Frequently Asked Questions

About Chapman University Digital Commons

What is Chapman University Digital Commons?

Chapman University Digital Commons is a digital repository and publication platform for the scholarly and creative output of Chapman University faculty, students, staff, and affiliates. It is designed to collect, index, perpetually store, and publicly disseminate materials created or owned by the Chapman community. In it are faculty research papers and books, selected collections of student work, audiovisual materials, images, special collections, and more, all created by members of or owned by Chapman University.

Chapman University Digital Commons is a service of the Leatherby Libraries.

Who can contribute work to Chapman University Digital Commons?

Faculty, staff, and those associated with any of Chapman University’s departments, institutes, or other campus units can contribute content. In select cases, students may contribute their work as well.

We do not accept guest posts or advertisements from authors not affiliated with Chapman University.

Why should I deposit my work in Chapman University Digital Commons?

Chapman University Digital Commons makes the scholarly publications, archives, and creative expression of Chapman University available for the world to view in one central, open access site. This type of visibility and awareness benefits both you as a creator and Chapman University as an institution. Specific benefits include:

Visibility of your work in a centralized location so more of your peers can find and cite your work (via searches in Google Scholar, the Digital Commons Network, and other search engines), providing you with a wider audience.
Retention of intellectual property rights to your previously unpublished work.
Context for your work, placing you side-by-side with the scholarly and creative contributions of your colleagues.
Static URLs, providing continuity so that your work is assured a stable online location that can be cited now and in the future.
Open access availability, leading to higher citation rates and raising your prestige in your field.
Ability to accommodate many different types of content, not just text.
Ability to comply with funding mandates by making your work open access (i.e. freely available online).

How can I add my work to Chapman University Digital Commons?

For published works, email your CV or research announcement to the Chair of Resources & Scholarly Communications. For unpublished works, please see the Submission Instructions for more information. Also be sure to see our Submission Policies and Guidelines.

Can I reuse works I found in Chapman University Digital Commons?

Works posted under a Creative Commons license may be reused according to the terms of that license. For all other works, please seek permission before reusing:

For research papers, book chapters, and so on, please contact the author(s) or the publisher, if applicable. If the work is a PDF file, the authors' contact info will be listed on the first page.
For works hosted in the Frank Mt. Pleasant Library of Special Collections and Archives, please contact speccoll@chapman.edu.
For works hosted in the Center for American War Letters Archive, please contact warletters@chapman.edu.

{ top }

Submitting to Chapman University Digital Commons

Who is responsible for loading new works into Chapman University Digital Commons?

The Chair of Resources & Scholarly Communications oversees the loading of faculty and student works, which may involve the signing of submission forms and the checking of copyright and publisher policies. Other works may be uploaded by the various departments and units around campus under which they are classified.

My department/campus unit would like a space in Chapman University Digital Commons. How do we get one?

Please contact the Chair of Resources & Scholarly Communications with all such requests.

What types of files can I contribute to Chapman University Digital Commons?

Most digital formats can be uploaded to Chapman University Digital Commons. However, to assure long-term operability and improved search engine results, files in PDF format are encouraged. The software can also accommodate a wide range of audio, image, video, and other formats. Executable programs (in .exe format) are the only format known to cause issues at this time.

To ensure long-term accessibility, you may want to consider providing files in open, non-proprietary formats (e.g. TIFF files alongside your JPEGs, CSV and XML files alongside your Excel charts, etc.). Please feel free to consult the Data Management research guide for more tips on how to package files for long-term accessibility.

Is there a limit to how many files I can submit, or how big they can be?

You may submit an unlimited number of files, and there are no size limits. However, for large files, you may want to consider the impact on the end user and how long it may take them to download a very large file.

Can I restrict access to my work in Chapman University Digital Commons?

The intention of the Chapman University Digital Commons is to make deposited works open access, i.e. freely available, by default. However, we can restrict access to just Chapman users in select cases when necessary. We can also embargo works, so that they will only become available for download after a particular date. Please contact the Chair of Resources & Scholarly Communications for assistance.

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

Yes, you may submit these as supplementary files. They will be displayed underneath the main work. However, they will always be publicly accessible, even if the main work is restricted access.

It is recommended that you upload data sets to our dedicated data repository, Chapman Figshare. Links can be added between the main work and related data to show their relation.

Can I revise or withdraw a work once posted?

Yes. While in general works will remain in Chapman University Digital Commons in perpetuity, we can withdraw a work upon request. Please see the full policy here and contact the Chair of Resources & Scholarly Communications for assistance.

Can I get a Digital Object Identifier (DOI) for my work?

Digital Object Identifiers (DOIs) may be provided for certain original works of scholarship, such as data sets, theses and dissertations, or Chapman-published journals. DOIs cannot be provided for any research involving human subjects collected in the European Union.

{ top }

Accepted Manuscripts vs. Final Publications

My publisher won’t allow me to upload the final, published version of my article, but will allow me to post the accepted manuscript/final peer-reviewed draft/post-print. What does this mean, and should I do it?

Many publishers will allow researchers to post the accepted manuscript of their articles to Chapman University Digital Commons, often after an embargo period. This means the final, peer-reviewed draft of the article that has been accepted for publication, but has not yet been typeset or copyedited for the journal. Some researchers have questions about the value of disseminating these manuscript versions. Here are a few reasons why you might consider doing so:

Posting the accepted manuscript allows you to disseminate your work on an open access basis, even if you are publishing in a traditional/non-OA journal, or a journal that has hefty fees for OA publication. By posting the accepted manuscript, you are still posting content that is very close to the final publication and making that information available to the public.
Many federal agencies, and even some private funders, require authors to make the published results of their funded research publicly available. These policies generally require that the accepted manuscript be made available within 12 months of publication, if it is not possible to disseminate the final version of record. Chapman University Digital Commons is a good solution for compliance with many of these mandates. (For more information on the requirements for each agency, please visit the "Funding Agencies with OA Requirements" tab of the Open Access research guide.)
Depositing the accepted manuscript in Chapman University Digital Commons helps ensure that your work will be accessible in the long-term, even if the publisher goes out of business and their website disappears.
Having any version of a publication present in Chapman University Digital Commons bolsters the image of your school, department, research unit, or center. The cover pages attached to every article contain links back to your unit’s page in Chapman University Digital Commons, allowing readers to find additional works authored by you and your colleagues. It also builds the overall listing of articles by unit when readers browse by research unit, center, or department. This can provide a very effective advertisement to potential new students and faculty, colleagues in your field, or agencies evaluating various aspects of the university.
Your research may be valuable to a broader audience than anticipated. Colleagues in your field will know that they can just email you to obtain copies of your articles, but those outside of academia may not realize they can do this. Depending on your field, it is possible that educators, students, doctors, aid workers, or the general public may be interested in the content of your research, but may not require (or be able to afford) the final, formatted version behind a paywall.
Research shows that making work available on an open access basis increases the number of citations it receives over its lifespan. By making a work freely available, there are more opportunities for researchers around the world to discover and build off of it. The cover pages provide a link to the final version of record on the publisher’s site, which the researchers can then use for final verification of information (if necessary) and for citation purposes. For more information about the effects of open access on citation counts, please consult the Open Access research guide.

How do I locate my accepted mansucript?

If you have not kept a copy of your accepted manuscript in your personal files, you may be able to download it from your publisher's site by following the appropriate instructions on this guide from Direct2AAM.

{ top }

If I would prefer not to share the accepted manuscript versions of my work but want to be able to deposit it in Chapman University Digital Commons, what should I do?

There are a couple of things you can do to ensure that the final versions of your future publications will be eligible for inclusion in Chapman University Digital Commons:

Publish in an open access journal, preferably one that is free-to-reuse as opposed to just free-to-read. These journals will often publish articles under a Creative Commons license. If you need help finding an OA journal, the Open Access or the Find a Place to Get Published research guides can provide some assistance.
Many traditionally-published journals offer the option to publish articles on an open access basis for a fee (often called an Article Processing Charge or APC), which can often be paid out of grant money or other research funds. The final version of a paper published under this model can then be shared through a repository like Chapman University Digital Commons.
If the above options do not apply, you can try negotiating with the publisher ahead of publication to see if they will let you retain the right to deposit the work in Chapman University Digital Commons. Try adding one of the addenda on the Author Rights, IDs, and Research Profiles research guide to your publishing contract; the language therein has been composed by professionals to ensure you legally keep the rights you need.

{ top }

Copyright

Can I deposit something in Chapman University Digital Commons if I have signed away my copyright?

It depends on what the publisher (or copyright owner) allows, which is usually specified in your publishing agreement. If it would not violate copyright to post it in Chapman University Digital Commons, you're welcome to do so. The Leatherby Libraries will check copyrights and publisher policies before uploading any published works into Chapman University Digital Commons. Please contact the Chair of Resources & Scholarly Communications for assistance. You can also check permissions for many journal publishers in SHERPA/RoMEO.

Will I lose the copyright to work I own by depositing it into Chapman University Digital Commons?

No, we will not take your copyright, and you will not lose any other rights to use or reuse your work.

{ top }

Using Content in Chapman University Digital Commons

I would like to use something I found in Chapman University Digital Commons for my own purposes. Can I do so?

All material in Chapman University Digital Commons, unless stated otherwise, is freely available for users around the world to view, download, and print. Except as allowed by fair use (Title 17, §107 U.S.C.) or any purposes allowed under applicable law or granted by a Creative Commons license, users may not reproduce, republish, perform, alter, transmit, distribute, or use for commercial purposes any work from this web site in any physical or digital form without the permission of the copyright owner. Please see our Rights and Terms of Use for more complete information.

{ top }

The Digital Commons Network

What is the Digital Commons Network?

The Digital Commons Network brings together over three million free, full-text scholarly works, archives, and more from over 450 universities and colleges worldwide. Curated by university librarians and their supporting institutions, the Network includes a growing collection of peer-reviewed journal articles, book chapters, dissertations, working papers, conference proceedings, and other original scholarly work from other universities using bepress’ Digital Commons software for their own repositories. It can be searched by major discipline or one of nearly1,000 subdisciplines, and displays the most popular papers, institutions, and authors in each, to help you see how your work stacks up with those of your colleagues around the world.

{ top }

Questions and Suggestions

Whom do I contact with questions about or suggestions for improving Chapman University Digital Commons?

Please direct all questions to the Chair of Resources & Scholarly Communications.

Chapman University Digital Commons