The Research Repository @ WVU is an open-access digital repository for the collection, management, preservation, and dissemination of intellectual works produced at West Virginia University. This document outlines the collection development and curation policies governing materials deposited in the repository.
Materials deposited in the Research Repository should reflect intellectual and scholarly activity at WVU. Deposited materials may include:
Generally, deposit is limited to members of the WVU community, including faculty, researchers, staff, graduate students, and, under certain circumstances, undergraduate students. Works created by non-WVU affiliates in conjunction with WVU-affiliates (e.g. coauthors) or programming (e.g. work for WVU-hosted events) are generally eligible for deposit.
Materials deposited in the Research Repository are professionally curated and preserved by WVU Librarians and Staff in accordance with the policies listed below.
The Research Repository @ WVU is intended to be a permanent repository of intellectual and creative work produced at WVU. Restricting, withdrawing, or removing materials from the repository is highly discouraged, but under certain circumstances WVU may do so. The University may restrict, withdraw, or remove materials at the request of the author, at its own discretion, at the request of a copyright holder, or pursuant to a valid legal order.
Restricted access: this condition to an item leaves the metadata visible and makes the item only available to WVU affiliates, with a note explaining the reason for the restriction. Metadata harvesting can be disabled for restricted items.
Withdrawal of the item from the collection: The item remains in a restricted access collection only visible to administrators. The metadata will remain visible but may be made unavailable for metadata harvesting. Users attempting to access the item will see a message that the item is no longer available for one of the following reasons:
"Withdrawn from view at request of the author"
"Withdrawn from view at WVU’s discretion"
"Withdrawn from view by request of the copyright holder"
Remove the item and if applicable associated metadata: This happens only due to a formal takedown notice of copyright infringement or other legal order. Users attempting to access the item will see a message that the item is no longer available for the following reason:
"Removed from view by legal order"
Because items deposited in the Research Repository @ WVU may have been cited, we will always supply a "tombstone" record when an item is removed or withdrawn This information will include the original metadata (for verification) plus one of the above withdrawal statements in place of the link to the object. For removed items the complete metadata may not be visible. Withdrawn items can also be made unavailable for metadata harvesting and searching.
In all instances items' unique identifiers (DOIs) and URLs are retained indefinitely and individuals with the DOI or URL will at a minimum be able to access the “tombstone” record.
WVU reserves the right to withdraw or remove a work that is libelous, is an invasion of privacy, infringes upon copyright, represents a threat to WVU enterprise systems, or does not reflect the nature of the collection to which the work was submitted. WVU may withdraw or remove a work at the direction of the Provost or General Counsel as well.
There are some cases in which removal or withdrawal cannot be made, such as when a request pertains to an official record such as a thesis or dissertation that has been formally approved. Contact the Office of Graduate Education and Life for information on thesis and dissertation policies.
Materials are, by default, available open access to anyone in the world with an internet connection. Upon the request of depositing authors, works may be placed under an embargo for up to five years, after which the works will be openly available. Works under embargo will be stored on the Research Repository’s servers, but will not be accessible to anyone other than repository staff.
Deposited materials are backed up offsite by the Research Repository’s hosting vendor, Bepress.
The Research Repository @ WVU will consider all file formats. However, it is recommended that materials be deposited in open file formats such as PDF, HTML, JPEG, MPG, WMV, as this aids in user accessibility and promotes long-term preservation. While there is no formal size limit, files should be reasonably sized. Please contact us if you have concerns about file sizes and formats.
Authors who deposit material to the Research Repository must agree to the following deposit license. Please contact us about this agreement if you have additional questions
In accepting this agreement, you (the author(s) or copyright owner(s)) grant to the West Virginia University Board of Governors on behalf of the West Virginia University Libraries the non-exclusive right to reproduce, translate (as defined below), and/or distribute your submissions (including the abstracts and metadata) worldwide in any medium or format and royalty-free, including, but not limited to, publication over the internet. If you accept this license, you or the copyright owner still retain the copyright to your works.
You agree that the WVU Libraries may translate the submissions to any medium or format, known now or in the future, for the purpose of preservation.
You agree that the WVU Libraries may keep more than one copy of these submissions for purposes of security, back-up, and preservation. You also agree that the WVU Libraries may prepare, manage, and deposit with CrossRef DOIs for all materials submitted under this agreement. You represent that the submissions are your original work, and/or that you have the right to grant the rights contained in this license. You also represent that your submissions do not, to the best of your knowledge, infringe upon anyone's copyright and agree to indemnify and hold WVU Libraries harmless from any claims of copyright infringement based on your submissions.
If the submissions contain material for which you do not hold copyright, you represent that you have obtained the unrestricted permission of the copyright owner to grant the WVU Libraries the rights required by this license, and that such third-party owned material is clearly identified and acknowledged within the text or content of the submission.
You agree that the WVU Libraries may make such changes to the items’ metadata (i.e. descriptive information) as deemed necessary by WVU Libraries staff to make the item more accessible.
