Brock University Digital Repository Policies

Introduction

Brock University’s Digital Repository is an online archive which includes the scholarly output of the Brock community, including faculty, librarians and graduate students. Repository content is disseminated around the globe, which provides free and immediate access to users. It also allows Brock scholars to track downloads and views of their scholarship.

The policies set out below apply to the submission of scholarly materials, excluding graduate theses and major research papers, historical maps, materials housed in Archives and Special Collections, and research data.

Questions related to the Brock University Digital Repository can be directed to digitalrepository@brocku.ca

What can you expect from Brock’s Digital Repository?

  • Open online availability of your scholarly materials
  • Materials in the repository will appear in Google and other search engine results
  • Retain copyrights to your work
  • Clear institutional affiliation with Brock
  • Preservation of your work
  • Comprehensive usage data, e.g. number of times your work is viewed or downloaded

Who Can Submit

The Digital Repository accepts content from Brock University faculty members, librarians, students and staff that meets the Brock University Digital Repository Criteria for Acceptable Submissions.

Criteria For Acceptable Submissions

Materials submitted to the Digital Repository must be:

  • Scholarly: related to research conducted by members of the Brock University community
  • The work must be in a complete form and ready for dissemination (e.g. an accepted manuscript)
  • Licensable in perpetuity: the author must be able and willing to grant the Brock University Digital Repository the right to preserve and distribute the work via the repository.

 Examples of Acceptable Content:

  • Research papers, such as accepted manuscripts or final published articles.*
  • Monographs
  • Creative works, including images
  • Audio/video clips
  • Working papers
  • Conference proceedings and presentations

*Authors are expected to confirm any publishers’ copyright restrictions before submitting to the repository. The library can assist with this process.

Examples of content that will not be accepted:

  • Data or data sets (please submit raw research data to Brock University Dataverse)
  • Content that does not comply with publisher’s copyright permissions
  • Unfinished, incomplete research outputs

Formats

Every effort will be made to accommodate a wide range of file types. PDF files are the preferred format for most submissions. Files submitted to the Digital Repository should be accessible, in compliance with the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA) when possible.

Copyright

By depositing your work, you grant the Brock University Digital Repository a non-exclusive right to publish your work in perpetuity for the purposes of the repository and of Brock University. You retain full copyright as author of the material and may reuse your content as desired.

Materials deposited in the Brock University Digital Repository are “open access”. Users of the Repository may use your work in any way, without your permission, but they must attribute you as the author of the work.

Repository users must warrant they are depositing their own work and not infringing on the copyright of other authors or publishers. For information on publishers’ copyright policies, please consult:

  • SHERPA/RoMEO – a database of publishers’ policies on copyright and self-archiving

OR

Pathways to Submissions

There are two pathways to submission:

  • Self-Submission: deposit your paper or research material directly into the repository yourself
  • Assisted Deposit Request: provide all relevant details in a web form and have the library submit your paper or research material on your behalf

Information on how to pursue each pathway can be found on the Brock Digital Repository page.

Sharing and finding your work

Once an item is accepted into the repository, it will be assigned a persistent identifier, called a handle. This handle should be used when citing or linking to items in the repository.

Items stored in the Brock University Digital Repository can be discovered in several online spaces:

  • When searching the Brock Library collection
  • Google/Google Scholar
  • Web of Science
  • CORE, global collection of repository content
  • ROAR, registry of Open Access repositories

Last updated: February 2024