Guidelines for ScholarWorks at UMass Boston

For information about Faculty Profile Pages (SelectedWorks) and Author Rights, click here.

Drafted: April 12, 2011, Approved by Faculty Council at UMass Boston: October 1, 2012

Prepared by: Kenneth Rothwell (Chair; Classics), Patrick Barron (English), Brian Halley (UMass Press), Michael Johnson (Public Policy), Joan Liem (Psychology & Graduate Studies), Joanne Riley (Healey Library).

The University of Massachusetts Boston is committed to disseminating the fruits of its research and scholarship as widely as possible. In keeping with that commitment, the University adopts the following policies for ScholarWorks at UMass Boston, a digital repository for the research, creative and scholarly contributions of faculty, staff, researchers, and students at the University of Massachusetts Boston.

In addition to providing an open access archive of articles and other works that have already been published, the institutional repository is an excellent vehicle for working papers, conference papers, theses, dissertations, or other works not published elsewhere. The intellectual and creative contributions of the university will be easily accessible and discoverable by internet search tools, thus offering higher visibility and enhanced scholarly communication for the UMass Boston community.

Moreover, ScholarWorks at UMass Boston, which will be administered by Healey Library, will offer permanent, stable access, so that users can cite these archived works without worrying about content being moved.

I. Content Guidelines

Individual departments may determine additional policies regarding what contributions may be submitted, but all submissions should meet the following criteria:

  • The work must be produced or sponsored by UMass Boston faculty, researchers, students, or staff.
  • The work must be scholarly, educational, creative, or research oriented.
  • Contributions are intended to be a permanent part of the repository and should therefore be ready for public distribution.
  • The work must be in digital form. If parts of the item require different file formats, ideally all of the digital pieces will be provided as a set. ScholarWorks at UMassBoston can provide consultation assistance with requirements.
  • The author/copyright owner must be willing and able to grant UMass Boston the non-exclusive right to preserve and distribute the work via ScholarWorks at UMass Boston. (For more on this, see Section V below.)
  • The author warrants that the work does not violate any proprietary rights, contain any libelous matter, or invade the privacy of any person or third party.
  • Works can be co-authored by a UMass Boston faculty, staff or graduate student with non-UMass Boston authors. The article co-author is responsible for securing permission agreements from non-UMass Boston authors before content is posted in ScholarWorks at UMass Boston.
  • The repository may post papers written by faculty from other institutions that were presented at a conference sponsored by someone affiliated with UMass Boston.
  • Bibliographic citations or abstracts alone are not accepted without the referenced paper, to be made available electronically or at least through a link.
  • Healey Library will assist in providing the metadata (descriptive, bibliographic information about scholarly contributions) for material in ScholarWorks at UMass Boston.

II. Types of Content

ScholarWorks at UMass Boston accepts a wide range of digital formats; possible types of content include:

  • Articles (including those previously published and pre/post prints)
  • Theses and Dissertations
  • Technical Papers
  • Conference proceedings
  • Non‐juried publications
  • Grey literature (unpublished conference papers, presentations, and pamphlets)
  • Working papers
  • Books
  • Creative Works
  • Software
  • Images, video, and audio files
  • Peer-Reviewed Journals
  • Data Sets
  • Lectures and Seminar Series

III. Journals and Peer-Reviewed Series

The infrastructure of ScholarWorks at UMass Boston supports publishing peer-reviewed series and journals. Units interested in starting a peer-reviewed publication or transferring an existing one should contact the site administrator; proposals will be reviewed by the Committee on Scholarly Communication. Please note that the same rigors that apply to publishing a journal in print, such as peer reviewing and careful editing, also apply to those published in digital format. For more information, contact a ScholarWorks administrator.

IV. Updating or Removing Papers

ScholarWorks at UMass Boston is intended to be a permanent record of scholarly activity at UMass Boston. Nevertheless, authors may request that updated documents be posted.

On occasion it may be necessary to remove items; for example, posted material may be found to be in violation of copyright law. ScholarWorks at UMass Boston also reserves the right to remove material that does not fall within the content guidelines (see section I, above). Moreover, authors may request that the system administrator remove their paper or a version of their paper. (An exception is articles that appear in peer-reviewed series and journals, where removal is not allowed after publication.) The Committee on Scholarly Communication, which will report jointly to Faculty Council and the Provost, can arbitrate such problems as arise. For more information, contact a ScholarWorks administrator

When it is necessary to remove material, a placeholder will be left behind to inform readers that the content has been deliberately withdrawn.

V. Copyright and Author Agreements

When submitting content to ScholarWorks at UMass Boston, an author:

  1. Grants UMass Boston a non-exclusive license to distribute and preserve the document.
  2. Must hold proof that the author holds the copyright to the work or has been authorized by the copyright holder to upload the work for distribution.
  3. For work published in 2011 or later (per the University’s open‐ access policies), the author grants to UMass Boston the non‐ exclusive right to preserve and distribute the work via ScholarWorks at UMass Boston.

Before posting content that has been published elsewhere to ScholarWorks at UMass Boston, it is mandatory that the author review prior agreements with the publisher to ensure that repository deposits are allowed. If not, the publisher must be contacted to request permission to archive that content in the University’s repository. Copyright and self-archiving policies of individual publishers can be reviewed online at www.sherpa.ac.uk/romeo. For more information, contact a ScholarWorks administrator.

For more information about copyright, consult the following link: scholarworks.umb.edu/for_authors.html.

VI. Acceptable Use

Individuals have the right to download and print a personal copy of materials in ScholarWorks at UMass Boston. Unless otherwise indicated, individuals do not have the right to make additional copies, post, or distribute any of the materials, unless the use meets a reasonable determination of fair use. Any use of ScholarWorks at UMass Boston content that exceeds these exceptions requires permission from the copyright holder.

Libraries interested in printing a ScholarWorks at UMass Boston paper for their permanent collection should contact the center, department, or research unit responsible for posting the paper. The requesting library can then gain copyright clearance from the paper's author(s).

Permission does not need to be obtained for linking to or harvesting ScholarWorks at UMass Boston content. For example, linking to content in a Course Management System such as Blackboard is allowed without the permission of the copyright holder.

VII. Preservation and Perpetual Access

It will be the responsibility of UMass Boston to preserve and provide perpetual access to the content of the ScholarWorks at UMass Boston, using accepted preservation standards and techniques.

This commitment, however, applies only to material housed on servers maintained directly or under contract by UMass Boston. Links and access to content of any format referenced outside ScholarWorks at UMass Boston cannot be guaranteed.

VIII. Contact

Questions and comments regarding the policies governing ScholarWorks at UMass Boston should be directed to a ScholarWorks administrator.