for Open Science. most research can be archived in a repository like Socarxiv or a university repository under publisher’s open access policy.

To learn more about the use of repositories in social work, check out Pendell, K. (2018). Behind the wall: An exploration of public access to research articles in social work journals. Advances in Social Work, 18 (4) 1041-1052.

The following is adapted from SocOpen.org’s FAQ page.

What are the benefits of using SocArXiv?

  • Stable, persistent URL to use in your CV, professional portfolio, citations, etc.
  • Download statistics 
  • Getting your work out faster than traditional publishing
  • One place to store many outputs and materials for each project
  • Promote social science without walls by supporting open access, open source, public goods research infrastructure.

How do I upload a paper?

You can go straight to SocArXiv.org and click on “Add a Preprint,” and follow the instructions. (If you haven’t yet, you will need to create a free account on the Open Science Framework as part of that process.)

Here is a basic how-to guide to using SocArXiv, and here’s a video tutorial of someone uploading a paper.

Be sure to add “social work” as a discipline.

What can I post to SocArXiv?

Although SocArXiv is part of the Open Science Framework Preprints service, the platform hosts research papers at a number of stages in the research process:

  • Working papers: Any draft of a paper that is ready to share with interested parties, but has not yet been peer reviewed. If you are sharing your work with a group of colleagues, a conference, or a journal, this may be the perfect time to widen the circle and post it on SocArXiv.
  • Preprints: Most people use this term to refer to completed papers that have not yet been peer reviewed (like working papers). However, by some definitions this includes versions of a paper that have been peer reviewed but are not yet published by a journal. However you define preprints, SocArXiv will host them.
  • Post-prints: After a paper has been published by a journal, this is a version that you elect to share on our open platform. It may be a version that does not include the journal’s formatting or other changes, or it may be the publisher’s copy (or “version of record”) if you have the right to distribute it. This is the version you share when you’ve published something but it’s behind a paywall and you want anyone to be able to read it.

How should I license my work on SocArXiv?

SocArXiv offers three options:

  • No license
  • CC-0 1.0 Universal (public domain waiver)
  • CC-BY Attribution 4.0 International

Both of these CC (Creative Commons) options are excellent choices that allow reuse, adaptation, copying, and distribution, including commercially. A CC-0 option is a donation of the work to the public domain (no permission required) whereas CC-BY allows the author to retain copyright, and requires the reader to give credit to the source and to provide a link to the license terms. Both licenses promote openness, efficiency and progress by providing certainty to the user as to what reuses or adaptations can be made. Read more about licensing on SocArXiv.

What is SocArXiv’s moderation policy?

Papers are moderated before they appear on SocArXiv, a process we expect to take less than two days. Our policy involves a five-point checklist, confirming that papers are (1) scholarly, (2) in research areas that we support, (3) are plausibly categorized, (4) are correctly attributed, and (5) are in languages that we moderate. In addition, we seek to accept only papers that authors have the right to share, although we do not check copyrights in the moderation process. For details, view the moderation policy.

SocArXiv is a partner of the nonprofit Center for Open Science (COS), and SocArXiv as a web platform is hosted on the OSF Framework. As a legal entity, SocArXiv is an administrative unit at University of Maryland, College Park (UMD). Grants and donations come to UMD, and then are administered by SocArXiv Director Philip Cohen. The SocArXiv Steering Committee is actively involved in an advisory role, and volunteer working groups provide additional assistance. UMD provides fiscal oversight, ensuring that all expenses paid are justified according to University standards.

Where can I learn more about SocArXiv?

Please visit SocOpen.org to learn more about SocArXiv. You can search for papers directly on SocArXiv. You can also follow SocArXiv on Twitter.

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