Prior Publication

As evidenced below, sharing works in the Sigma Repository is not considered prior publication.

Most journals do not consider the dissemination of gray literature to be prior publication. What is gray literature? Posters, oral presentation slides, theses, dissertations, and reports are examples of gray literature. In other words, gray literature is what you submit to the Sigma Repository.

Below is a checklist provided by Elsevier to their journal editors. Elsevier is a leading publisher of some of the most well-respected journals in the world. The list is an accurate example of what many editors look at when deciding if a manuscript has been previously published.

The first column in the table shows a publisher's criteria for determining if a disseminated work has been published versus shared. The middle column reflects the Sigma Repository's policy related to the criteria. The third column answers the critical question, "Is an item posted in the Sigma Repository considered published and will it trigger editors to deny a manuscript submission based on the work posted in the repository?"

View the original article on Elsevier's website: https://www.elsevier.com/connect/editors-update/ive-seen-this-somewhere-before!-what-counts-as-prior-publication

Prior Publication Criteria

Copyright. Was copyright for the work transferred from the author to the publisher, or an exclusive license granted by the author to the publisher? If so, a journal cannot legally republish the paper without permission from the repository. Even if the prior work was published under a license that permits republication, editors should consider the remaining criteria to determine whether this would be appropriate and progress the scientific discourse.
DOI or Handle. Does the earlier work have a Digital Object Identifier (DOI)? If not, then it was almost certainly not formally published. While a formal publication will always have a DOI, having a DOI does not necessarily signify formal publication. For example, preprints and conference abstracts will often have a DOI but can legitimately be republished in most cases.
ISSN. Did the earlier work appear in a publication with an International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)? If so, given ISSNs identify a publication such as a journal or book series, the work would almost certainly be considered already formally published.
Peer Review. Was the earlier work peer reviewed, and to what extent/standard? This can be highly variable e.g., the rigour of peer review can vary significantly between conferences, even within a single field.
Résumé. If this earlier work were listed on an author’s résumé, tenure dossier, curriculum vitae, or annual review, would it have (near-) equivalent status to a peer-reviewed journal article?
Recognition. Would the global nursing community recognize the earlier posted work as a formal, respected part of the literature?
New Work. Is the research sufficiently developed from earlier work to justify a new publication in the form of a journal article? For example, an author may build on a preliminary conference paper with additional experiments, new data or further discussion.

Repository Policy

Copyright remains vested in the submitting author. The Sigma Repository requires a non-exclusive license, only.

Items in the Sigma Repository are assigned permanent handles for location and preservation only.

The Sigma Repository does not have an ISSN and is not a serial publication.

The Sigma Repository does not have a double-blind peer review process.

Posting material in the Sigma Repository is not equivalent to journal articles.

Nurses consider gray literature as valuable/ trusted information.

Due to the nature of the submissions, authors make significant revisions and updates to the work posted in the S.R. prior to publication in a journal.

Published?

No.

Yes.

No.