The Open Policy Finder is a tool developed by Jisc, a United Kingdom-based education-focused IT non-profit. Prior to being rebranded under the name Open Policy Finder in 2024, the service was provided under the name Sherpa RoMEO, which is the name many people may be familiar with. This service collates the open access policies of every journal into one searchable database.
To search for a journal's policies, simply type the journal you are looking for into the search bar. In this example, I am searching for the American Historical Review (AHR). Click the "Search" button or press "Enter" on your keyboard to search for the journal.
You will receive results that contain the keywords you have searched for, which can vary depending on how common the keyword phrases are. In this case, I have only received two results. To open up the journal and view the open access policies, click on the "View Journal" button underneath the name and Publisher info for the journal you want to view.
Upon opening a journal, you will be met with a page similar to this. Each journal will have a different number of boxes depending on how many different policies they have. In this case, AHR has five different policies. This also requires clarification of some of the terms one would see on these policies.
Submitted refers to the pre-print version before any typesetting or formatting for the specific journal. This is the version that authors are waiting for confirmation on whether it will be published or not. As such, these versions are usually not restricted, but it is important to always check the journal's policy regardless.
Accepted refers to the post-print version of the article, the version where edits and suggestions are made in preparation for final typesetting for the journal.
Published refers to the final, edited, and formatted version that is present within an issue of the journal.
Each journal and publisher has their own standards as to how open access policies differ according to the version of the article.
In this policy, we can see the main box (the one that contains the drop down arrow) summarizes the main aspects of the policy: if the article is accepted, there is a way to make the article open access after a 2 year embargo. By dropping down the rest of the boxes, we can get insight into the specifics of the policy. In this one, we can see the embargo period again; below that, we can see the locations that authors are allowed to deposit their materials after the embargo ends. This policy allows publication in institutional repositories after the two year embargo. An institutional repository is able to set an embargo period, so you may submit it, and we will automatically allow it to go public once the publisher's embargo period expires.
The final section indicates any other conditions one must follow when publishing the work elsewhere. This usually involves the author attaching a statement that redirects, cites, and links directly to the version featured in the journal, as is the case with this journal. But be sure to read this section carefully and verify the requirements for the journal before submitting. One can open the publisher's full policy by clicking the link at the bottom of the page, shown here:
The Open Policy finder also allows authors to verify how their funding source interacts with journals and open access policies. Funders have their own requirements that authors must follow for open access; if a journal does not allow authors to follow these requirements, the author cannot submit to that journal. The Open Policy Finder checks these requirements against each other. However, the current database of funders is very limited; since Jisc is based in the United Kingdom, the current funders are all UK-based. This may be useful in some very limited circumstances for Lewis University, but largely, it is up to the author and their funder to verify any open access policies for the journals in their field and for their research.