Deposit your research outputs in Symplectic

It is a requirement of the University Publications Policy that you deposit all newly accepted research outputs in Symplectic. Symplectic is the University's system used for recording and uploading research outputs and to record impact and professional activities.

Access to Symplectic is available directly over the internet using your University IT username (without @leeds.ac.uk) and password.

To ensure eligibility for future REF exercises, authors must continue to follow the REF 2021 Open Access policy requirements. All journal articles and conference papers must be deposited on acceptance together with the author accepted manuscript. This guidance will be updated as soon as we have the new REF information.

Other outputs should be uploaded to Symplectic, but it is not a REF requirement.

How to deposit newly accepted outputs in Symplectic

To deposit your work, you will require the following:

• details of title, author(s), date of acceptance, journal name or conference name and start date
• a copy of the author accepted version of the output.

The author accepted manuscript (AAM) should be formatted as a pdf (preferred) or a Word document. If you have not got a copy of the full text, you should still record basic details about the output and add a note explaining why the AAM is not available, using the comments box on the deposit screen in Symplectic.

The process of depositing is quick and easy.

There are also printable guides on depositing research outputs in Symplectic (DOCX) for preprints, journal articles and conference papers.

Support staff in some schools and faculties will deposit outputs to Symplectic for you. Check your school's open access procedure.

How to deposit published outputs in Symplectic

All outputs nominated for the REF must have a record in Symplectic.

To deposit these outputs you should log into Symplectic, and check to see if any bibliographic details already exist. If they do, you can proceed to add the author accepted manuscript using the guides provided above. If they don’t, you will need to create a record for the output before you can deposit the full text.

Adding all your research outputs to Symplectic will mean they appear on your publications list on your staff page if a feed has been set up by your local IT department.

After you deposit your output

The Library checks newly accepted journal articles and conference papers as a priority. Please leave enough time for library staff to check your deposit by depositing it as soon as possible after acceptance.

Once deposited, the Library will apply the rights retention element of the Publications Policy and make all research articles, including reviews and conference papers, published with these publishers immediately open access by applying a CC-BY licence to the AAM.

Otherwise, the normal publisher policy and specified embargo period will be applied, and the file will be made publicly available from the institutional repository, White Rose Research Online (WRRO), as soon as copyright and licensing permits. You will only be contacted if there is a problem.

Note: When you deposit your research output in Symplectic you can use the deposit comments box to opt out of the institutional rights retention requirement. Please contact our Research Services team as early as possible if you think there are exceptional circumstances that will mean that you cannot apply rights retention.

Tell us if you know that your journal article or conference paper does not comply with the REF OA (open access) policy. Use the comments box on the deposit screen in Symplectic. The Research and Innovation Service will be in touch to see if any exceptions to the OA policy apply.