by Susan Ashworth, Executive Director, Information Services & University Librarian

We are aware that some staff have received an email from certain publishers detailing the action that they are taking against the social networking site, ResearchGate: specifically, they are asking ResearchGate to take down the versions of papers posted on the site that breach copyright rules. Publishers involved in this action include the American Chemical Society, Brill, Elsevier and Wiley.

The email makes it clear that there is no intention whatsoever to take action against individual authors. Nevertheless, we would like to make you aware that papers that you have uploaded to ResearchGate might disappear from the site over the next few weeks.

We would recommend that, if you are unsure about the copyright status of copies of papers that you have deposited on ResearchGate, you instead link to the record for the paper in Enlighten. Library staff check the copyright status of all papers deposited on Enlighten and ensure that journal-specific copyright requirements, including embargo periods, are applied.

Please contact Susan Ashworth, Information Services or Tanita Casci, Research Strategy and Innovation Office, if you have any questions.

First published: 23 October 2017

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