Other Research Support Guides 1. Plan (Design and Discover) your Research >> 2. Find & Manage Research Literature >> 3. Doing the Research >> 4. Writing up your Research >> 6. Measure Impact
The UC Research Repository is an open-access database of original research authored by Canterbury academics, researchers and postgraduate students. The aim of the Repository is to expose UC-authored research to as wide an audience as possible, by providing free access to full-text research through common internet search tools, such as Google Scholar and SCOPUS.
The Repository provides an enduring archive for University of Canterbury research, and features a well-structured, search engine friendly database format. The Repository is integrated with UC Elements and the Research Profile.
The UC Research Repository is automatically harvested by NZResearch.org, OCLC, and Canterbury Earthquake material is harvested by the Canterbury Earthquake Digital Archive CEISMIC.
The Repository accepts many types of scholarly output, and can handle accommodate written documents, images, video and audio recordings. We are interested in:
The Repository accepts many types of scholarly output, and can handle accommodate written documents, images, video and audio recordings. The bulk of our collection consists of:
In 2014 the University of Canterbury Senior Management Team agreed to a policy for researchers to include all appropriate research in the UC Research Repository. That means all researchers are expected to put a version of their research outputs into the UC Research Repository, copyright and other reasons allowing.
In effect the UC Research Repository has gone from opt-in, where material is volunteered, to an opt-out system. Researchers can opt-out from submitting their research – remembering that all copyright clearance will be handled after the research has been submitted to the UC Research Repository by library staff.
The university is keen for its research to reach the widest audience possible, and the Mandatory Deposit policy is designed to encourage as much material as possible to be made openly accessible. This policy is becoming increasingly common at universities and research institutions globally (http://roarmap.eprints.org/).
Research funding bodies are increasingly making Open Access to research outputs mandatory, so this policy makes it easier for researchers to meet their obligations as well.
Comments, feedback and discussion about this policy is welcomed – please contact the UC Research Repository maintainer.
This relates to research outputs. For theses, please refer to our thesis guide
Adding work to the UC Research Repository is done through UC Elements. You can add the repository version once your work has been accepted This will take you through a short wizard which should guide as to which file you are able to upload.
If you have already claimed an item, you can start the upload process from your list of publications using the 'upload fulltext' button.
For more information about Elements and outputs, see the intranet guide to Elements
Once uploaded, Library Staff will double check to make sure that the version you have uploaded corresponds to the licence your journal has given you to submit to an institutional repository. You can check your contract, or look up the SHERPA RoMEO database if you want to check yourself.
"Accepted Manuscript" of Postprint |
The author's final draft version. In peer reviewed publications, this is the amended version directly prior to typesetting. |
Preprint |
This is typically the accepted draft, prior to peer-review, but can be any version below the postprint. |
Published |
The published version, either sourced directly from the journal publisher or downloaded from a commercial site. This version typically features a masthead and pagination. This version is normally explicitly copyrighted. |
Other |
If the work you're submitting isn't a published item - like a software manual, a sculpture or an object, for example - use this category. |
Unknown |
If you're unsure as whether the document you have is a postprint or a preprint, use this category and we'll investigate |
This form will search the Sherpa RoMEO database of publishers default contracts, and suggst which version of your work you can upload to the UC Reseach repository.
You are not alone if knowing which version of the article is the one that is allowed by your publisher. Even the best of us find the myriad of conditions complicated and confusing (see Sherpa RoMEO's definition). Remember we will check each item as they are uploaded. and we will contact you if we think we need another version. Most of the time your accepted manuscript is what we need.
NZ librarians have created a good document with advice on versions, with guidelines on how you might manage your manuscripts to ease the process: the LCONZ Versions Toolkit.
While theses, conference papers, posters and working papers are normally acceptable in their final format, copyright is often an issue when it comes to making journal articles openly accessible via the web. In the vast majority of cases, copyright over an article is transferred to the journal publisher. Despite this, most journal publishers do allow authors to make their work open-access, albeit with some restrictions on the format of the paper you use.
Usually, publishers do not allow authors to post the final, published version of a paper on the Internet. However, the majority of large publishers do allow you to use your final draft version of the paper, which should be identical in content to the published version, although the formatting may be quite different. In almost all cases where the use of the final draft is permitted, the publisher also insists on the inclusion of a set phrase that identifies the definitive version of the paper as their own, together with a link to their authorised version.
While this sounds like a lot of effort, we believe that these terms are a reasonable compromise, and serve to get the articles out into the public realm, while protecting the interests of the publishers. While some of us might not agree with the idea of restrictions on access at all, this is a pragmatic solution - and it's always good to have a happy publisher.
Confused if you can add a specific version of your paper to the repository? Librarians around the world have contributed to a site that brings publisher information together at Sherpa RoMEO. Type in the name of the journal and it gives you a standard way of understanding which version of your paper (if any) you can upload. Don't hesitate to get in touch if you want more information about licences or copyright.
Once your research has been submitted, the Library carefully vets your submission for copyright compliance (checking the publisher's policy on open-access archiving), after which it is categorised using the Marsden Fund's subject classification scheme. Finally, the item is made live and will pop into public view. If there is a problem with copyright compliance, we will be in touch.
These steps are aimed at reducing your compliance overhead, while ensuring that we play nicely with the copyright holders.
Currently the UC Research Repository has an "all rights reserved" licence for all material so that though it is freely accessible for people to read, their use of that material is very restricted, and explicitly requires the permission of the author for any substantial reuse.
Who to contact
To make a request to withdraw content on the UCRR, please contact ucresearchrepository@canterbury.ac.nz with the details of the item, as well as the reasons it should be considered for withdrawal.
Acceptable reasons for withdrawal include:
How a request to withdraw content will be initally responded to Your request will be acknowledged by email within 72 hours, and the item will be withdrawn until a final decision is made.
The Repository uses Dspace, an open-source, OAI compliant tool created jointly by MIT and HP Labs.
SHERPA - Clearing house for publisher copyright policies (Southampton University)
Publishers allowing use of their PDFs in repositories (Source: SHERPA)
OAI - Open Archives Initiative, including detailed information on the OAI-PMH protocol
The LCONZ NZ Versions Toolkit.
Once your research has been submitted, the Library carefully vets each submission for copyright compliance. Working out what each publisher allows an institutional repository to upload is complex. Librarians, with the assistance of publishers world wide have compiled a database of copyright terms, and you can check your specific situation at Sherpa RoMEO.
In many cases a manuscript version of the paper, after it has been refereed and before it has been typeset by the publisher (a ‘postprint’) is acceptable.
Information describing items in the repository
Full-text and other full data items
Types of document & data set held
Depositors, quality & copyright