What Content to Submit to UDSpace
UDSpace welcomes a wide range of research outputs, including scholarly articles, conference papers and datasets.
What kind of material belongs in UDSpace?
UDSpace is a good place to deposit many types of research material, so long as it meets the following criteria:
- You created the material (or have the express consent of the creators to deposit it).
- You are willing to share the material publicly and in perpetuity (not temporarily).
- You want the material that you are sharing to be found through research-oriented search engines like Google Scholar.
- The material is in a file format that is likely to be usable over time and in multiple tools and platforms
Agendas and minutes from department meetings, department or program newsletters, and other non-scholarly materials are not appropriate to deposit in UDSpace. These types of materials belong on a department website, a sites.udel.edu site or something similar.
Sharing published research articles in UDSpace
One of the most appropriate types of content to deposit in UDSpace is any research article that you’ve published. By depositing it in UDSpace, you make it possible for people to access your research whether or not they are affiliated with an academic library with journal subscriptions. Whether your research focuses on the social sciences, humanities or natural sciences, there are researchers and readers who are looking for information about the topics you study. Please note: Depending on the journal or publisher of your article, there may be restrictions on whether you can share the final published version, the final accepted manuscript or the first draft. See Copyright and intellectual property: concerns about prior publications for more information.
If you’re not sure whether the content that you want to deposit in UDSpace is a good fit or you’re not sure which community or collection it belongs in, contact us with questions by emailing lib-udspace@udel.edu
For more detailed information about our collection policies in UDSpace, see Collection and content.
For more detailed information about file formats and sustainability, see File formats.
A note about student coursework
Student work from graduate and undergraduate courses is usually not appropriate for UDSpace. See our content collection policies regarding student work.
When material is deposited in UDSpace, it is meant to be available in perpetuity. It is indexed by Google Scholar and becomes affiliated with the academic record associated with the authors’ names.
For this reason, work created during a class or seminar is not usually appropriate for deposit in UDSpace. While it may have been revised during the class, it has generally not been rigorously peer-reviewed and revised as it would during a formal publication process. As students continue to develop, their past classwork may not be an accurate reflection of what they are capable of.
If you are a faculty member considering depositing student coursework into UDSpace, ask your students whether they are comfortable with this work being available in perpetuity. You will need to gather signed release forms from each student granting you permission to deposit their work.
If you wish to make student work publicly available, but on a temporary basis (i.e., from 3 months to 2 years), UDSpace is not the right place to host it, but using UD’s WordPress instance at sites.udel.edu may be a better solution. Digital Initiatives and Preservation may be able to provide additional support and training.