About the Repository

About

Scholarship@UT Martin provides public access to the scholarly and creative output of the University of Tennessee at Martin. Full-text electronic files of most items are available and can be downloaded from the site. The database includes faculty research papers, creative endeavors, and publications; graduate theses and University Scholar papers; and select items documenting student research projects. Except for official theses and papers, files are available at a faculty member's discretion. The database does not include book reviews, opinion papers, personal writing, illustrated lectures, or instructional materials.

This resource site is administered and maintained by University Archives and the Paul Meek Library. It is based on EPrints 3, a free, open-archives initiative (OAI)-compliant software package developed and disseminated publicly by students at the University of Southampton.

Contact Information

Questions or comments about specific items found on this site should be directed to the author through contact data in its item record. Any correspondence concerning the repository generally should be sent to the database editor, Richard Saunders, at scholarship@utm.edu. Technical questions should be addressed to John Britton at johsbrit@gmail.com.

Who can post

Current UTM faculty members are encouraged to post the results of their professional work produced before or during their service at UT Martin. Those who have left the university, retirees or moved to other professional opportunities, may no longer post new files but are encouraged to leave their past work on the site in the interest of scholarship. Participation is strictly voluntary.

Several short guides walking you through the deposit process are available. In the search box in the upper right corner of this screen type "scholarship" and hit "search" or return. The last item in the list, under University Archives' name, will be a record for "Help files for contributors to Scholarship@UT Martin." The help files are instructions on how to use departmental copiers to capture PDF files, a step-by-step process for adding your work to the database. The search will also bring up a 2003 article about IRs in academia by Cilfford Lynch.

Student work which reaches professional standards, mostly theses, are posted here for distribution by the University. Student research and scholarly output meeting professional academic standards for the field may be considered through the action of a sponsoring faculty member. Faculty may not post students. work without their explicit permission and departmental approval. Former students are encouraged to retain their past work on the site in the interest of scholarship. The inclusion of student work is strictly voluntary.

Suitable file formats

The EPrints root software is flexible enough to allow virtually any electronic data or image file to be uploaded, but a careful choice of formats improves the chance that the file will be both available and usable by future researchers.

Create your file with off-the-shelf software and post it only in a standard file format. Ideally, your file format should be useable across Linux, Windows, and Mac platforms.

Text
Because this is a public resource, PDF files of finished documents are preferred over word processing files, since an unscrupulous user cannot easily cut and paste from the text. For texts of as-yet unpublished working papers, either create a PDF file or use application software like OpenOffice Writer, Microsoft Word, or WordPerfect. Database files, spreadsheets, and specific application files are acceptable. Images embedded in text are fine, provided the resolution meets the standards described below.

Graphic images
Still-image files should be lossless JPEG rather than TIF format; reduce the resolution to not more than 150dpi and dimensions to 4x6 inches (images embedded in a document may be dimensionally larger but should not be of higher resolution). Do not post application files for graphics, like PhotoShop, Illustrator, Quark, or InDesign. Do not post PowerPoint slide shows of any length.

Video files
Due to the storage space required, no videos or slideshows should be posted. Sorry, this ain't YouTube.

Copyright issues

It is solely a poster's responsibility to resolve outstanding copyright issues prior to posting an item to Scholarship@UT Martin. Please be aware of the following stipulations:

Published texts
Before posting a published article or chapter, check with the publisher, for two reasons. The publisher may be willing to supply a final PDF file of the article or chapter that will be much better visual quality than a scanned file; and, it may have a contractual right to limit distribution that might conflict with the sale of a published work. This software provides an embargo function, which will allow a file upload from an author and then prohibit downloads until the embargo date is passed.

Graphic images
The creator of a photographic image is the one who holds copyright to it, not the subject of the photo or artist whose work may be photographed. Be certain the images you post are cleared from copyright problems, either by getting written permission to do so from the photographer or taking pictures yourself.

Unpublished works and works in progress
Please post files to the database in the same editorial condition that you would submit to a publisher: finished or near-finished papers, not outlines, notes, or rough drafts. Posting an unpublished paper will not jeopardize publication in a professional venue, and the manuscript file may be replaced with an article file after publication.

Copyright law (17 USCA 202(a), to be specific) protects work that is created but not formally disseminated. Copyright claims no longer need to be stated to be valid. Authors retain copyright for unpublished material they post publicly; posting an unpublished manuscript does not transfer copyright ownership to the University. So long as the one who posts the file is also the author/creator and has any coauthors' agreement to do so, there should be no problem posting one's own work to Scholarship@UT Martin. Be certain to specify the type of copyright claimed on the "details" screen of the item record. "Creative commons Attribution Non-commercial No derivatives" is an international standard that restricts users to reading or viewing the work without the right to use it outside fair-use research.