SU Scholar Information Guide

If my article has already been published online, why should I publish it again in SU Scholar?

• To provide free, open access to anyone. Published work often resides behind a subscription or pay wall.  
• Publication in SU Scholar is permanent.  
• Articles published in open access repositories are cited more frequently.
• It creates a strong association between your work and Southwestern University. Provide a link to your work in SU Scholar from your Faculty Web page.

Can I publish an article in a peer-reviewed journal and submit it to SU Scholar?

• Many journal publishers allow authors to self-publish articles in institutional repositories.
• Publisher policies vary widely. While some allow you to deposit the Version of Record (publisher's pdf), most allow instead either the Accepted Manuscript (final draft).
• Some impose an embargo period, generally between 6 to 24 months after publication. 
• Curious about publisher's policies? Check SHERPA/RoMEO (search by journal title) to learn the policy of a specific journal.
• Want us to do the legwork? Email suscholar@southwestern.edu and we will investigate for you.

What if the contract with my publisher does not allow me to publish in an institutional repository?

• Before you sign a contract with your publisher, read it carefully.  Don't sign away your copyright without fully understanding the implications.
• If the standard contract does not allow you to publish in SU Scholar, consider adding the SPARC Author Addendum to your contract so that you can.  This is a simple, one-page, standard addendum used by academics around the world. More about the SPARC Author Addendum.

What if my article is co-authored?

Each joint author has the ability to grant a nonexclusive license to use a work without the permission of other joint authors. The copyright policies of the publisher must also be followed. SU Scholar policy is as follows:

• Any co-author can give permission for deposit.
• Any co-author can object and request take-down, which we will honor.
• In case of disagreement, we wait for co-authors to sort it out among themselves.

What about scholarly work in other media? Does SU Scholar support formats other than print?

Yes. If you would like to publish images, scores, audio recordings, video recordings, or other items in SU Scholar, please get in touch (suscholar@southwestern.edu). SU Scholar can also host locally published journals, books, proceedings, and more.  

We want exemplary student work to appear in SU Scholar. 
Please email suscholar@southwestern.edu to nominate a student (include detail about the work itself). We will contact the student and invite her/him to submit their work. Excellent student work at any level is appropriate to include.

No student work is published without final approval from the supervising professor. 
Faculty will be asked to review the final upload and approve or disapprove before the library makes the work public. If aware of copyright violations or issues with IRB/IACUC review, please do not approve the work. Without final approval from the supervising professor, we will not publish the student's work.

Email us the accepted manuscript version of your publication, grant us permission to archive it via the Item Submission Form, and we will upload your publication to the repository.  In the future, we plan to have a self-service system in place to allow individuals to do this themselves.

Make submitting to SU Scholar part of your end of the semester routine! If you've published anything over the course of the semester, submit it to SU Scholar once you have turned in your grades and have a moment to catch your breath.