Frequently Asked Questions


    What is A&M-Commerce Digital Collections

    The purpose of the A&M-Commerce Digital Commons is to collect, preserve, and make publicly accessible the scholarly and creative works produced through Texas A&M University-Commerce.

    A&M-Commerce Digital Commons is an institutional repository provided by Velma K. Waters Library. Institutional repositories provide a space for contributors to share their scholarly and creative works in a publicly available environment for educational and academic use.

    A&M-Commerce Digital Commons also contains digital content provided by Special Collections and University Archives (SCUA).

    { top }

    What are my rights as an author?

    Contributors to A&M-Commerce Digital Commons retain the copyright to their works deposited in the repository, but inclusion involves the granting of non-exclusive rights to preserve and make works publicly available via the Internet. The contributor of the works must hold either the copyright or the right to deposit for open-access, and be willing and able to provide permission to make the content publicly accessible.

    In the case of works 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 A&M-Commerce.

    See the Policy and Submission Agreement for more information.

    { top }

    How will others be able to use my work?

    We recommend that works submitted be made available, if possible, under a Non-Commercial, Non-Derivative Creative Commons 4.0 license or other type of Creative Commons license. The intent would be for users to access and use the work for non-commercial, educational purposes. Users would be expected to respect intellectual property by appropriately citing all content used.

    { top }

    Who can contribute work to the repository?

    A&M-Commerce Digital Commons includes creative and scholarly work created by members of A&M-Commerce, such as:

    • A&M-Commerce faculty, staff, and researchers
    • A&M-Commerce academic and support units
    • A&M-Commerce students
    • A&M-Commerce organizations and committees

    Other entities affiliated with A&M-Commerce will be considered on an individual basis.

    • Co-Authors and Co-Presenters from other institutions
    • A&M-Commerce conference and workshop presenters from other institutions/organizations

    { top }

    What types of works are eligible for the repository?

    A&M-Commerce Digital Commons collects and makes publicly available scholarly and creative works produced by the A&M-Commerce Community. Collection efforts are focused on core content areas:

    • Faculty and student scholarship
    • Dissertations and Theses
    • Papers, presentations, programs, video, proceedings and other works produced by A&M-Commerce hosted conferences and events.
    • University organizational and committee meeting documentation
    • Digitized archival materials Data Sets
    • Grey Literature
    • Open Access Journals
    • Open Educational Resources

    Other materials will be considered for inclusion on an individual basis, including:

    • Books and book chapters
    • Materials from A&M-Commerce affiliates not employed or enrolled at the University

    The Library considers both born-digital materials and materials digitized from analog originals to be within the scope of its collection policy, and appropriate for inclusion in the repository. See Special Collections and University Archives Digital Collections Policy for their eligible content.

    { top }

    How do I submit work into the repository?

    Email materials you would like considered for submission to A&M-Commerce Digital Commons. If you have any questions about submitting materials for Digital Commons contact Sarah Northam.

    { top }

    What other institutions are using Digital Commons?

    There are over 600 institutions participating in Digital Commons. A full customer list can be found on the Digital Commons Institution Website. You can search all university repositories by selecting “across all repositories” under the Search bar.

    { top }

    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.

    { top }

    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.

    { top }

    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.

    { top }

    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.

    { top }

    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.

    { top }