Open Access Policy FCT
In order to implement the rules established by the Open Access Policy, the FCT has established a transitional phase, during which it will consider the standards complied with as long as the publication is deposited in one of the repositories of the RCAAP network. During this phase, it is intended to make the scientific community aware of Open Access practices, especially the deposit of their publications, so that they become as natural a habit as submitting an article to a journal.
The payment of article processing charges (APC’s) or similar that some publishers require for publication in Open Access is an option of the researcher. Although this cost is considered eligible by the FCT, the payment of APC is not a FCT recommendation, since compliance with the Open Access rules does not imply direct publication in Open Access.
The filing of the publication in one of the RCAAP repositories must be done regardless of the embargo period to which the publication is subject. During the transitional phase, the embargo period may be longer than defined in the standards, if the publisher so requires. In cases where the publisher does not allow the self-archiving of the published version, it is enough that the author deposits its final version (author’s version), which is the post-peer review version but without the formatting, proofreading (merely spelling and not Scientific content) and the typographic composition of the publisher. In this case, it is enough to be deposited, for example, the word file in the possession of the author with the changes resulting from the peer review process.