Frequently Asked Questions

What are the content selection guidelines??

The Hornet Research Repository seeks to offer access to content that represents the University’s intellectual and creative output. Acceptance and access is contingent upon appropriate formatting, metadata, and clearance of copyright, licensing, and intellectual property issues. Examples of typical scholarly, research, and artistic content include, but are not limited to:

  • Publications - Journal articles, book chapters, etc. These may include previously-published articles/chapters, pre-prints and post-prints.
  • Theses & Dissertations - The Library seeks to preserve and provide access to all University theses and dissertations.
  • Working Papers, Technical Reports & White Papers
  • Conference Papers, Posters & Presentations - Digital versions of conference papers and posters, as well as video/audio of conference presentations and supporting materials (eg, PowerPoints, handouts).
  • Lectures & Seminars
  • Open Access Journals - Open access journals produced by ASU faculty, staff, or students.
  • Campus-based Publications - Campus-based publications (eg, newsletters, institutional reports, etc.) will be considered on a case-by-case basis.
  • Open Educational Resources - The repository may be used to house University course-based information and open educational resources.
  • Data sets - Size and format limitations may be placed on data sets, and they must be complete, appropriately formatted for use, and cleared for access.
  • Podcasts - Podcasts that fall within collection scope may be considered for inclusion.

What are the submission guidelines?

The following are general guidelines for submission of content to the Hornets Research Repository:

  • Valid credentials are necessary in order to deposit items.
  • Content must be submitted in digital format.
  • The Hornet Research Repository does not blanket-restrict any particular digital format, but certain format types may be deemed out of scope. Since the Hornet Research Repository seeks to provide the widest possible access, content with highly restrictive software required to view or use will generally not be accepted for deposit. Contributors should make every effort to deposit their items in formats that are open, sustainable, and commonly-used in their fields.
  • Deposited content should be in a completed state ready for archiving; generally, content that is in-progress and/or regularly updated will not be accepted.
  • Contributors must provide appropriate metadata in order to ensure content discoverability; required metadata fields (e.g., author, journal title, etc.) will be filled out by the contributor during the online submission process.
  • Contributors must be able to acknowledge that all requisite copyright, licensing, and/or intellectual property clearance has been obtained for the deposited content. The Hornet Research Repository provides open access to its content; this involves contributors being willing and able to grant non-exclusive rights to preserve and make their work publicly available. See Copyright & Intellectual Property for more information.
  • In the case of works for which the contributor is unable to grant the right to public access, and thus unable to deposit the work itself, the contributor may request that repository offer a citation for the copyrighted work that links to the work.
  • Authors of theses or dissertations have the option to request that the thesis/dissertation be placed under embargo for a specified period of time, after which it will become publicly accessible.
  • Contributors may request removal or revision of previously submitted content. See Access & Withdrawal for more information.
  • In the event that the contributor is no longer affiliated with Alabama State University, all content deposited will be retained by the Hornets Research Repository.

Copyright and Intellectual Property

Inclusion in the repository involves the granting of non-exclusive rights to preserve and make deposited content publicly available. Authors/creators retain the copyright to the works deposited in Hornet Research Repository. The contributor of the content must hold either the copyright or the right to deposit for open-access and be willing and able to provide permission for the Hornet Research Repository to make the content publicly accessible.

In the case of content for which the publisher holds the copyright, it is the responsibility of the contributor to obtain permission from the publisher to deposit the work. In such cases, contributors must obtain express permission in the form of a release from the copyright holder and submit this with their content upon deposit with the repository. It is understood that contributors submitting copyrighted or licensed content agree to:

  • Grant the Hornet Research Repository the right to ingest, openly disseminate, and preserve the content. Preserving the content may involve migrating the content to new formats to ensure future accessibility.
  • Provide proof that they hold copyright to the work or have express permission to deposit the work. In the case of unpublished content, use of a Creative Commons License is recommended. Any questions regarding copyright, intellectual property, or licensing should be directed to ="mailto: institutionalrepository@alasu.edu">the repository's administrators

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):

  • <p> - paragraph
  • <br> - line break
  • <strong> - strong/bold
  • <em> - italics/emphasis
  • <sub> - subscript
  • <sup> - 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 "Can I post related files..." 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.

What are my privacy rights?

The Institutional Repository management team respects users’ right to privacy. Contributors and users should be aware that the system collects personally identifiable information during the submission process as well as for user selected services such as subscription to alerts and reports. This information will be used solely for the purpose for which the user submitted it, with the exception that the LWLC may make reasonable statistical reports for internal institutional use.

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