ScholarsArchive@OSU Policies

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Last updated: Aug 10, 2024 by Cara KeyVersion comment
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Collection Policy

ScholarsArchive@OSU is Oregon State University's digital service for gathering, indexing, making available and storing the intellectual work of the Oregon State University community. It also includes materials from outside the institution in support of the university's land, sun, sea and space grant missions and other research interests.

Content Included

As a research university, OSU faculty and students frequently share the new knowledge they create through peer reviewed articles, books, and other scholarly venues. ScholarsArchive@OSU helps OSU authors further extend the reach of these publications.

In concert with OSU’s strategic plan, ScholarsArchive@OSU is critical to the dissemination of research from OSU’s three signature areas of distinction (Sustainable Earth Ecosystems, Improving Human Health & Wellness, and Economic Growth & Social Progress).  Additionally, ScholarsArchive@OSU seeks to ensure that faculty and students from all departments and programs are represented in the archive. It is with these intentions in mind that OSU libraries staff will actively invite authors to make their works available using reasonable methods to track new OSU faculty scholarship as well as ensuring that students have the resources they need to deposit their culminating works in a straightforward and seamless manner.

Content added to ScholarsArchive@OSU comes in many forms, but key areas of the collection include theses and dissertations, research articles, and research data. Other types of scholarship and publications from OSU units are welcome in the archive as well. Works included will be made available using the standard (and accessible) technology that currently prevails, ensuring that barriers to access are not created.

Scope

The collection will focus on deposits of research, scholarship, and creative works, as well as materials that reflect the intellectual environment of the University. Primary contributors will include the faculty, staff, students, administration, and affiliates of Oregon State University, but the work of non-affiliated scholars will also be accepted if the work is associated with OSU research or sponsored by OSU.


Examples of possible content to be deposited include, but are not limited to:

  • Faculty research articles

  • Dissertations and theses

  • Reports, whitepapers, and technical documents

  • Award winning student papers or presentations

  • Conference papers

  • Journals and books published by OSU

  • Learning objects

  • Faculty supported student works

  • Research datasets

  • Creative works

  • OSU sponsored or affiliated conference proceedings

  • Publications and reports from affiliated organizations

In the unlikely event that OSU and OSULP are unwilling or unable to continue to offer ScholarsArchive@OSU as a service to the University community, it will work with content contributors and supervising curators to identify other curatorial institutions, within or outside the OSU system, willing to take on future custodial responsibility for the content.

Teaching

OSU Libraries instruction to students, faculty and staff at OSU on information and data literacy extends to the use of ScholarsArchive@OSU (SA) and its collections, including datasets. For example, the revision of datasets in ScholarsArchive@OSU is used, not only to guarantee high quality datasets, but also as a teaching mechanism for data literacy and Open Access concepts. Our learning goals for the depositors after publishing in ScholarsArchive@OSU are:

  • Depositors recognize the benefits of sharing resources openly so that others can reuse, modify, and create derivatives, 
  • Depositors can develop documentation for a dataset to maximize reusability and long term preservation.
  • Depositors can identify file formats that maximize reusability and long term preservation.
  • Depositors can select the license most appropriate for their work, and describe the implications of publishing their work under that license. 
  • Depositors know how to judge if the repository ScholarsArchive@OSU (or a different repository), plus their curation work, makes datasets compliant with the FAIR principles and fulfills their funder requirements. 

Formats

ScholarsArchive@OSU provides ongoing support for as many file formats as possible with the institutional resources that are available, but we recommend formats that are likely to be usable in the future. For recommended formats, in the case of format migration, the original bitstream will be retained in the repository alongside the converted format. For objects submitted using non-recommended formats, only bit-level preservation is ensured by repository staff. Works deposited in the institutional repository will be preserved using best practices for data management and digital preservation. The proprietary or executable nature of some file formats, however, may make it impossible to guarantee persistent access to all deposited works as digital technologies evolve. See the Policies--Preservation section below for assistance with file formats. 

Metadata

A baseline and minimal set of descriptive metadata is defined for each type of work to be deposited in ScholarsArchive@OSU; these definitions are made accessible to depositing scholars. Use of the required metadata elements will facilitate user access to archived works and provide the information needed to support ongoing access rights management and preservation activities. OSU digital repository staff may edit user-submitted metadata in order to correct or normalize values, to make updates in keeping with changing metadata standards, or to enhance descriptions for greater discoverability.

Technical and administrative metadata are extracted and generated automatically by the repository software at the time of deposit and are stored in the repository.

ScholarsArchive@OSU metadata records will hold a CC0 public domain dedication. Descriptions may be accessed through public search engines on the open web, and metadata records may be harvested by or shared with other repositories.

Preservation Policy

ScholarsArchive@OSU provides professionally managed services to ensure the availability of stored digital objects over time. ScholarsArchive@OSU is both a preservation and an access repository. 

To maximize the ability to share, preserve, and re-use digital files and limit the chances of files becoming obsolete, users are encouraged to carefully consider the formats they use for digital files. Formats more likely to be accessible in the future are: 

  • Non-proprietary 
  • Open, documented standards 
  • In common usage by the research community 
  • Use standard character encodings (ASCII, UTF-8) 
  • Uncompressed (desirable, space permitting) 

Most content deposited to ScholarsArchive@OSU is textual in nature: theses and dissertations, research articles, presentations, technical reports, conference proceedings, posters, etc. The PDF file format is required for this content. PDF/A is preferred, though standard PDF is acceptable. For other resource types, consult the ScholarsArchive@OSU Preferred File Formats guide.

OSU Libraries and Press guarantees that objects submitted to ScholarsArchive@OSU using recommended file formats will be retrievable in the future. This commitment applies to required file formats, including PDF for text content, and those file formats designated as “Highest Confidence” by the ScholarsArchive@OSU Preferred File Formats guide. In the case of deprecation or obsolescence of any required or recommended file format(s), OSULP repository staff will engage in format migration or other active preservation strategies as appropriate to provide continuing access to and usability of the objects. 

ScholarsArchive@OSU ensures bit-level preservation of all digital content contained within the repository. Bit-level preservation enables ScholarsArchive@OSU to provide current and future users with access to authentic and accurate copies of digital content. Maintaining the original bitstream allows for maximum viability for the future, since we do not know the full extent of future use and processing. For recommended formats, in the case of format migration, the original bitstream will be retained in the repository alongside the converted format. For objects submitted using non-recommended formats, only bit-level preservation is ensured by repository staff.

Annual Preservation Assessment

Because digital preservation requires active monitoring of the technical landscape and the files contained within the repository, ScholarsArchive@OSU staff will engage in an annual assessment of our preservation practice. Repository staff will:

  1. Review and make appropriate revisions to the ScholarsArchive@OSU Preferred File Formats guide to ensure that recommendations remain up to date with current national and international standards and best practices.
  2. Compile an annual inventory of file formats stored in the repository, and plan to address format migration(s) if indicated. 
  3. Review fixity reports and restore relevant files from backups as needed. 
  4. Review and make appropriate revisions to this Preservation Policy.
  5. Produce a preservation assessment report, which will be made publicly available with other Library Assessment Reports.

Withdrawal, Replacement, and Access Restriction Policy

OSU Libraries & Press is committed to openness, access, persistency, and transparency for content in ScholarsArchive@OSU. It is our belief that one of the primary goals of academic inquiry is to create and share knowledge. It is in this spirit that we hold our strong commitment to open scholarship. While there are legitimate cases for restricting access to scholarship, the baseline assumption of ScholarsArchive@OSU is that content will be available for use to the wider academic world.

Removal

Content deposited in ScholarsArchive@OSU will not be removed from the repository. Under certain circumstances items may be withdrawn, replaced, or restricted from view (see below), but the content will still remain in the repository to meet our commitments to persistency and transparency.  

DMCA takedowns represent an exception to the Removal policy. For DMCA takedown requests, the item in question will be made private but remain in the repository until final resolution of the takedown request. Upon resolution, if the decision is made to affect the takedown, the item will be removed entirely from the repository.

Withdrawal Requests

Content that is deposited in ScholarsArchive@OSU will not be withdrawn unless for a compelling reason such as gross errors, regulatory requirements, or academic/professional misconduct. All withdrawal requests are reviewed at least by the repository administrator and the University Librarian, and should include a description of the reason for the request. For some content types, a withdrawal request must also be reviewed by other administrators at the University and in those cases the repository administrator will inform the requester of this need for additional review. Oregon State University has designated an agent to receive notification of alleged copyright infringement in the oregonstate.edu domain. If you believe your copyrighted work is appearing on an OSU site without permission, please notify our DMCA agent.

Access Restrictions and Embargoes

ScholarsArchive@OSU offers several layers of embargo and access restrictions on a case-by-case basis. Embargoes are generally offered for between 6 months and 2 years, and embargoes will be automatically lifted at the end of the embargo period. The decision to request an embargo on a dataset should be made with consideration for ScholarsArchive@OSU’s stated purpose of facilitating the widest possible dissemination and use of the university’s scholarship. All embargo requests are reviewed at least by the repository administrator, and should include a description of the reason for the request. For some content types, an embargo request must also be reviewed by other administrators at the University and in those cases the repository administrator will inform the requester of this need for additional review.

Special Access Restriction Cases:

 The following cases have special restrictions around access:

  • Master of Fine Arts theses are all granted OSU Community Permanent Access Exceptions

  • Graduate Theses and Dissertations, unless otherwise affected in this policy, may be restricted to the OSU Community, but not to Repository Administrator restriction. The purpose of this policy is to fulfill the long standing agreement between the Graduate School, OSU Libraries and Press, and the submitting student that a copy of the thesis or dissertation will be made available to any reader upon request. Under very rare circumstances will we place Graduate Theses and Dissertations in a Repository Administrator embargo or access exception

Types of embargos and access restrictions:

  • OSU Community Embargo (Embargo Period: generally 6 months to 2 years)

    • Use case: Dissertations and theses that have been placed under embargo

    • Item openly available to OSU Community only

    • Metadata (author, title, abstract, etc.) openly available on the open web

    • Item openly available on the open web after embargo period expires

  • OSU Community Permanent Access Exception (Exception Period: indefinite)

    • Use case: Dissertations and theses granted special exception (e.g. those from the Creative Writing program)

    • Item openly available to OSU Community only

    • Metadata (author, title, abstract, etc.) openly available on the open web

  • Repository Administrators Embargo (Embargo Period: generally 6 months to 2 years)

    • Use cases:

      • Datasets that are still being used to generate publications

      • Research documents that have intellectual property or patentable material on which the authors are taking action

      • Items that are in violation of Institutional Review Board approval, but for which a metadata record is still desired

    • Item completely hidden from everyone but ScholarsArchive@OSU Administrators

    • Metadata other than author and title (abstract, etc.) completely hidden from everyone but ScholarsArchive@OSU Administrators

    • Item and metadata openly available on the open web after embargo period expires

  • Repository Administrators Permanent Access Exception (Exception Period: indefinite)

    • Use case: Research that has been withdrawn from the repository

    • Item completely hidden from everyone but ScholarsArchive@OSU Administrators

    • Metadata other than author and title (abstract, etc.) completely hidden from everyone but ScholarsArchive@OSU Administrators

  • File Only Access Restriction

    • Use case: Files restricted due to sensitive or legally challenged content (e.g. NAGPRA)

    • File is unavailable for download or access except by Repository Administrators

    • Metadata is available for viewing

Author Name Change Policy

OSULP supports the right of authors to be known by their preferred name across their scholarly contributions. Authors’ and other contributors’ names displayed in metadata records and in textual works within ScholarsArchive@OSU shall be updated upon request. 

Repository staff are committed to responding to name change requests with as few barriers as possible. No justification or explanation is required for a name change. In the case of a request to change a first/given name only, no documentation is needed. To prevent fraudulent requests, requests to change a last/family name or full name that do not come from an OSU email address should be accompanied by sufficient proof to confirm the person’s identity. We are not able to carry out a name change request on behalf of another individual.

To protect authors’ privacy, we will not issue a notice of correction for the name change or notify co-authors or other contributors. Requests will be carried out discreetly between repository staff and the requesting author.

Exceptions:

  • Approved student works:
    • Student works such as theses and dissertations have undergone review and approval prior to deposit in ScholarsArchive@OSU and are considered part of the official record of the University. For these types of works, a name change requires confirmation of the signature authority (e.g. the Graduate School for Masters Theses and Dissertations; the Honors College for Honors College Theses; the student’s major professor, committee chair, or department chair for other types of approved student works) prior to implementing the change in the repository. Repository staff will work with the signature authority on behalf of the requesting author to obtain that confirmation.
    • Note that a name change request for ScholarsArchive@OSU works does not update a student’s name with the Office of the Registrar, or vice versa. To request a name or biographical information update with the Office of the Registrar, see https://registrar.oregonstate.edu/biographical-information-updates.
  • Multimedia items:
    • Repository staff are not able to edit audio, video, or image files to change an author’s name. The author may provide an alternate version of the file or a disclaimer to display alongside their work.
  • References to ScholarsArchive@OSU works in external systems:
    • In most cases, we are not able to correct references found in outside systems that point to works in ScholarsArchive@OSU. This includes citations for publications as well as web resources that indexed the page prior to the name change. 
    • Repository staff will submit a request to have Google search results updated as part of the name change process.
    • For works with DOIs registered by OSU, repository staff will update the author’s name with the DOI registration service (either Crossref or DataCite).

Any affected individual may request a name change for works in ScholarsArchive@OSU in which their name appears. To request a name change, email ScholarsArchive@oregonstate.edu with your previous name, current name, and known works in which the change should be made.

Open Access Policy Implementation

The Oregon State University Open Access Policy tasks the Oregon State University Libraries and Press (OSULP) with implementation of the policy. In consultation of OSU’s Office of General Counsel, as of December 2018, OSULP implementation will take the following form:

  • OSULP will monitor Web of Science for publications for which an OSU affiliated author is listed

  • OSULP will email the corresponding author of each publication recommending a deposit in ScholarsArchive@OSU, OSU’s institutional repository, and providing the depositor with a pre-populated deposit form, based on metadata retrieved from the originating data source(s)

  • Deposits to ScholarsArchive@OSU will be unmediated, with guidance related to what versions of a manuscript may be deposited to ScholarsArchive@OSU provided in a number of prominent locations either in the solicitation email, on the repository homepage, and in the Deposit Agreement

  • Per the implications of the Open Access Policy, OSULP will honor embargoes suggested by depositors, but will not honor blanket embargo suggestions posted by publishers either on the publisher’s website or on sources for this type of information such as Sherpa/Romeo

  • Queries from publishers about content provided via ScholarsArchive@OSU as part of the implementation of the Open Access Policy will be referred to the corresponding author of the article

  • Takedown notices related to copyright or intellectual property concerns submitted to SA@OSU will be referred to OSU’s designated Digital Millennium Copyright Act Agent

 

Research Data Curation Policy

Preamble

The data curation activities of OSU Libraries and Press stem, in part, from our mission to gather, index, and make available intellectual content of the Oregon State University community through ScholarsArchive@OSU. The primary purpose of hosting data in ScholarsArchive@OSU is to facilitate data sharing for the purposes of data reuse and contributing to open science, and to preserve the data.

Definition of Data

Research data, unlike other types of information, is collected, observed, or created, for purposes of analysis to produce original research results. These data can include, but are not limited to such data types as numerical tables, geospatial data, code, documentation, images, and video.

Status of Data to be Deposited

Data deposited in ScholarsArchive@OSU will be in a static, “final” state, though there are no restrictions on uploading new or updated versions of a dataset.

Researchers are responsible for data appraisal, and only data that are valuable should be included. Valuable data sets are these that are necessary to ensure research integrity and reproducibility, and data sets that can be potentially reused.

Data versioning

Data producers interested in periodic preservation of continuously updated (streaming) data should contact the Repository Administrator (scholarsarchive@oregonstate.edu) and/or Research Data Services (researchdataservices@oregonstate.edu) to discuss best practices for curating streaming data.

Minimum Deposit Requirements

In order to make deposited datasets usable by others, ScholarsArchive@OSU has a minimum set of requirements that all data deposits must meet.


  • All dataset records must include at least one documentation file, submitted in a non-proprietary format (e.g. .txt, .pdf). The minimum content of the documentation file is:

    1. Title and abstract for the dataset.

    2. Names of creators

    3. Name and contact information of a contact person

    4. License or explanation of restrictions placed on the data

    5. Methods of data collection

    6. A file overview with a description of all the files included in the dataset

    7. Description of the data elements presented in the data file/s. For tabular data this means a data dictionary that will include a description of all the variables.

We encourage researchers to make documentation files as complete and descriptive as possible.

The documentation may include links to other resources (e.g. publications) containing the information. These links should be:

  1. Accompanied of a description of what the link points at (e.g. a citation of the article).

  2. When possible, links should point to materials that are openly accessible.

  3. When possible, links should be permanent links.


  • Data files must be presented, where possible, in formats that are


    1. non-proprietary (e.g. .csv should be used instead of .xslx).

    2. Actionable, usable in an analysis application (e.g. tabular data should never be shared in pdf or image formats)

    3. platform independent, accessible in all operating systems

 

ScholarsArchvie@OSU will accept file formats that do not comply with the above criteria where other formats are not available or where formatting makes the data file substantially less usable. Non compliant formats may be submitted alongside compliant formats to facilitate near-term reuse of data.

 

  • Data files included in a deposited dataset must be generally organized. File names must be informative. Duplication of data should be avoided, and where necessary (e.g. raw vs quality controlled data) must be documented.

 

Research Data Services can provide guidance and assistance for providing non-proprietary formats/formatting and the creation of documentation files.

Volume and Size Limitations

The upper limit on uploading individual files is 500MB. Users should contact ScholarsArchive@OSU administrators (scholarsarchive@oregonstate.edu) to upload files larger than approximately 500MB. Submissions larger than 5GB will be distributed using the BitTorrent protocol. In these cases, the ScholarsArchive@OSU record will include:

  1. The documentation file/s for the dataset

  2. A torrent file 

  3. Information about torrenting, and instructions to download the dataset with a torrent client https://library.oregonstate.edu/bittorrent-guide  

Orphaned Submissions Policy

Most submissions to ScholarsArchive@OSU are subject to review before they are approved for deposit. For some types of works, such as research datasets, the review process may be long and complex. ScholarsArchive@OSU is not able to retain submissions in a pending state indefinitely, so we require that the depositor of any submission under review provides a brief status update for their submission at least once every 90 days. Repository staff will assess submissions in long-term review status on a quarterly schedule, and will send email notification to any depositors for whom no recent communications have been received in order to request status updates. 

A depositor who does not provide a status update within 30 days of this request will have their submission classified as “Orphaned.” Orphaned submissions will be deleted after 30 days (i.e. 60 days after an unanswered status update request). Repository staff will send email notifications to the depositor including the scheduled date of deletion, and will provide instructions to continue to keep the submission in active review if desired. 

It is the responsibility of the depositor to provide a forwarding email address if they are graduating or leaving OSU and still have a submission pending approval.

Deletion of a submission is permanent. If a depositor wishes to re-submit a previously deleted submission, they must start the submission process over from the beginning.

Terms of Use for ScholarsArchive@OSU

 

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Orphaned Submissions Policy added June 2023.

Preservation Policy revised June 2023. 

Scope revised in July 2022.