Frequently Asked Questions


What is Scholarly and Creative Work from DePauw University and what is its role at DePauw?

SCW is the University’s institutional (digital) repository. It showcases and provides access to scholarly and creative works contributed by the DePauw University community, as well as materials from the University Archives and Special Collections. Students, faculty, and staff can be assured that their contributions to SCW will be preserved and remain available which is helpful when placing links to work on resumes, websites, etc. Contributions are also easily located with Google searches, and authors may receive usage statistics for their work.

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What is an Institutional Repository?

An institutional repository (IR) brings together scholarly and creative works and other materials in digital format with an aim to preserve and provide open access through a single portal.

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What exactly does “Open Access” mean and how does it apply to works in this repository?

The Budapest Open Access initiative (BOAI) defines Open Access as follows: “By open access, we mean its immediate free availability on the public internet, permitting any users to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full text of these articles, crawl them for indexing, pass them as data to software or use them for any other lawful purpose…” This definition is taken from the BOAI website: http://www.soros.org/openaccess/read Open access is intended to facilitate and promote the advancement of research by unlocking access to scholarly publications. An article published in an Open Access journal can be deposited and made freely available in DePauw’s repository without asking the publisher for permission. A directory of Open Access journals currently in publication can be browsed at http://www.doaj.org/. DePauw University authors who deposit material for which they still own full copyright may choose to offer their work under traditional copyright terms, Open Access terms, or they may select a Creative Commons License. It is important not to confuse “Open Access” with “openly available on the Web.” The primary difference is that Open Access typically permits extensive copying and redistribution that would not normally be permitted under Copyright law. For instance, New York Times articles may be freely available to read by anyone, but they are still subject to traditional copyright limitations, and may not be reposted in their entirety on another website without prior permission.

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What are the benefits of contributing my work to SCW?

Works in SCW are much more visible than those only available through a journal or library subscription. On a practical level, it is designed to work with search engines like Google, which increases the discoverability of publications. Research demonstrates that the more accessible a publication is, the more readership and citations it ultimately receives. Statistics for each work provide quantifiable evidence of this increased visibility. For student works or those previously unpublished, SCW provides a convenient publishing outlet. Each work is assigned a unique URL, which can be listed on CV’s, resumes, applications, and personal websites.

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How can I contribute my work to SCW?

For any questions on submitting, please contact the SCW coordinator, Victoria Peters. Faculty can submit research at the following link: https://www.depauw.edu/offices/academic-affairs/faculty-resources/faculty-achievements/

Students can submit work at the following link: https://depauw.libwizard.com/f/repositorysubmission

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What materials are eligible for deposit?

Institutional repositories are an excellent vehicle for working papers or copies of published articles and conference papers. Presentations, senior theses, and faculty-student collaborative projects are other examples of works that can be contributed to SCW.

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How do I deposit my Honors Thesis?

For information on how to submit your Honors Thesis to SCW, please contact Victoria Peters.

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Who owns the copyright for works in SCW?

Authors retain copyright ownership for works submitted to SCW. Unless otherwise indicated, the author of a work is the copyright owner and reserves all rights granted under US Copyright Law. Please remember that all creative or scholarly works are protected by copyright law regardless of whether or not copyright notice appears on the work.
Some exceptions: 1) Authors may choose to modify their rights using a Creative Commons License which may permit uses beyond typical Fair Use scenarios, 2) Digitized material from the Library’s physical collections are in the public domain, 3) Previously published articles may have been published under Open Access terms which allows for further redistribution.
Please contact Victoria Peters with any further questions regarding the copyright status of materials in SCW.

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What are my options for publishing in the repository?

  • Open Access: Full text, abstracts, and associated descriptive information about your work are available to anyone in the world with an internet collection.
  • Limited Access: Full text is only available to the DePauw community or may be embargoed (for up to 5 years), after which time access becomes open or limited to the DePauw community only. Embargoes can be useful if you are planning to publish your work in a journal in the future. Abstracts and associated descriptive information about your work remain fully discoverable.

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How can I retain my rights as an author?

As the author of a work you are the copyright holder unless or until you transfer the copyright to someone else in a signed agreement. Normally, the copyright holder possesses the exclusive rights of reproduction, distribution, public performance, public display, and modification of the original work. An author who has transferred copyright (i.e. to a journal or monograph publisher) without retaining these rights must ask permission to deposit into an institutional repository unless the use is one of the statutory exemptions (e.g., Fair Use) in copyright law.
Publishers’ agreements (often titled “Copyright Transfer Agreement”) have traditionally been used to transfer copyright or key use rights from author to publisher. They are written by publishers and may capture more of your rights than are necessary to publish the work. As an author, you may be able to retain more of your rights when entering into these agreements.
Ensuring that your rights are balanced and clearly stated is your responsibility. One way to negotiate in your favor is to include an author addendum with the agreement. SPARC – Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition Resources for Authors provides information and tools to help authors create these sorts of amendments.

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How much of my previously-published work can I deposit in SCW?

Any articles or creative works that you completed while at DePauw University are eligible, depending on the publisher’s policies.
For previously published works:

  • Journal articles: If you already know that the journal is published expressly as an Open Access journal, you may freely deposit the publisher’s version. Otherwise, the permission to deposit your work depends on the publisher’s agreement with the author. Permissions for many publishers can be found by searching you journal’s name at SHERPA RoMEO. You will find that many publishers will allow you to deposit a "preprint" or "postprint" version of the article, but not the publisher’s version. In these situations, if you have the postprint and feel comfortable making it available, then you are encouraged to submit it to the DePauw repository.
  • Monographs: Please consult the original agreement you signed with the publisher for your work. If you no longer have the agreement, contact the publisher for permission.

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Who can access the items included in SCW?

In most cases the uploaded content is available to any person with access to the Internet. However, when requested by individual authors or required by publisher copyright agreements, some documents may be embargoed (not accessible) for a period of time or limited to members of the DePauw community. A citation to the work will always be visible in this repository.

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How do I cite items in SCW?

In general, SCW may be treated as if it were a Library database or a website, in whatever citation style you prefer. See our Citation LibGuide for examples.

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How do I know how many people have downloaded my papers?

SCW automatically sends out monthly download reports to individual authors. These reports will provide basic usage information.

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I need help! Who do I contact?

The SCW coordinator, Victoria Peters, is available to answer questions, as well as work with you in identifying content for submission.

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I don't have electronic versions of old working papers that I'd like to include in the repository. Is it okay to scan the printed page to a PDF file?

Yes--scanning printed pages is a great way to create PDF files for inclusion in the repository. There are two ways to scan a page: using OCR (Optical Character Recognition) or scanning the page as an image. Making OCR scans requires careful proofreading and loses the original formatting of the documents. Image scans cannot be searched. The best solution takes advantage of both of these methods. Many software applications allow for the OCR capture of image scans. When documents are scanned this way, users see the image scan but search the full-text of the document. This is the preferred method for scanning documents for the repository.

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When I copy and paste abstracts into the Submit form, some formatted text reverts to plain text. What's going on?

When copying abstracts from a word processing file or a PDF file, and pasting the text into the submission form, you are taking text from an environment that supports fonts and text style changes. Because the abstract is intended to be presented on the web, text styles must be specified using HTML codes.

If submitting an abstract in HTML format, please be sure to select the corresponding option on the submission form.

The following HTML tags are recognized by the system and may be used to format an abstract (use lowercase tags):

How to include HTML tags

HTML tags
<p> - paragraph
<p>This is the first paragraph.</p>
<p>This is the second paragraph.</p>

This is the first paragraph.

This is the second paragraph.

<br /> - line break
<p>This is a line of text with a linebreak here. <br /> This is text after</p>

This is a line of text with a linebreak here.
This is text after
<strong> - strong/bold
<strong>bold text</strong>

bold text

<em> - italics/emphasis
<em>italicized text</em>

italicized text

<sub> - subscript
Text with <sub>subscript</sub>

Text with subscript
<sup> - superscript
Text with <sup>superscript</sup>

Text with superscript

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How do I include accents and special characters in the abstracts and titles?

The repository software supports the worldwide character set (Unicode, utf-8). Accents, symbols, and other special characters may be copied and pasted into the abstract or title field from a word processing file or typed in directly. Windows users may also use the Character Map to insert these characters. Macintosh users may use the Character Palette (available via Edit > Special Characters in the Finder).

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How do I revise a submission?

To revise a submission that has been posted to the repository, contact the repository administrator with the new version.

If the submission has been submitted, but not yet posted, you may revise it via your My Account page:

  1. Locate the article on your My Account page, and click the title.
  2. Click Revise Submission from the list of options in the left sidebar.
  3. Enter your changes in the Revise Submission form, and click Submit at the bottom of the page to submit your changes. (You only need to modify the portion of the form that corresponds to the changes you wish to make.)

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How can I submit a multi-part file, such as multiple chapters for 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, then choose Document>Insert Pages from Acrobat's menus 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 the 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. These files will appear on the web page alongside the complete document. For more information about uploading associated files, see below.

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Can I post related files (sound clips, data sets, etc.) alongside the published article?

Yes. The bepress system refers to these supplementary items as Associated Files. You will be prompted to submit Associated Files when you upload your submissions. The name of the files you upload will appear on the web site along with your short description of it. Viewers must have the necessary software to open your files; that is not provided by the bepress system.

Please be sure that there are no permissions issues related to use of the associated material. Sometimes, especially with images, you must write a letter seeking permission to use the material before it can be posted.

Also note that where possible, items such as images, charts and tables that are referenced in the document (or otherwise an integral part of the document) should be included directly in the article itself and not posted just as associated files.

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Can I post a reprint from a journal?

It depends on what the journal allows, which is usually specified in their agreement with the author. If it would not violate copyright to post the reprint on your repository site, you're welcome to do so. Permissions for many publishers can be found at SHERPA RoMEO.

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A working paper in our repository site has been published in a slightly revised form in a journal. What should I do?

Many journals do not have any restrictions on working papers that preceded an article, especially if substantial revisions were made. You should check your author agreement with the journal to confirm that there is no problem with leaving the working paper on the site. The repository would constitute noncommercial use.

Assuming the working paper does remain on posted in the repository, it is a good idea to include the citation to the published article on the cover page of the repository working paper. Please contact the repository administrator to request this change.

How to I retain copyright for my research?
You hold the copyright to your scholarly and creative work (even notebook doodles) from the moment of creation until 70 years beyond your passing. You don't have to do anything to have it "copyrighted" it just is under US Copyright Law. The exception is work you are paid to produce or instances of publication or use in which you sign over your rights (e.g. to a publisher, to an institution). DePauw Libraries provide only a repository for your work. Your name is connected to the citation as well as the permanent URL. Anyone who uses the work should cite it properly.

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