When to upload preprint (or abstract) to online repository? I know that it depends on where I publish whether I am allowed to upload my paper to an online repository like ResearchGate (cf. here).

The question is, however, when I would upload the paper.


Can I upload the abstract before the actual publication?
Can I upload the paper (e.g. preprint) before the actual publication?
Or should I wait with both until the paper has actually been published?


For example, Springer only allows you to make your work publicly available 12 months after official publication or later. The policiy does not say anything about abstracts, however.

Since I think that making the abstract available beforehand is good publicity for my paper, I´m interested in


common practice -- when do you upload what?
legal restrictions.
Springer's self-archiving policy states:


  By signing the Copyright Transfer Statement you [may] deposit ... the article in any repository, provided it is only made publicly available 12 months after official publication or later.


Thus, you may deposit the article in any repository before signing the Copyright Transfer Statement.