Institutional Repository Infrastructure for Scotland

Repository toolkit

• Home

• Contents
• Introduction and overview
• Tookit for researchers
  • Introduction
  • Legal issues
  • How to deposit
  • Engaging open access
  • Funding bodies
  • Local contacts
• Toolkit for for institutions and repository managers
• Useful resources

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• This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License for Scotland and a Creative Commons License for England and Wales
• Last updated 7 Dec 2007
• Version 1.0

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Toolkit for researchers

How to deposit

Depositing your work in a repository is very straightforward. The options available for deposit will vary depending on the exact set up at your own institution. These are the most common options:

Self-deposit

Usually you will need to register online with your local repository. Once you have a username and password you will be able to go ahead and deposit. Although the software used to run the repository may differ (commonly used systems are ePrints, DSpace and Fedora) the principles are basically the same. You will be asked to enter information about your publication, e.g. author, title, abstract etc. and then to upload an electronic version of the full text of your publication. In most cases once you have deposited your publication it will not go straight into the repository – it will usually be checked by repository staff, who may also add additional information to the details you have provided. They are also likely to double check that the publisher permits you to deposit your publication – for more information on publishers, copyright and other legal issues see Legal issues.

Mediated deposit

Many repositories also offer a mediated deposit option. In most cases you will be asked to provide a copy of the publication you want to deposit in electronic form, usually as an e-mail attachment. Repository staff will then deposit the item on your behalf, and are also likely to check copyright details for you.

Subject repositories

Guidance here generally relates to institutional repositories. However, an increasing number of funding bodies are starting to require deposit in a subject based repository such as UK PubMed Central. Detailed guidance on how to deposit in UKPMC is available. Repository staff may also be able to advise you on deposit in subject repositories.

What to deposit

The types of publication you will be able to deposit will depend on the content policy of your local repository. Repositories contain a wide variety of content types ranging from published journal articles, conference proceedings and book chapters through to presentations, theses, pre-prints and working papers. Your local repository staff will be able to advise you what type of publications you can deposit.

An important point to note is that in the case of journal articles, many publishers will not permit you to deposit the published PDF version of your article. Most will allow you to deposit your own final manuscript (also refer to as "author post-print", "author final version"). This is the version following refereeing and editing. i.e. not the pre-print version. The text and any diagrams can be exactly the same as the published version, but you cannot use the version that has publisher logos, formatting and copyright notices. As this is the case it is very important that you retain a suitable copy of your publications, as you will not generally be able to deposit the version supplied to you by the publisher in repositories. If your own version is in Word or a similar format, your local repository staff may be able to convert this to e.g. PDF for you.