Table of Contents


Scholarly Commons FAQs

What is the Scholarly Commons?

The Scholarly Commons is Miami University's digital repository for scholarly work created by faculty, students, and staff. By offering a central location for depositing research or other scholarly work (including datasets, working papers, pre-publication scholarship, and published papers), the Scholarly Commons makes research available to a wider audience, helps ensure its long-term preservation, and can be used to fulfill grant-funded mandates such as those from NSF and NIH. The Scholarly Commons is built using DSpace, open-source software created at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Do other universities have digital repositories?

Yes. Often called institutional repositories, examples include the University of California system and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. There are several hundred such repositories worldwide and the list is growing. See The Directory of Open Access Repositories (OpenDOAR) for more examples.

Who can upload material to the Scholarly Commons? Can students upload to the Scholarly Commons?

Any department, center, research unit/lab, faculty member, staff member, or graduate student currently affiliated with Miami University may upload work to the Scholarly Commons.

Miami University librarians also recognize the clear and pressing need for a service for the dissemination of undergraduate research and publications, which are increasingly important to the undergraduate experience at Miami University. The Scholarly Commons allows undergraduate deposit of high quality, original academic work including journals, capstone projects, award-winning papers, etc. Undergraduates who submit their work to the repository are required to have a faculty sponsor for their work. Students own copyright to their work, and student work may be subject to additional policies. Contact the appropriate liaison librarian if you would like assistance in uploading your work.

Can I upload material that I wrote with a co-author?

Yes. However, you need to gain permission from the co-author(s) prior to uploading your work.

Can someone else post my work for me?

Yes, we support departmental staff members or graduate students to upload work on behalf of someone else. Contact the Center for Digital Scholarship to make these arrangements.

Who can search, browse, and download my work?

The Scholarly Commons is an open access repository, meaning anyone with access to the Internet and a web browser can search, view, and download the works in it.

What types of materials can be uploaded to the Scholarly Commons?

You may upload all types of scholarly materials, including educational, pedagogical, or research-oriented work. Journal articles and book chapters accepted for publication or already published are preferable to works in progress. Examples of appropriate materials include preprints and postprints of journal articles, working papers, technical reports, conference papers and posters, data sets, and multimedia. Miami University Libraries reserves the right to remove content that violates university policy or applicable law.

What types of materials should not be uploaded to the Scholarly Commons?

Material should only be deposited in the Scholarly Commons if its deposit and posting will not infringe the rights of any publisher or other party. You are responsible for determining this. You may want to consult the "What rights and permissions do I need?" and "What version of my work am I allowed to submit?" sections of this F.A.Q.

What electronic file formats can be deposited?

The Scholarly Commons can accept almost any electronic file formats but we recommend depositing supported or known formats (i.e., formats that are either public and open or formats that are widely used) such as:

  • Adobe PDF (pdf)
  • XML (xml)
  • HTML (html)
  • Rich Text (rtf)
  • Text (txt)
  • Post Script (ps, eps, ai)
  • GIF (gif)
  • JPEG (jpg, jpeg)
  • PNG (png)
  • TIFF (tif, tiff)
  • WAV (wav)
  • MPEG (mpa, abs, mpeg)
  • AIFF (airr, air, aifc)
  • RealAudio (ra, ram)
  • Basic (au, snd)
  • Microsoft Excel (xls, xlsx)
  • Microsoft Project (mpp, mpx, mpd)
  • Microsoft Word (doc, docx)
  • Microsoft PowerPoint (ppt, pptx)
  • FileMaker/FMP3 (fm)
  • LateX (latex)
  • Mathematica (ma)
  • Tex (tex)
  • TeXdvi (dvi)
  • Video Quicktime (mov, qt)
  • BMP (bmp)
  • Adobe Photoshop (pdd, psd)
  • Photo CD (pcd)
  • SGML (sgml)

For formats other than those listed above, please contact the Center for Digital Scholarship to determine if you can deposit your material.

Is there a limit on file size?

For most format types, individual files should be less than 1GB. For files and data sets larger than this, please contact the Center for Digital Scholarship to discuss options.

What rights and permissions do I need?

Generally speaking, an author has the right to submit work to the Scholarly Commons if:
- the author holds the copyright
- the publisher's policy allows it (see below)
- the publisher holds copyright but grants the author permission

Specific rights and permissions vary by publisher, journal title, and in some cases by individual article. If you have a copy of the author rights agreement that you signed upon publishing an article, consult that agreement to determine what rights you have in regard to that article.

To determine rights and permissions for articles in individual journal titles, you can also look up the title in theSHERPA/RoMEO database. If the journal title is not in SHERPA/RoMEO or if the information you find there doesn't answer your questions, contact the journal publisher directly or contact your liaison librarian.

What version of my work am I allowed to submit?
The version you are allowed to submit will vary based on the publisher. Many publishers allow you to submit a preprint or postprint, and a few publishers allow you to submit the final published version. To determine which versions of a journal article can be submitted, you will need to look up the journal title in the SHERPA/RoMEO database. If the journal title is not in SHERPA/RoMEO or if the information you find there doesn't answer your questions, contact the journal publisher directly or contact your liaison librarian.

What is Creative Commons?

During the submission process, you will be asked if you would like to apply a Creative Commons license to your uploaded work. Creative Commons developed a widely used set of licensing tools that allow you to choose how you would like to share your work. There are six types of Creative Commons licenses which you can read more about at Creative Commons' website. Creative Commons also has an online tool that will guide you in choosing the appropriate license for your work/s.

What can readers do with my work?
Authors of uploaded works license their work to the Scholarly Commons, however, the Scholarly Commons is not the copyright holder of this work. This means that copyright is retained by either the author or the publisher of the work, and use of the work must qualify as Fair Use under US copyright law.

If you are submitting work for which you are the sole copyright owner, you may choose to grant a Creative Commons license to your work at the time of submission. The type of Creative Commons license that you choose will dictate what readers can do with your work (see above).

Can I publish a paper in a language other than English?
Yes, foreign language materials can be submitted to the Scholarly Commons. Please note that support for the display of non-Latin language characters (Chinese, Japanese, Korean) is limited.

How can I submit my research?

  • Submission is easy! Just follow these steps:
  • Navigate to https://sc.lib.miamioh.edu/
  • Click on the "Login" link in the upper right
  • Enter your unique I.D. and password
  • If this is your first time submitting an item to the Scholarly Commons, you will need to update your profile:
    • Click on the "Profile" link under "My Account" on the right side of the screen
    • Make sure your information (first name, last name, contact telephone, and language) are filled out.
    • Click on "Update Profile." Log out, and then log back into the Scholarly Commons.
    • Your name will show up in the upper right corner. Click on the down arrow next to your name, and choose "Submit."
  • Select a collection from the drop down menu
  • Fill out the form. You will want to have ready:
    • The title of the item you're submitting
    • The author(s) first and last names
    • The date published
    • The type of work (e.g. journal article, conference presentation, Capstone paper)
    • The name of the journal where the work was/will be published (if applicable)
    • The URL or DOI for the original work (if applicable)
    • A description or abstract of the item you're submitting
    • Keywords you would like to assign to the submission. Keywords will help others find your article.
    • The file(s) you wish to upload

You will be asked how you would like to license your work. For more information about licensing and copyright, please see "What is Creative Commons" above.

Can deposited material be removed?
Miami University librarians strive to provide persistent access to all deposited items; therefore, items can not generally be removed. However, it may be necessary under some circumstances to withdraw items from The Scholarly Commons. Triggers for withdrawal may include discovery of a copyright violation or publication of an article with a publisher that does not allow previous versions to be available. Withdrawals may be initiated by the depositor or, in the case of a copyright violation, an internal or external entity. All withdrawal requests must go through the Head of the Center for Digital Scholarship.

Can deposited material be revised?
In all cases, you should submit your final version. However, if you have already uploaded your work to the Scholarly Commons and need to revise it, you will need to contact the Center for Digital Scholarship. Please be aware that many journals and publishers do not have restrictions on working papers or articles that precede the published version, especially if substantial changes were made. Please check your author agreement with the journal to confirm that there is no problem with leaving the working paper or preprint in the Scholarly Commons. Your item in the Scholarly Commons constitutes noncommercial use.

  • It is a good idea, in all cases, to include the citation to the published article on the cover page (and some publishers require that you do so).

    How can I submit a multi-part file, such as multiple chapters of a book?
    Combine all the sections together as one Microsoft Word file or PDF file and submit that.

    To make one PDF file from multiple files, open the first PDF file in Adobe Acrobat, then choose Document > Insert Pages from Acrobat's menu to insert the second file (indicate it should go after the last page of the first file), and repeat for all documents. The result will be one compound PDF file which may then be submitted.

    If you feel that one large PDF file might be too large for some people to download, we suggest that you submit the consolidated file as the full text of the article, and then upload the separate chapters or sections of the document as Associated Files.

    My publisher requires that my article be embargoed. Can I restrict access to it?
    By default, items in the Scholarly Commons have no access restrictions, and they are openly and freely available via the World Wide Web. Open access to deposited items encourages a primary mission of the Scholarly Commons: the distribution, dissemination, promotion, and use of research and scholarship produced at Miami University.

    However, there may be some situations when depositors need to restrict access to items in the Scholarly Commons. For example, a publisher may allow deposit of published articles into an institutional repository but may require an embargo of six months before the article may be made publicly accessible.

    If your publisher requires your work to be embargoed for a period of time, you can still deposit your work and restrict (or close) access on it for a specific period of time. Your item will not be visible, except to Scholarly Commons administrators.

    If you wish to set access restrictions on an item, you may do so by contacting the Center for Digital Scholarship.

    If I email you my documents can you upload them for me?
    The Scholarly Commons is designed to be a self-archiving system. That is to say, individual authors or communities bear the responsibility for depositing items. Your liaison librarian can assist you with requesting copyright permissions, and - in some cases - staff in the Center for Digital Scholarship may be able to assist with scanning into PDFs. Contact the Center for Digital Scholarship if you would like someone else to deposit your work for you.

    How will my work be preserved?
    Miami University librarians and Scholarly Commons administrators use standard data management practices to protect items stored in the Scholarly Commons. The database is backed up regularly and is kept secure against deletion or unauthorized modification.

    The Miami University Libraries ensure continuing access to items deposited in the Scholarly Commons. Every item deposited will remain retrievable from the repository. However, computer files depend on the availability of the appropriate software to render the functions and appearance intended by the file's creator. Over time, older software applications may no longer function on new computer platforms, leaving the files created with those applications inoperable. The level of access that the Libraries can assure to items stored in the Scholarly Commons may therefore range from preservation of the full functionality and appearance of the original file to preservation of the mere bitstream with no assurance that the file's original functionality or appearance can be recreated.

    In general, files created with open or non-proprietary software offer the greatest likelihood that their functionality and appearance can continue to be rendered as computer environments change. We urge faculty and other creators of digital works to carefully consider the implications of choosing one or another file format or software application and to balance the importance of the functions provided by the software application against the importance of being able to preserve those functions over a period of years and decades.

    What do I do if I no longer have the preprint or postprint of my article?
    If you no longer have access to the preprint or postprint of your article you may be able to deposit the publisher's version. To determine which versions of a journal article can be submitted, use the SHERPA/RoMEO database to look up the journal title. If the journal title is not in SHERPA/RoMEO or if the information you find there doesn't answer your questions, contact the journal publisher, your liaison librarian, or refer to your publishing contract.

    I only have the publisher's pdf version. Can I upload that?
    It depends. The answer will vary based on the publisher of the article or chapter in question. Some publishers allow you to submit the final published version. To determine which versions of a journal article can be submitted, look up the journal title in the SHERPA/RoMEO database. If the journal title is not in SHERPA/RoMEO or if the information you find there doesn't answer your questions, contact the journal publisher, your liaison librarian, or refer to your publishing contract.

    Is there someone on campus who can help me?

    For assistance, please contact your liaison librarian or the Center for Digital Scholarship. You may also phone the Center for Digital Scholarship at 513-529-2871.