Terms of Use for EliScholar

About EliScholar

EliScholar is a repository for the scholarly output of researchers at Yale University. It promotes dissemination of their work, and preserves it in a freely-accessible, long-term archive. EliScholar allows researchers and other interested readers anywhere in the world to learn about and keep up to date with Yale scholarship. Administered by the Yale Library, EliScholar contains materials selected by participating departments, schools, centers, and institutes at Yale. Users have access to materials in EliScholar free of charge.

Questions, Comments, and Suggestions

If you have questions about using the repository, please consult the FAQ first. For problems, comments or suggestions, please contact elischolar@yale.edu.

How to join EliScholar

If you represent a Yale University research unit, center, department, or school and wish to feature your faculty or student scholarship here, please contact us at elischolar@yale.edu.

EliScholar Policies

Introduction

The purpose of EliScholar is to publicize, freely disseminate, and preserve the work of Yale scholars as part of the university’s mission to educate and inform the world. Yale University Library intends to provide access to the work as broadly as possible and for as long as possible.

Who Can Participate

Any Yale University research unit, department, lab, center, institute, or organization is eligible to participate. Student organizations are eligible with faculty sponsorship.

Whose Papers Can Be Included in EliScholar

Each participating unit will determine content appropriate for inclusion in its part of EliScholar (for instance, journal articles, preprints, postprints, conference papers, presentations, technical reports, working papers, lecture series, senior design papers, simulations, programs, and so forth).

While content need not be authored by Yale faculty, staff, or students for inclusion in EliScholar, its creation must have some Yale affiliation. Examples might be a paper from a conference sponsored by a participating unit which included both Yale-affiliated and other authors; a report collaboratively produced by Yale-affiliated and other authors; or other materials that a sponsoring Yale unit decides is appropriate for inclusion in EliScholar. Participating units can work with Library staff to define policies appropriate for their areas.

Appropriate Submissions

Each unit will work with the Yale Library to review guidelines on content and set policy for its part of EliScholar. Applicable copyright policies, technical feasibility (for example, content can be posted using supported format types and by referring to the file format and conversion guide), and the decision of a participating unit that the work is appropriate, are all basic criteria. Bibliographic citations or abstracts alone, without the full paper to which they refer, will not be posted. Questions should be directed to elischolar@yale.edu. EliScholar may not be used to store or transmit files that contain Social Security numbers, Protected Health Information, or information governed by federal export-control laws.

Unit Agreements

Participating units agree to disseminate information about procedures and policies for EliScholar publication—including author responsibilities regarding copyright—as set forth by the Library and communicated through written documents, correspondence, and training sessions.

Author Agreements and Copyright

Unless otherwise noted, documents posted on EliScholar are the property of their respective authors. Authors who deposit material in EliScholar agree to the following:

I hold the copyright to this document, or have been authorized by the copyright holder(s) to upload it for distribution, and agree to permit this document to be posted in [Name of EliScholar Collection], and made available to the public in any format in perpetuity. I warrant that the posting of the work does not infringe any copyright, nor violate any proprietary rights, nor contain any libelous matter, nor invade the privacy of any person or third party, nor otherwise violate EliScholar policies.

All permission requests should be directed to the individual authors or the stated holders of copyright. The Yale University Library claims no rights over the content of EliScholar.

For more information about copyright, please refer to EliScholar copyright guidelines for authors. See also our copyright policy.

Removing or Updating a Work

EliScholar is a permanent scholarly repository. Once a paper is deposited, at least a citation to the paper will remain permanently accessible. Under special circumstances, authors may request removal of a paper, or a specific version of a paper. Authors may also provide an updated version for posting. But updates need not replace originally-posted papers. Posting updated versions alongside original versions is one way that authors can show the progress of their research, which in some fields can have pedagogical or intellectual value.

Persistent Access and Migration

The Library will provide persistent access to EliScholar content but cannot guarantee the persistent functionality of technological tools through which content is currently posted, maintained, and accessed. At its own discretion, depending on changes in the technological environment in which researchers, users, and the Library all function, tools may be replaced. The Library expects to preserve the content of EliScholar by migrating it to new technological platforms when and if the obsolescence of current technologies make it necessary to do so.

Peer-Reviewed Series and Journals

EliScholar can support publication of peer-reviewed series and journals. Units interested in starting a peer-reviewed series or journal or migrating an existing one to EliScholar should contact elischolar@yale.edu. The Library is prepared to help you decide whether this is the right forum for your scholarship.

Conferences and Symposia

EliScholar can support managing and publishing conference and symposia proceedings. Please contact us at elischolar@yale.edu for details.

Copyright Guidelines for Authors

In order to deposit a work in EliScholar, you must hold the copyright to that work, or have the approval of the copyright holder to do so. If the work is also being published by a traditional publisher, though, you may have transferred your copyright to them as part of the publication process. You need to know the copyright status of your work before submitting it to EliScholar. Please also see our copyright policy.

IF YOU RETAIN COPYRIGHT

If you retain copyright to the work in question, and have not given someone else exclusive rights to distribute it, you may submit it to EliScholar. You can proceed to directly submit a paper via your account, or review the FAQ if needed. If you share the copyright with other authors, check with them to make sure they also approve of the work being archived and made available at EliScholar.

IF YOU DON'T RETAIN COPYRIGHT

If you do not retain copyright, but have transferred your rights to your publisher, you may still be able to deposit a version of your paper in EliScholar. You should check your publisher's copyright policy to determine what is allowed to be submitted to an institutional repository. We recommend that you use the SHERPA listing of publisher copyright policies.

Some publishers allow such deposit, though often with certain conditions:

  • some allow the postprint to be submitted to an institutional repository, but not the publisher's PDF version. (The "postprint" is the final, post-peer-review version of the article as it has been accepted for publication. It is typically submitted to the repository as a file in a word-processing format such as MS-Word. The "publisher's PDF" is an exact page image of the article as it appears in print.) For more information, see our guide to distinguishing a publisher's PDF and a postprint.
  • some allow deposit, but not until the publisher’s version has been released (or some specified period after release)
  • some publishers require acknowledgement that they hold the copyright, and/or a link to the final version on their web site
  • other publishers do not allow any version of the article to be deposited.

While the SHERPA listing is growing, it does not cover all publishers. Please contact us at elischolar@yale.edu if you have questions, or need assistance determining the copyright status of your work.

IF YOU DON'T KNOW WHO PUBLISHES YOUR JOURNAL

Because of mergers and acquisitions, it is sometimes difficult to identify the parent company for a journal. The SHERPA site allows you to input the journal name to look up the publisher, which you can then look up on the SHERPA listing to check its policies.

HOW TO INCLUDE CITATION INFORMATION

When you submit an article, in addition to entering descriptive information such as the author(s), title, date, keywords, and abstract, it is important to include citation information as well. This should be noted in the [Comments...] section when you submit the paper.

DOI - Digital Object Identifier: Many publishers assign a number called a Digital Object Identifier (DOI) to each article they publish. If you want to--or are required to--indicate a reference to the publisher's final version of a paper, including a DOI provides a stable, permanent identifier. You can turn a DOI into a URL by prefixing http://dx.doi.org/ to the front of the DOI. Alternatively, you can use CrossRef's free DOI lookup service. You have to enter either the Journal Title or the ISSN (they recommend title), and either the first named author or the first page number. The more information you input, the fewer results you will need to look through.

IF YOU ARE SUBMITTING AN ARTICLE FOR PUBLICATION

Consider retaining rights to your article by attaching the SPARC Addendum to your publisher's contract.

PLEASE NOTE: This document can only provide guidelines and should not be relied upon for legal advice. See also the EliScholar Copyright Policy.

Copyright Policy

Repository contributors are responsible for adhering to the copyright policies of Yale University, which include adherence to federal copyright law (see Copyright Guidelines for Authors). In general, we will assume good faith on the part of repository contributors, educate our contributors on their rights and responsibilities with respect to copyright, and act quickly to remedy copyright problems if they come up.

In order to prevent problems with allegations of copyright infringement involving EliScholar, we will:

  • Educate our users about the requirements of copyright law, copyright consideration for materials previously or subsequently posted in scholarly journals and other forums, and fair use.
  • Make it clear that submissions to EliScholar should comply with Yale’s policies on copyright and applicable copyright laws.
  • Require submitters to EliScholar to warrant that their submissions do not infringe copyright. (This is part of the submission process.)

For more information, please see Yale’s policy on acceptable use of computing resources, the Yale University Copyright Policy, and Copyright resources from the Yale University Office of the Vice President and General Counsel, The federal Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998 (DMCA) places certain legal requirements on database providers when there is a question of copyright infringement.

In the event that an interested party makes specific allegations of copyright infringement regarding material posted in EliScholar, with sufficient information to be substantially in compliance with the DMCA notification requirements, we will:

  • Forward such correspondence to
    • Yale’s designated DMCA copyright agent
    • the administrative contact for the unit under which the allegedly infringing material was posted, and
    • the authors of the allegedly infringing material
  • Remind authors and unit administrators of their rights and responsibilities concerning copyright and scholarly expression.

Upon the request of Yale’s copyright agent, the unit administrator, or the authors, we will:

  • Disable access to the full text of the allegedly infringing item.
  • Retain the item record and metadata (with a note that the full text is not available at present). At our discretion we may choose to publicize the correspondence alleging infringement.
  • Ensure that the authors and unit administrators are notified of their counter-notification rights under the DMCA.
  • Restore access to the full text if such counter-notification is given.

In the event that we discover that specific material in EliScholar is posted in infringement of copyright, but we have not received actual notice from an interested party as described above, we will:

  • Report our discovery, and the reasons for our judgment that the item is infringing, to
    • the administrative contact for the unit under which the allegedly infringing material was posted, and
    • the authors of the allegedly infringing material
  • Remind authors and unit administrators of their rights and responsibilities concerning copyright and scholarly expression.
  • Request a warrant confirming that the material is not infringing.
  • If we do not receive one in a reasonable time period, at our discretion disable access to the full text as described above.

Generally, discovery of infringement should involve positive evidence of infringement. We should not presume that authors have not obtained special permission to use copyrighted material in their submissions. Nor should we presume that academic research publication violates anti-circumvention provisions of the DMCA.

In any of the events described above, we will retain all correspondence related to the alleged or apparent infringements.

Non-Exclusive Deposit License

In order for EliScholar to reproduce, translate and distribute your submission worldwide your agreement to the following terms is necessary. Please take a moment to read the terms of this license.

By accessing and using EliScholar, you agree to the following:

By uploading your submission, including the abstract (collectively, “your submission”) onto EliScholar, you grant to Yale University and its licensees and assigns the non-exclusive, world-wide, royalty-free right to host, transfer, display, perform, reproduce, translate and adapt your submission into any electronic media format and distribute your submission through electronic media channels now known or hereafter developed for scholarly, noncommercial purposes.

You represent that the submission is your original work, and/or that you have the right to grant the rights contained in this license. You also represent that your submission does not, to the best of your knowledge, infringe upon anyone's copyright.

If the submission contains material for which you do not hold copyright, you represent that you have obtained the unrestricted permission of the copyright owner to grant Yale University the rights required by this license, and that such third-party owned material is clearly identified and acknowledged within the text or content of the submission.

IF THE SUBMISSION IS BASED UPON WORK THAT HAS BEEN SPONSORED OR SUPPORTED BY AN AGENCY OR ORGANIZATION OTHER THAN YALE UNIVERSITY, YOU REPRESENT THAT YOU HAVE FULFILLED ANY RIGHT OF REVIEW OR OTHER OBLIGATIONS REQUIRED BY SUCH CONTRACT OR AGREEMENT.

Yale University will not make any alteration, other than as allowed by this license, to your submission.

Policy last updated 5/10/2013