ORBi (Open Archive and Bibliography) is the institutional archive of the University of Mons. This open archive underlines the University of Mons’ willingness to make its scientific work available to everyone, without financial or technical constraint and emphasises its support for the Open Science and Open Access movement.
Within the context of its implementation, a compulsory submission mandate has been put in place at the University of Mons. Only publications and communications available in ORBi are taken into account for internal reviews.
ORBi now contains a significant number of references and full-text publications, many of which can be openly accessed. This means that the publications of the researchers of the University of Mons are visible to a significantly wider audience, thanks to excellent referencing using quality tools and the Open Access which is at the heart of its objectives.
Principal objectives
- To increase the visibility of UMONS researchers' publications;
- To strengthen the Open Access policy of the University of Mons;
- To facilitate the generation of publication reports and the internal evaluation of researchers;
- To provide the public with free and fast access to quality scientific publications.
The mandate
Since 2022, it has been compulsory for all researchers at UMONS to submit their publications to its open archive, ORBi. This mandate currently requires:
- The obligatory submission to ORBi by UMONS members of all references within their publications.
- The obligatory submission to ORBi of the full text of all scientific articles that have been published by UMONS members. This must be done as soon as they have been accepted by the publisher.
- The obligatory submission to ORBi of any doctoral thesis, prior to the defense (in full text or partial, with at least the table of contents and the abstract).
- That only references from publications submitted to ORBi be used for the internal evaluation of researchers.
How does it work?
> Who submits?
The UMONS authors themselves or the agent they have appointed to do so. If there are several UMONS co-authors for a single publication, only one of them must make the deposit.
> When to submit?
As soon as the publication has been accepted by the publisher. It may be marked "in progress" at the time of submission if the year of publication is not certain. A publication that has been submitted to a publisher but not accepted must never be submitted as if it has been published or is a work in progress.
> What can be submitted?
All publications and articles written by UMONS members. Just make sure you choose the right document type.
In addition, when you add the full text of your publication ORBi allows you to upload 3 versions:
- 3 versions:
- Publisher’s postprint: edited, formatted and published by the publisher. This is the document of choice for all publishers who allow open access.
- Author's postprint: a revised version that has not been formatted by the publisher. This is preferable if the publisher's postprint cannot be submitted.
- Author's preprint: version submitted to the publisher, unedited and unformatted. This type of document can be submitted if neither the editor's postprint nor the author's postprint have been approved.
- With 3 levels of access:
- Open Access: document immediately available to everyone (free access).
- Open access with embargo: document accessible to everyone (Open Access) but only after a period of time imposed by the publisher. As long as the embargo date has not been reached, the document will have restricted access.
- Restricted access: document directly accessible to UMONS staff (intranet) with a request for a print-out possible from external parties.
- Private access (for appendices and research reports): document accessible only to the authors of the publication (possibility to request reprints).
You can submit publications prior to joining UMONS but in this case you must fill in the affiliation which is in the publication itself.
