rchive it is a Web tool to spread the awareness and the practice of self-archiving / green Open Access among scientists, especially those in Computer Science (Software Engineering and Information Systems).

It is accessible at http://rchive.it

Scientists input the name of the journal / proceedings book in a text box. rchive it employs SHERPA/RoMEO API to retrieve the relevant entry and to present it to the user.

What is the different between rchive it and SHERPA/RoMEO? rchive it is nothing else than a wrapper around SHERPA/RoMEO but differences happen in how the data is presented. rchive it purposely presents less information then SHERPA/RoMEO, in order to provide only what is needed for answering this question:

What am I allowed to do with my scientific paper?

The Web application answers the question with a 4 + 1 view of little squares.

The first three squares summarize what the scientist can do with the preprint, the postprint, and the publisher PDF of the scientific article. The permission is summarized with an icon (i.e., a Font Awesome) and a short sentence, which briefly states if the scientist is allowed to self-archive the paper.

The fourth square provides the additional conditions that may be added by a publisher.

The fifth (+1) square provides links for additional information. The first link is always the SHERPA/RoMEO entry of the journal. The other links are mostly to copyright policies of the publisher.

Additionally, SHERPA/RoMEO has got an outdated, not responsive interface, that is instead provided by rchive it.

rchive it was indeed developed as a way to reinvent SHERPA/RoMEO.