Frequently Asked Questions


Who can contribute materials to DigitalCommons@UConn?

The repository is open to all faculty, staff and graduate students affiliated with the University of Connecticut. This includes all regional campuses, the Law School, and the Medical School. Materials from undergraduate students which meet the Repository and Community guidelines will be considered on a case by case basis, as determined by the repository coordinator. The repository will also accept materials produced by non-university researchers that are produced in conjunction with a UConn-sponsored event, such as conferences and lecture series. In this case, each author or contributor must agree to the submission of their material. Each author must accept the author agreement language (see below) when uploading a document or forwarding it to the community administrator.

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What materials can be contributed to DigitalCommons@UConn?

Any digital materials that meet the contributor and copyright guidelines can be submitted to the repository. This includes all regional campuses, the Law School, and the Medical School. The emphasis of the repository is on submissions that represent the research and educational output of University of Connecticut affiliated personnel. Abstracts and citations are not accepted by themselves. While the UConn Library will accept most file formats, support for preservation and migration of any given format is subject to the Preservation guidelines (see below).

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Copyright Guidelines

Any author publishing work in DigitalCommons@UConn must either have copyright for the work or the permission of the copyright holder to publish it in the Repository. If the author retains copyright for their submission, no further efforts are required, and they may proceed to the submission process, as determined by the administrator of the specific community to which the author is submitting. If the author does not maintain copyright, he/she still may be able to submit material to the repository.

Many publishers will allow placement in an institutional repository of articles published in their journals or books as a form of self-archiving in pre-print or post-print form. SHERPA/RoMEO provides information by publisher on what kind of self-archiving activity is allowed for articles in their journals and one can search for a particular journal and its policies in their site. In some cases, reprints are allowed to be posted in an IR, so it worth your time to check this resource.

If after consulting these sources and/or the publisher, an author is unable to determine whether they retain the right to post their material in the repository, they can contact Michael Young for assistance.

Authors can preserve basic self-archiving rights when negotiating copyright issues in book and journal contracts. UConn Library has endorsed the Boston Library Consortium’s “Agreement to Extend Author’s Rights”, which contains language that allows for the posting of published documents in an institutional repository, and which can be attached to any publisher’s publication agreement. This form has the support of the University of Connecticut Office of the Attorney General. We encourage authors to use this form or otherwise protect their rights when submitting documents to a publisher. Other sample languages for retaining rights:

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Submission Process

Contributors must meet the guidelines, and they must belong to an established community. If no appropriate community exists, contributors can contact Michael Young to propose that one be created.

Submissions can be made directly by the individual or via the community administrator, depending on the guidelines established by the community.

If the community allows direct submission, the contributor can proceed directly to the submission area for the community, after logging into DigitalCommons@UConn with a personal account. If you don’t have an account, click on My Account

A submission agreement must be accepted before uploading is allowed. The language of the agreement is:

“I hold the copyright to this document and grant permission for posting it in the DigitalCommons@UConn institutional repository to the University of Connecticut, or have the approval of the copyright holder to do so, and agree that it may be made available to the public in any format in perpetuity.

I warrant that the posting of the work does not infringe any copyright, nor violate any proprietary rights, nor contain any libelous matter, nor invade the privacy of any person or third party, nor otherwise violate Repository policies.”

The following information will be necessary to submit material:

  • Author
  • Name title of the material
  • Date of this version
  • Keywords
  • Abstract
  • And the file.

For information on the appropriate format for these fields, see the Submission Guide (forthcoming). Text files are made available through the repository as PDF files. Digital Commons automatically converts Word, WordPerfect, and rtf files to PDFs. It is recommended that all other text files be converted by the contributor or community administrator to a PDF file. Non-text files are made available as uploaded; see the policy on preservation for more information about these files.

If submissions are sent electronically to the community administrator for uploading, the same information must be provided, and the same technical guidelines for text files apply. If authors choose this method of submitting their material, they must have read and agreed to the submission agreement language for their community.

If you have questions about uploading content, formatting content or anything else, check out our Submissions FAQs

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Preservation and Migration

Combine all the sections together as one Microsoft Word file or PDF file and submit that.

The Library is committed to preserving and providing access to all of the contents in the repository. However, some file formats may cease to be supported as a result of changes in technology and the private sector, beyond the control of the Library. Files in these formats may no longer function on current computer equipment and hence, become unusable. See our list of File Formats for more information.

In addition, the Library may determine that our current Institutional Repository platform no longer best meets the needs of the University of Connecticut community. Should this be the case, and where possible, all content will be migrated to whatever new platform is chosen, and we will make every effort to ensure that all content will continue to be accessible.

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Withdrawal and Retention of Materials

The repository is meant to be a permanent scholarly record and once a paper is deposited anywhere in the repository a citation to the paper will always remain. Removing content is discouraged. However, authors may request that the repository coordinator/community administrator remove their files. The repository coordinator must approve all such withdrawals, in consultation with the author. Reasons for removal may include copyright infringement, plagiarism, or falsification of data. No files will be removed by the repository administrator or community administrators without the author being informed.

Updated versions of content may be posted and can be linked to the first posted version. Earlier versions may be removed, but we encourage authors to maintain these versions in the repository, as a record of the development of any posted contents.

If a contributor leaves the University, their material will remain in the repository. At their request, new contact information can be added to their files.

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