Research promotion

You can easily upload your publications and share them freely on SERVAL, the UNIL institutional repository (Green Open Access). SERVAL is available to all researchers at UNIL. Researchers are responsible for creating and publishing a new record for each of their publications, except Master’s dissertations which are automatically imported into SERVAL at the end of each semester. SERVAL records of PhD theses are published by the University Library (BCU) after the public PhD defence and after the candidate has delivered the paper copies of the manuscript to the library. Starting from 1 July 2020, UNIL has made the uploading of scientific articles to Serval in PDF format compulsory (cf. directive 4.6). Please note that this rule does not apply to monographs, PhD theses or Master’s dissertations. Although PDF files must be uploaded to SERVAL, they need not necessarily be made publicly available.

The sharing of a (PDF) text in SERVAL is subject to the rights of use you negotiate with the publisher, which will be covered in the contract you sign. You can check publishers’ Open Access policies on Sherpa/Romeo for academic journals in English and on Héloïse (service closed in february 2021) for journals published in French.

For questions related to uploading and sharing a publication on SERVAL, please contact:

Ms Nathanaëlle Minard
+41 (0)21 692 31 28
nathanaelle.minard@unil.ch
Géopolis – Office 2869
 

For questions related to importing and validating Master’s dissertations, please contact:

Ms Geneviève Humbert
+41 (0)21 692 31 10
genevieve.humbert@unil.ch
Géopolis – Office 2875

Although UNIL recommends Green Open Access, it is not always available for monographs or when you wish to share your paper as soon as it is published (Gold OA). Applications for funding for Open Access can be made to the following schemes:

• the SNSF, for papers published in as part of an SNSF-funded project, and for monographs (including PhD dissertations);
• UNIL’s own publication fund, for monographs and PhD theses;
• the Faculty institutes. Eligibility criteria vary for each institute. Please contact the administrative office (secrétariat) of your institute for further information.

In addition, swissuniversities is currently negotiating Read & Publish deals with the largest scientific publishers (Elsevier, Springer and Wiley) in order to limit or remove publication fees for researchers in Switzerland.

Further information on funding available for publication can be obtained on the webpage “Funding”.

UNIL’s Open Access website provides valuable information and advice on Open Access publication, including:

• a guide on the obligation to archive your publications in SERVAL (directive 4.6);
• a guide to OA publishing (Papago personal assistant);
• a legal guide to copyright issues;
• template letters to help you negotiate embargo periods with publishers;
• video tutorials on using SERVAL.

Doctoral schools are also increasingly offering training on publishing and Open Access as part of their programmes.

You are advised to be very careful when selecting a journal in which to publish: some journals, known as “predatory”, make researchers pay publishing fees but do not offer the normal editorial services (no peer review). Lists of such journals can be found on the internet (check for example Beall’s list or the blog flaky academic journals). Your colleagues may also be able to help if you have doubts about a journal.

Every researcher at the Faculty (including PhD students without a contract with UNIL) have a personal webpage on Unisciences on which they are expected to provide information about their CV, research directions and projects, and the main individuals and institutions with which they work.

A guide to inputting information to your Unisciences personal page is available here.

Further information and individual advice sessions are available from:

Ms Nathanaëlle Minard
+41 (0)21 692 31 28
nathanaelle.minard@unil.ch
Géopolis – Office 2869

UNIL recommends that researchers should create an ORCID identifier to facilitate identification when submitting publications and applications for grants (SNSF or H2020). The ORCID ID can be directly linked to a Unisciences personal page. It also helps when researchers import publications records into SERVAL on their arrival at UNIL.

Further information available here.

Symposiums and scientific conferences are great opportunities to present your research, exchange ideas and information with colleagues, and build up a network. Participation in and organization of such events on the UNIL campus are subject to specific rules: please check the Faculty’s general rules (in French only) and/or consult the administrative office of your institute.

Within UNIL, web news, newsletters and dedicated websites can be used to increase the visibility of your projects, events and publications.

In addition to contributions to the print and broadcast media (newspapers, TV and radio), social media provide further opportunities to promote your research profile and activities.

For further information on the range of communication channels, please contact the Faculty’s communications adviser:

Ms Oana Barsin
+41 (0)21 692 37 85
oana.barsin@unil.ch
Géopolis – Office 2875