The what, why, how of….

Institutional Repository

Web software for making a University’s research publicly available to download and access. Allows people to browse and search through our articles, books and other research outputs.

Most UK Universities now have one.

Publishing Process

Submits to journal

Paper refereed

Revised by author

Author submits final version

Published in journal

pre-print Deposits in Sussex Research Online

post-print

published version

Definitions

• Pre-print : an article before it has been peer reviewed

• Post-Print : an article with changes and corrections after it has been peer reviewed (the researcher’s final draft)

• Publisher’s copy : PDF branded, and using a template from the Publisher. We can’t normally use this

Why

Improve citation rates

Funding Councils require it

So we know what we do as a University

Avoid re-keying information many times and confusing multiple systems

Reduce inequalities in academia by extending access to research to poorer universities and countries

Long term store of documents, useful for researchers, useful to link to.

Help cross discipline research? Help Sussex researchers see other research on campus

Usage Stats

Journal Costs.

Avoid Inter-library requests for our own research

Associating Sussex Research with Sussex. (not publishers)

REF. We need good metadata

12 April 2023

Green not gold

Gold

“Author-pays” publication model

Green

Self-archiving

Back to SRO…

Set up in 2006. University was focused on RAE, Repository was low key

Uses Eprints web software. Free, Open Source, developed by University of Southampton. Most UK repositories use it. Standards based, supported by JISC etc.

SRO background

• Research-based in terms of content focus– Journal articles– Book chapters– Conference papers– Technical reports– Working papers– Theses (From 2009/10 onwards)

• SRO currently around 1600 records, just over half have a full text item, including over 80 doctoral theses

2010 Redevelopment

• There’s now a University project to (re)develop SRO into a major campus system. Project includes Research Office, ITS, web team, Library, Planning Office, etc).

• The goals of the Project are:– To develop and expand the use of SRO as the single repository to house UoS research

outputs and associated bibliographic data, interfacing with other appropriate corporate systems

– To ensure accurate and timely collection and management of data required for the RCUK research outcomes reporting, to be introduced in 2011 and the REF in 2014

– To enhance the online presentation of the University’s research at the level of both individual faculty and academic unit

Why

• Repositories are good at holding publication metadata

• …That’s good for the REF• JISC funding projects around Eprints to ensure it

fits needs for REF reporting (safety in numbers)• We need to know who is publishing what for all

kinds of reasons. Funding, Management Information, Schools, web, communication, etc…

2010 Project

• Project deliverables include:– A user interface to allow faculty to input publication and other output and outcome

information and upload full text version of publications (where permitted) with validation from the Library

– A systems interface between the IR and other corporate systems– Functionality to populate relevant REF and RCUK research outcomes returns– Functionality to generate relevant profiles for use on UoS websites

– Functionality to generate reports on additions to, contents and usage of SRO – Defined processes for adding information and content– Supporting policy statements

Project timeline

• September 2010 - Start of policy development and approval• October 2010 - New e-Prints implementation• October 2010 - Confirmation of REF specification• December 2010 - Completion of data gathering and cleansing• December 2010 - Completion of software integration• December 2010 - Data migration• January 2011 - Launch of new system and training

What we will get

• Project will make SRO the place to store publication information at Sussex

• Other University systems and facilities will draw publication information from SRO as required.

• Moving to new version of Eprints software. Easier to use. Works well with other systems (interoperability).

• Focus on getting lots of accurate metadata for our research outputs

Don’t forget Open Access

• …but also add the open access version of the full text where we can. Normally a PDF. But also multimedia.

• We can’t normally add the publisher’s copy of the PDF.

• We can normally use the author’s final draft (i.e. MS Word, LaTeX). Normally just as good. Sometimes embargo. Different issues for theses (more soon…)

2011

• Hardware managed by ITS. Software managed by Eprints Services (Southampton) with ITS.

• Schools & Departments submitting (all!) research outputs to SRO.

• Library checking submissions to ensure an accurate database of records and copyright issues.

• Developments to allow other systems to get information from SRO. Plus Reporting.

Sussex Research Online

• Nutshell: Website to store publication information, and the documents/files, for research at Sussex.

• Thanks• Chris Keene : University of Sussex Library• C.J.Keene@sussex.ac.uk