Scholarly Commons Policies

About 

Scholarly Commons @ Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) serves as the university’s open access institutional repository (IR), providing access to scholarly and creative content from faculty, staff, and students, as well as hosting university sponsored journals and events. The following policies guide the management of this repository. These policies are subject to change. Please review the relevant policies at the time of submission. Contact ScholarlyComm@case.edu with questions or suggestions. 

Please note that these policies do not apply to the School of Law Scholarly Commons and refer to their website for further information on their repository policies. 

Mission 

In support of CWRU Libraries and its mission as the knowledge and creativity commons of Case Western Reserve University (CWRU), Scholarly Commons @ CWRU is dedicated to the collection, production, maintenance, and preservation of the varied and diverse scholarly output of the CWRU community and beyond. 

Scholarly Commons aims to provide open, equitable access to university scholarship and promote university scholars and scholarship. 

Administration 

Administrative Responsibilities 

Scholarly Commons is administered by Kelvin Smith Library (KSL). This includes but is not limited to implementation, policies and guidelines, content development, communication and training, and assessment. Administrators are responsible for: determining and maintaining the repository structure and organization, establishing collection and use guidelines, educating users on copyright requirements, and coordinating the creation of new collections and publications. Additionally, KSL will conduct rights reviews of scholarly articles submitted to repository collections but does not conduct reviews for repository publications or events. 

Editorial Responsibility 

Scholarly Commons is open to eligible scholarly and creative content. Scholarly Commons staff do not provide editorial support or facilitate peer review for submitted content. Individuals submitting work, whether through an online submission form or through administrator-mediated submission, are solely responsible for the content of their work. Scholarly Commons reserves the right to request assurances or relevant documentation from contributors related to the legality of their submissions. Responsibility for compliance with legal requirements rests with the contributor.

Content submitted to University publications or events hosted by Scholarly Commons is subject solely to the editorial and peer review policies of the publication or event. Hosted university publications and events are not received or administered through the same workflows as content submitted in repository collections. 

Content Organization & Naming 

Scholarly Commons uses several structures to organize content: communities, sub-communities, and collections. The individual items live in collections that are customized to specific content types such as events, journals, scholarship, and image galleries. Communities and sub-communities provide landing pages where collections are then organized hierarchically. Communities and sub-communities are created primarily based on University academic and administrative unit organization. When appropriate due to the nature of the content, communities and sub-communities may be organized using a different hierarchical structure such as contributor type or year. Each community, sub-community, collection and specific item has its own individual permanent URL. 

The permanent URLs for communities and sub-communities should be based on the preferred name or acronym of the relevant academic unit (i.e. commons.case.edu/msass for the Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences). Communities and sub-communities may also be created by contributor type (i.e. commons.case.edu/faculty for faculty scholarship). Collection URLs are created based on the content type and by either the academic unit or the contributor type. For example, the Faculty Scholarship collection which houses all scholarly content from CWRU faculty has a permanent URL of commons.case.edu/facultyworks. Because the collection URLs are distinct from community URLs, it is important to have unique, descriptive URLs for collections. It is also important to consider the community that a collection might be organized under before creating the collection URL. Once created, collection and community URLs cannot be changed. 

Content Parameters 

Repository Contributors 

Contributors to the repository will vary depending on the specific collection or publication requirements. Please check the collection or publication submission requirements before submitting work. Generally, repository collections are open to CWRU faculty, researchers, instructors, staff, and students. 

Content Scope 

Scholarly Commons collects all types of scholarly and creative output from CWRU faculty, researchers, staff, and students and from university publications and events. Acceptable content types include but are not limited to:

• Journal articles
• Open access department and student journals
• Conference papers and presentations
• Open access books or book chapters
• White papers
• Technical reports or research briefs
• Faculty theses and graduate capstones
• Open Educational Resources (OER)

For the storage and preservation of research data, please consult Research Data Management site. For any questions about acceptable content or whether your content fits the collection scope, please contact ScholarlyComm@case.edu. 

Content Criteria 

All content included in Scholarly Commons must meet the following criteria:

• Fit within our scope outlined above
• Applicable Scholarly Commons and university policies and laws are followed (e.g. the author has retained copyright and/or is legally entitled to deposit the content in the IR)
• Meets accessibility requirements (see Accessibility section)
• Intended for public viewing and use with a Creative Commons or similar license that allows public access and use
• Intended for permanent storage in Scholarly Commons
• Content should be in a completed state, rather than in-progress and regularly updated. 
• Faculty and staff may deposit content published prior to joining the University which meets guidelines for inclusion. 

Objects included in Scholarly Commons cannot be:

• Externally linked content where KSL has no control over the management of those objects 
• Personal work unrelated to the collection scope 
• Large research data sets

Acceptable File Formats 

Scholarly Commons has the ability to accept a variety of file formats. However, acceptable file formats will vary depending on the collection or publication requirements. Please check the collection or publication submission guidelines for details. Generally, the IR supports a variety of formats including but not limited to PDF, DOC, DOCX, TXT, CSV, RTF, HTML, PPT, etc. Scholarly Commons will display most text-based documents as a PDF, in which case certain elements may change in appearance or completeness. It is recommended that contributors convert text-based documents to PDF in order to correct any issues on conversion.

Submission Requirements 

Before a submission can be posted to Scholarly Commons, it must meet all submission requirements. Submissions that do not meet requirements will not be posted. For repository collections, KSL staff will conduct a copyright review to ensure content can be posted to the IR. For all collections and publications, contributors will be notified whether their content was approved and published, approved pending additional information and/or edits from the contributor, or does not meet repository standards. Works posted to the repository will be available for free to the general public via the internet. Authors must grant a non-exclusive license to the University in order to publish their work in Scholarly Commons. Because the license is non-exclusive, authors retain ownership of copyright in the work, and may continue to use and license the work without further obligation to the University (see Copyright & Licensing section). 

In order to submit work to Scholarly Commons, the author must agree to the Submission Policies &Guidelines during the submission process. This Agreement asks the author to:

• Verify that their work falls within submission and content guidelines 
• Agree to the Submission Agreement
• Select a Creative Commons license or similar license that allows public access and use
• Fill out all required submission form fields (see Metadata section)
• Provide appropriate file formats (see File Formats section)

These are the general submission requirements, but some collections and publications may have different requirements which will be noted in the submission form. 

Retention 

CWRU agrees to preserve the content deposited in Scholarly Commons for the long term. Each digital object deposited in Scholarly Commons will receive a persistent URL. Materials will be deposited in standard formats (.PDF, .jpg, .tiff, .mpeg) for a higher chance of long-term viability.

Scholarly Commons reserves the right to migrate content to future mechanisms of digital storage and reserves the right to migrate file formats to future compatible formats for display. Scholarly Commons agrees to use “best practice” models and emerging standards to increase the likelihood that materials deposited in Scholarly Commons will be available for generations of scholars to come. 

Revising or Withdrawing Content 

Authors may revise their submissions prior to those submissions being posted online by administrators. After posting, submissions cannot be revised or removed except in exceptional circumstances, including those related to copyright violation, academic fraud, or deemed harmfulto our community. In the extremely rare instance when an item is removed, the metadata for the item is retained with a notation that the item was removed from the IR. Authors should contact repository staff (ScholarlyComm@case.edu) about any revisions or removals. 

Embargoed Content 

At the request of the submitter, content can be “embargoed” from public view for a limited amount of time; for example, for pending patent applications, or for reasons of personal privacy. However, Scholarly Commons requires an end date to the embargo, at which time the content will become freely available for viewing in Scholarly Commons. 

Copyright & Licensing

Contributor Requirements 

Contributors can only submit works to which they have the authority to grant the rights contained in the submission agreement and must ensure that the use of the submitted work will not breach any other person’s intellectual property, privacy or other legal rights. If a contributor has signed an agreement transferring some of their rights to a publisher, the contributor must ensure that their submission complies with their publisher agreement (see Publisher Agreements section). If creation of the work was sponsored or supported by a party other than the University (e.g., a government agency or corporate sponsor), or is based upon work that was so sponsored or supported, contributors must have complied with any prior-review or other obligations or requirements imposed by the sponsor agreement. By submitting works to the repository, the author is:

• Representing that they have the right to give CWRU the ability to post their work under the terms of the submission agreement; and 
• Granting the University non-exclusive, perpetual right to use the submitted work (in any digital or electronic media now known or later developed) for non-commercial use.Such rights shall include, but not be limited to, the right to: 
  • Electronically view, present and display to others, including providing access via the web and display in classrooms and other public venues; 
  • Provide copies via the institutional repository web site to external recipients. This includes acknowledgement that third parties may redistribute or create new content based on this work.

Additionally, items posted must comply with the requirements of the United States copyright law. This means that any third party material included in a submission must either (1) be in the public domain; (2) be used with permission (which both permits the contributor to post the material in the repository and permits the repository to make use of the third party material to the same extent the contributor grants the repository the right to make use of their work); or (3) beincluded pursuant to the contributor’s good faith belief, after conducting a fair use analysis, that fair use permits the use of the third party material. 

For additional information, please consult the University's Copyright Guidance. 

Previously Published Works

Articles Covered by the CWRU Faculty Open Access (OA) Policy:

CWRU Faculty Senate adopted the campus-wide OA Policy on March 25, 2024 which grants all CWRU faculty the right to make their scholarly articles available in CWRU’s institutional repository, Scholarly Commons. Faculty authors may post the author’s accepted manuscript version, as long as: 

• the author was an CWRU faculty member when the article was written;
• the author has not obtained a waiver of the policy for that article; and
• the publication agreement for the article was signed after the policy became effective.

For more information about the OA Policy, see the Policy Statement, Faculty Handbook, and public announcement.

Publisher Agreements

For any published works deposited that are not covered by the Faculty OA Policy, the publisher copyright policies will need to be checked to determine if, and in what form a work may be submitted to Scholarly Commons. KSL staff will consult with authors and research rights to make a determination. Please note that your publisher’s policy may or may not allow posting in the repository. If you have a contract with your publisher, check to see what it permits or check Open Policy Finder. For questions or consultation on complying with publisher policies, please contact ScholarlyComm@case.edu.

CWRU Libraries strongly encourage authors to retain their rights, to negotiate with publishers, and to avail themselves of common tools, such as the SPARC Author Addendum, to negotiate more rights to their own research.

Learn more about Author Rights and Scholarly Publishing.

Publisher’s vs. Author’s Version

Most publishers who allow posting (or self-archiving) of articles in an institutional repository require that you post the “author's final version” a.k.a. the author accepted manuscript (AAM) or postprint. This refers to the author's final, accepted manuscript after peer-review but before the publisher's copy-editing and typesetting (Learn more about manuscript versions). This will also generally be the appropriate version to deposit for articles covered by CWRU’s Faculty OA Policy. 

In some instances, publishers do allow posting of the “publisher's version,” which is the final, published version of the article after copy editing and typesetting and branded with the journal's name and/or logo a.k.a. Version of Record (VoR). You should be able to find information about which version you are allowed to post in your publication agreement, on your publisher's website, from Open Policy Finder, or by contacting the publisher directly. KSL staff are available to assist you with this process.

Use of Materials 

Materials in Scholarly Commons may be protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use materials in Scholarly Commons in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses beyond those permitted by copyright law, you may need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s). While KSL makes efforts to include relevant copyright information whenever possible for objects in Scholarly Commons, please contact ScholarlyComm@case.edu if you have any questions about the copyright status of a specific object or collection in Scholarly Commons. 

KSL encourages the use of collections in Scholarly Commons for teaching, research, and private study as described by the fair use provisions of the United States Copyright Act. For help in determining what constitutes "fair use," KSL offers the following guide: Fair Use: An Exception to Copyright. 

Whenever possible, KSL uses Creative Commons licenses to govern the use of materials in Scholarly Commons. Such materials will be accompanied by a statement indicating the CC license. 

Choice of Applicable License 

Scholarly Commons supports open access (OA) which expands shared knowledge and accelerates and advances knowledge creation. Therefore, all contributors have the option to select a Creative Commons license for their work. Under Creative Commons licenses, the owner of copyright in a work grants users the right to use the work under specified conditions. Available licenses include CC BY (Attribution), CC BY-SA (Attribution ShareAlike), CC BY-ND (Attribution-NoDerivs), CC BY-NC (Attribution-NonCommercial), CC BY-NC-SA (Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike), CC BY-NC-ND (AttributionNonCommercial-NoDerivs), and CC0 (No Rights Reserved). 

Metadata Standard 

Scholarly Commons uses Dublin Core metadata elements:

• dc.title 
• dc.type 
• dc.date.created
• dc.subject
• dc.description.abstract
• dc.creator
• dc.description
• dc.source
• dc.rights.license
• dc.date.available 

Descriptive Metadata

All content requires basic descriptive metadata. Basic required elements are: 

• Title (dc.title) 
• Author(s) (dc.creator) 
• Document Type (i.e. Article) (dc.type)
• Publication Date (dc.date.created)
• Creative Commons License or Rights Statement (dc.rights.license) 

Additional recommended elements are:

• Abstract/Description (dc.description.abstract)
• Keyword(s) (dc.subject)
• Discipline(s) (dc.subject)
• Publication Title (dc.source)
• Peer-Reviewed (dc.description)
• Page numbers
• Issue and Volume
• DOI
• ORCID
• Grant
• Funder

While these are the general elements, some collections and publications may require additional metadata which will be noted in the submission form. 

Subject Headings 

Scholarly Commons uses the Discipline taxonomy provided by the Digital Commons systems. It is recommended that at least one discipline term be assigned for each item. In addition to these Disciplines, custom fields may be created for specific collections or publications if another controlled vocabulary is required (e.g., Library of Congress Subject Headings) 

Name Authority 

In order to ensure consistency and reduce confusion, only one accepted name format will be used for each individual listed in the Author field of an item record. The same name must be used for all item records in which that individual is listed as an Author. 

The accepted name format will reflect the individual’s university account or the name typically used in published works unless a variant name is requested by the individual. The author’s university email address will be associated with their name when available. If available, individual’s ORCID iDs will also be included in records and linked to their ORCID record page. For individuals not affiliated with the University, the accepted name format will reflect the information submitted with the content. 

Name Change Policy

Anyone with works in Scholarly Commons @ CWRU may change their name as it appears on the Browse by Author page, item record page(s), and/or the materials themselves. While there are any number of reasons that someone may need to do this (including name changes related to gender, marriage, religion, and others), no justification or documentation is required for an author name change to be implemented. The change does not need to reflect the author’s past or current legal name(s). 

To have your name changed, email the Scholarly Commons administrators (ScholarlyComm@case.edu) with the name(s) currently listed on your materials in Scholarly Commons (check the author page for this information) and the new name that you would like to be listed under. 

Repository staff will then change your name as requested on both the item record(s) and the document(s). There will be no mention of the previous name unless you specifically request that; if you want such a note, let us know what language to use. You are responsible for contacting your coauthors if you want them to know about the change. 

Need help requesting name changes from your publisher(s)? CWRU Libraries recommend using resources for authors from the Name Change Policy Working Group, which include a list ofpublishers and journals with existing name change policies and email templates for reaching out to publishers. Please contact repository staff with questions (ScholarlyComm@case.edu).

Institutional Affiliation

For University faculty, staff, adjuncts, and students, the institutional affiliation will be “Case Western Reserve University.” School and departmental affiliations are not required but if desired will be recorded in a separate field. 

Persistent Links

For all items, it is important to maintain a stable link to access that content. Scholarly Commons provides a stable link for all content and does not change the URLs for content, even if the collection is moved within the collection hierarchy. 

Accessibility

KSL is actively working to upgrade our digital collection objects in order to comply with standards for accessibility. If you have a specific request, please contact us (ScholarlyComm@case.edu) for assistance. 

Scholarly Commons is designed for inclusion and considers auditory, cognitive, physical, speech, and visual learning preferences. In order to comply with Level A of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0, it is recommended that works meet these minimum standards: 

• For PDF documents:
  • PDF file includes full text
  • PDF accessibility permission flag is checked
  • Text language of the PDF is specified
  • Figures and images include alternative text
  • PDF includes a title
• For video and audio:
  • Captioning of films and video clips
  • Transcriptions for audio files

In addition to the digital objects themselves, the Scholarly Commons website endeavors to meet all guidelines and standards established by the World Wide Web Consortium's Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 at level AA conformance, and Section 508 of the Federal Rehabilitation Act. For more information, see the bepress Digital Commons Accessibility Statement.

Privacy 

Scholarly Commons publishes content that is primarily open access and meant for public discovery. The repository does not store or host sensitive, confidential, personal, or financial information but may collect some user information. Scholarly Commons is built on the bepress Digital Commons platform and is subject to Digital Common's Privacy Policies. 

Personal information submitted by users 

Scholarly Commons collects some personal information in order to make users’ work discoverable by the public. Personal information is collected whenever a user creates an account, submits a work to the IR, and/or subscribes to the repository’s alerting service. Submitted information will be used only for the purpose for which users submitted it, with the exception that CWRU Libraries may make reasonable statistical reports that do not identify particular individuals. While CWRU Libraries may disclose information about use of the repository in aggregate (such as server use statistics), we will not disclose to unaffiliated parties any information that could be used to identify individuals or their use of Scholarly Commons, except as required by University policies or as mandated by law. 

Visitor information collected 

Whenever a user visits the Scholarly Commons website, certain information is gathered and stored automatically. This information does not generally identify the user personally. Information that is automatically collected and stored when visiting the repository site may include:

• The Internet domain and IP address from which the repository was accessed
• The type of browser and operating system
• Date and time 
• Pages visited 

This automatically collected information is only used internally to record aggregate statistics, for technical troubleshooting, for compliance with the University Policies, and to improve the usability of our website. Scholarly Commons also uses browser cookies to enhance the user experience. 

Please see the University’s Privacy Policy for more information. 

University Policies 

As a University affiliated repository, Scholarly Commons must comply with, and is subject to the University’s policies. Therefore, contributors must comply with University policies. The following policies are particularly relevant:

• Faculty handbook
• Copyright Policy
• University Technology Policies 
• Privacy Policy 

Questions

If you have any questions, please contact ScholarlyComm@case.edu.