How prior licence policy works

In practice, prior licence means that peer-reviewed article manuscripts are immediately made openly available in the university’s institutional repository under a Creative Commons license. (.)

For articles published under an open CC license on the publisher’s platform, the final published version (Version of Record, VoR) will be deposited. If the publisher does not publish your article openly, under the prior licence model the last peer-reviewed manuscript version (Author Accepted Manuscript, AAM) prior to publication will be deposited in the university’s institutional repository under a CC license.

The prior licence model applies to all manuscripts submitted for review on or after January 1, 2026.  It does not apply retroactively to manuscripts submitted before January 1, 2026. The model is in use at all Finnish universities. 

At University of Helsinki, prior licence applies to all authors affiliated with University at the time they submit their manuscript for publication ().

Under the prior licensing model, the peer-reviewed manuscript version of the article is stored in the university's public publication archive, Helda. This ensures the long-term availability and preservation of research publications. When a publication is deposited on the TUHAT portal without an embargo, it is automatically transmitted to Helda.
 

Prior licence is part of the self-archiving process. The peer-reviewed manuscript and accepted version that you submit will be deposited in the university’s institutional repository and made immediately open under a CC license, unless you indicate otherwise.

If you are submitting your manuscript for review after January 1, 2026, please proceed as follows:

• First, check your university’s .
• Inform your co-authors well in advance that the peer-reviewed manuscript will be deposited immediately and openly in our university’s institutional repository under a CC license. 

You can communicate this as follows:

Our university applies a prior licence model [link], under which peer-reviewed manuscript versions are deposited in the university’s institutional repository under a CC license without any embargo. If these conditions for self-archiving are not acceptable to you, please inform me by [date]. If I do not receive a response, I will proceed according to our university’s prior licence model.

If any co-author does not agree to this, you may opt out of the prior licence model. See the section Exceptions.

Finally:

• Sign the publishing agreement, even if it requires compliance with the publisher’s conditions, such as an embargo period for the self-archived version. Our university applies the prior licence model described on this page, and based on this model, the article will be made immediately open in the university’s publication repository regardless of any restrictions imposed by the publisher.

The author does not need to inform the publisher about the prior licence model personally. The university has described the prior licence model on its website and has communicated the matter to publishers.
 

The author may opt out their article of the prior licence model by notifying . No justification is needed for choosing the opt out. However, they are still required to comply with . In such cases, the publication will still be deposited in the institutional repository, but in accordance with the publisher’s terms, such as any embargo period.

Please note that many research funders require immediate open access, whereas a scholarly publisher may not publish in a way that meets this requirement. If you choose to request an exception, it is your responsibility to ensure that you are following your funder’s requirements.