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SUST Institutional Repository

SUST Institutional Repository

SUST Institutional Repository Policy

Introduction

‘SUST Institutional Repository Policy’, hereafter referred to as ‘SUST IR’ is devised to facilitate access to scholarly output of Shahjalal University of Science and Technology. The repository employs DSpace software to deposit, manage and retrieve the intellectual properties of the University and makes them available in a single location. SUST Central Library is responsible for managing the repository, including archiving, generating metadata and quality control. 

Aims and objectives

The main aim of the SUST IR is to increase the visibility, use and impact of the University's research outputs, such as theses, dissertations, reports, journal articles, conference papers and other research publications produced by the Departments/Institutes/Research Centers at SUST. The objectives of the repository are:

  1. to ensure archiving of the University's research in a single location, and 
  2. to increase accessibility, visibility and impact of SUST's scholarly output.

Contributors to Repository

Contributors to this repository must be affiliated with SUST either as: 

  1. faculty members, postdoctoral researchers and staff with academic appointments, 
  2. postgraduate and undergraduate students 

Nature of Contribution

  1. Thesis, dissertation, monograph, etc.
  2. Peer reviewed journal article, book, book chapter, annual report etc. (Accepted/Published version),
  3. Conference paper,
  4. Student work/project guided by SUST faculty members, and
  5. Any other projects funded by or affiliated with the University

Institutional Repository Committee 

A SUST Institutional Repository Committee is to be formed and approved by the Academic Council of the university. The Committee members are:

  1. Convener: Dean of a School (by rotation among schools)
  2. Four members: Three professors (one professor from CSE department) and the Librarian 
  3. Member-Secretary: A senior officer of the Library (responsible for IT-based service)

Responsibility and Tenure of the Committee

The Committee is responsible for overall management of SUST IR including verifying the submissions and clearing the way for final hosting. The Committee can review the existing policy as and when required by the University. The tenure of the Committee is two (02) years.

Community: A ‘Community’ in SUST IR is an affiliated School, Academic Department, Institute, Research Center and Research Group approved by the IR Committee or by the University Authority. A written approval from the Community administrator is required for inclusion of any material in SUST IR.

 

Community Policy

  1. All items must be submitted through an established Community,
  2. A Contributor must submit an item with copyright declaration,
  3. The contributor(s) must grant a non-exclusive right to make the submission(s) accessible globally, 
  4. Each Community must approve the submitted items and send them to the Institutional Repository Committee for further review. 

Content Policy

  1. All thesis students/researchers pursuing a degree in the University must submit the final accepted version of the thesis/dissertation with supervisor’s signature to SUST IR.
  2. Faculty members, on study leave from the University, pursuing higher degrees must submit a copy of the thesis/dissertation to SUST IR upon their return.
  3. Peer reviewed journal articles, conference papers, books, book chapters, research monographs, etc. authored by the faculty members of the University may be submitted to SUST IR.
  4. Those publishers who allow their published materials to be deposited in authors’ institutional repository will be permitted. 
  5. SUST IR is not intended to be used for commercial purposes, unless the author permits.
  6. The submitter has the right to withhold the work from public access for one year to facilitate publishing from the thesis/dissertation and it might be extended for another year. 
  7. SUST IR might use persistent URLs through handlers to identify its resources. 
  8. SUST IR is permitted to collaborate and coordinate its activities with other local/regional/ international repositories, agencies, etc.

Submission Policy

  1. Institutional Repository Committee will examine the submitted items to verify the eligibility of the authors/submitters, relevance to the scope of SUST IR and to check the layout and format of the document.
  2. The validity and authenticity of the content and copyright issues are the sole responsibility of the depositor/submitter.
  3. Items can be deposited at any time but will not be made publicly visible until they are verified by the IR Committee. If the Committee receives any proof of copyright violation or plagiarismor any other breach of ethical norm that affects the authenticity of the submission, the relevant item will be removed immediately.
  4. The submission must be deposited in pdf format. 
  5. Digitized print copy may be included in the repository.
  6. The contributors must follow the template of their respective School/Department when submitting their contributions (where necessary).
  7. The author/submitter must sign the Author Agreement and Release Form (see Annex A).

Retention Policy

  1. Authors/submitters will retain the copyright. However, SUST IR holds the right to preserve and distribute the submitted items. Authors/submitters may submit their content elsewhere.
  2. SUST Library will ensure the readability and accessibility of the repository items. 
  3. It may not be possible to guarantee the readability of some unusual file formats. In such cases, items may be migrated to an appropriate file format if necessary. Software emulations may be provided to access unmigrated formats. Changes to contents, once deposited, are not permitted.
  4. SUST Library will regularly back-up the files deposited to the repository.
  5. SUST Library is not permitted to remove any item from repository without the written approval by Institutional Repository Committee.
  6. If necessary, updated version of an item may be deposited with written permission from the Institutional Repository Committee.

Withdrawal Policy

Under certain circumstances, submission from the repository may be withdrawn:

  1. Submission can be withdrawn by the author(s)/ submitter(s) with appropriate reasons upon the approval of the Community and thereafter by the Institutional Repository Committee.
  2. Withdrawn items are removed from public view upon approval of Repository Committee, but identifiers/URLs are retained. However, the metadata of withdrawn items will not be searchable.
  3. Withdrawn items are not permitted for resubmission with same identifiers/URLs.
  4. If the submission has proven copyright, plagiarism or other legal proven violations.
  5. If the submission is proven to be based on falsified research/data.
  6. If the submission is threat to National Security.