Kean University Digital Commons Guidelines
The Kean University Digital Commons is a free repository of scholarly materials made
available to the public worldwide. Works are created by Kean University faculty, staff
and students with the mission of preserving, sharing, and supporting the scholarly
advances of the community.
Submission Guidelines
Digital Commons strives to have an inclusive, open access collection which can benefit
Kean University and the broader community worldwide. The following guidelines
represent what types of work can be submitted. Any logos used on communities must
be approved by University Relations. For additional information, please contact
digitalcommons@[Link].
➢ The work must be an original work that is either written or sponsored by a Kean
University faculty, staff, student, department, or organizational partner.
➢ The work must be scholarly in nature or make significant contributions to the
community.
➢ The work should align with Kean University’s mission and vision while
contributing to the historical development of the collection for posterity.
➢ The author must own the copyright to the work or show permission to use
copyrighted material on the Digital Commons.
➢ A wide range of material types can be submitted including: text files, audio files,
video files, images, datasets.
➢ Works submitted should be accessible to users following the Benchmarks for
Accessibility, WCAG 2.0 Level AA.
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What Types of Content Can Be Submitted?
➢ Journals and journal articles produced by the Kean University community
➢ Books and multimedia (when allowed by copyright or license)
➢ Conference proceedings
➢ Campus events
➢ Collaborative projects
➢ Theses, dissertations, and capstone projects
➢ Kean University documents and institutional reports
➢ Accreditation reports and supporting documents
➢ Presentations
➢ Campus publications (i.e newsletters, yearbooks)
➢ Archival resources (primary or supplementary)
➢ Technical reports
➢ Datasets
Content that is NOT Permitted for Submission to the Digital Commons:
➢ FERPA-protected information, including student email addresses
➢ HIPAA-regulated information (protected health information), including any
information related to the past, present or future physical or mental health of an
individual, except only if the individual has authorized release of his or her
information in writing, and such release is in the hands of the publisher
➢ Content barred by law or regulation from publication
➢ Intellectual property for which the submitter does not have permission to submit
and distribute
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➢ Non-public personally identifiable financial or contact information of any kind,
including, but not limited to, social security numbers, credit/debit card numbers,
account numbers, account balances, and private residential addresses, except
only where such records preexist as legitimate publicly accessible records
outside the university
➢ Photographic depictions of individuals in areas where a reasonable expectation
of privacy exists, except only if all individuals depicted have given written consent
to publication of their image
➢ Records protected by state privacy laws. Please note that privacy laws vary by
state, and protect their residents even when they are out of state
Copyright
The Digital Commons constitutes an original collection of scholarly work, which is
shared freely with the public. Works included in this repository are not free from
restrictions, nor part of the public domain. All original work once in written form
automatically has copyright privileges. Reproduction of any works within this repository
should adhere to Copyright Law, Creative Commons Licenses, Fair Use Doctrine, or
have written permission from the author.
Author Rights
➢ The author retains the copyright for all works submitted
➢ The author is free to reuse the content, but it is their responsibility to check the
terms of the publication agreement if a document published in Digital Commons
is published elsewhere. For more information, you can review publishing
permissions on the Sherpa Romeo resource site
➢ Authors may update and add to existing works
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User Rights
➢ All users must respect the intellectual property rights of the author
➢ Material may be downloaded for educational and research purposes provided
proper citation is given to the author
➢ Material may not be copied, distributed, displayed, altered, or used for
commercial purposes, unless such use is specified by a Creative Commons
License or a Fair Use exception is made
Withdrawal of Content
The Digital Commons is a permanent, open access repository with limited removal of
content, unless legally required. Under some circumstances works may be withdrawn if
requested by the contributor due to issues such as copyright infringement, plagiarism,
faulty data or falsified information. Contributors who depart Kean University will still
have their works retained on the Digital Commons. Authors or contributors who wish to
update or remove their work, should contact digitalcommons@[Link] for further
assistance.
GETTING STARTED
Once you have reviewed the criteria and are ready to submit, navigate to the Author’s
Corner on the Digital Commons website where you will be prompted to create a new
account or login if you previously created an account. If your submission does not fall
into one of the categories listed, please contact digitalcommons@[Link] for more
support. Authors and administrators are responsible for uploading their own content,
making revisions, and creating their own metadata. Administrators are responsible for
updating the site when needed.
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Author Submission Steps
Detailed instructions can be found by visiting bepress™.
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HTML Basics
When uploading content onto the Digital Commons, introductory or abstract text must
be specified using HTML tags. Information on formatting basic HTML tags can be found
on bepress™. In addition, the library has several ebook resources available. Free online
training can be found by visiting here and here.
Batch Uploading of Documents
Multiple records may be uploaded to the Digital Commons at one time. Using the batch
feature, an administrator can upload an Excel spreadsheet with the appropriate
metadata attached. For more information on batch uploads in Digital Commons visit
here. Note: If it is your first time uploading a batch, please reach out to the Digital
Commons, digitalcommons@[Link], for support first.
Submission Revisions
If the submission has not yet been posted to the Digital Commons, you can revise the
submission by logging into “My Account” on the Kean Digital Commons website and
completing the following steps:
1. Locate the submission in your My Account page and click on that title.
2. Select “Revise Submission” from the left bar navigation menu.
3. Enter your changes and click “Submit” located on the bottom of the page.
If the submission has already been posted to the Digital Commons, please contact the
repository administrator with your changes, or reach out to digitalcommons@[Link]
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Digital Commons Publication Types and File Formats
Source: bepress, [Link]
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bepress™ Tutorials
Kean University Digital Commons is powered by bepress™ software. A wide breadth of
reference guides and videos are available for further assistance.
Kean University Library would like to acknowledge Montclair University, Pepperdine
University, State University of New York, and bepress™ for the basis of this adapted
guideline.
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