USQ ePrints Collection Development Policy

Introduction

The purpose of USQ ePrints is to create a consolidated archive of the intellectual output of USQ researchers, scholars and other staff. The repository will ensure preservation of that output for posterity, and, by providing open access to it, will increase awareness, use and impact of USQ output and demonstrate the quality of USQ research and scholarship.

This policy defines the scope of the archive repository content and types of material that will populate it. A full version of this policy will be available on the Library web site.

Definitions

ePrint: An eprint is generally recognised as an electronic version of an academic or research paper. USQ ePrints will have a more inclusive definition (see Types of Material section in this policy).

Open Access:  [The free availability of literature] on the public internet, permitting any users to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of these articles, crawl them for indexing, pass them as data to software, or use them for any other lawful purpose, without financial, legal, or technical barriers other than those inseparable from gaining access to the internet itself . . . ”. [1]

Scope

This repository will archive output from the University’s research and scholarly activities. All material submitted, therefore, must have a relationship with USQ:  that is, at least one author must be formally associated with the University. However, it is not intended to duplicate USQ official administrative archives.

All items should meet acceptable standards of intellectual quality. This typically would mean:

• Scholarly work published or accepted or submitted for publication in a refereed journal or conference proceedings or as a book or a book chapter; or
• Material deposited on the advice of the relevant academic authority (Faculty Dean or Head of Unit).

For an article to be deposited in full, one of the following conditions must apply:

• The author must hold the copyright; or
• Permission has been obtained from the publisher; or
• The publisher as copyright holder allows ePrints to be held in an institutional repository.

As metadata will be extracted from the repository for inclusion in the USQ Annual Report and to meet DEST's reporting requirements relating to research activities, details of all research books, chapters in research books, refereed journal articles and refereed conference presentations must be submitted, even when the full text of the material is not being deposited in the repository.  Submission for other categories of material will be voluntary.

Use and Access

It is intended that almost all material will be open access, that is, available freely on the public internet without conditions or cost. If restrictions apply, the item will not be accepted for public view, but data may be accepted for file completeness and to fulfil reporting obligations.

Types of Material

Types of material may include, but not be limited to:

• Journal article in a journal, magazine or newspaper
• Book or book chapter 
• Report:  technical report, project report 
• Working paper or discussion paper 
• Manual or documentation (if it displays scholarly content)
• Conference paper or conference poster paper
• Dissertation (see below)
• Patent, published
• Unpublished manuscript of literary work, and art work, if accompanied by text material
• Inaugural lectures and Professorial lectures
• “Enduring” teaching material of a substantial nature, eg unpublished case study, that forms a stand-alone piece of scholarly value  
• Data sets and other ancillary research material 
• Other types as determined by the USQ ePrints Management Committee.

Inclusions

• Research degree dissertations;
• Dissertations forming substantial part of a coursework Masters or coursework Doctorate degree; 
• Research reports forming a substantial part of an undergraduate degree, where submission is agreed by the Dean of the Faculty; and
• Drafts of works, when there is substantial content in the draft that is not contained in the final version or in the case of literary works.

Exclusions

• Administrative reports, such as the University Annual Report, meeting minutes, Committee papers, 
  items that have transient value, or which can be archived only for a limited period;
• Teaching materials;
• Material that is restricted in access by user or time  (eg commercial-in-confidence, cultural sensitivity, required for subsequent publication);
• Newspaper articles; and
• Unpublished patent applications.

[1] Budapest Open Access Initiative, http://www.soros.org/openaccess/read.shtml