Answered By: Michael Pujals
Last Updated: Feb 27, 2018     Views: 14

Journal publishers recognize 3 versions of a published paper:
  1. Pre-print -- the version of your manuscript prior to peer-review
  2. Post-print -- the last version of your manuscript after peer-review that is published
  3. Publisher's version -- the version that is eventually formatted for the journal and published. This is also known as the document of record.
Most publishers allow for posting of the pre-print and post-print version of manuscripts, sometimes with restrictions.  In the case of Occupational Therapy in Health Care they allow the post-print to be place in an institutional repository with a 1-year embargo and acknowledgement of the publisher and link to the publisher's version:
 
From the section of publisher's website that addresses author rights:
"Under our Author Rights policy, authors also have the right to post their version of the submitted author manuscript (pre-print), or their version of the final published article (post-print) on their personal or institutional web site. Post-print web postings are subject to an embargo of 12 months."
 
We also use a online tool that tracks this information, Sherpa/Romeo, where you can always look up this information if you are interested
 
If we can't ever find information in regards to authors' rights, we always ask the publisher directly for permission. If they grant it, then it's not a problem.  If they deny permission, we accept that, and won't post the document.  
 
Our job is to make sure that your work is accessible and reaches the largest readership possible without you getting in trouble with your publishers.

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