• Section 1 - Purpose and Scope
• Section 2 - Definitions
• Section 3 - Policy Statement
• Section 4 - Roles and Responsibilities
• Section 5 - Research Outputs excluded from the Institutional Repository
• Section 6 - Guidelines
• Section 7 - Associated Documents

Section 1 - Purpose and Scope

Purpose

(1) The purpose of this Policy is to ensure the Institutional Repository contains a comprehensive record of all research outputs and data associated with Southern Cross University and that those outputs and data are made available on Open Access wherever possible.

(2) This Policy will provide a means to ensure compliance with Australian Research Council (ARC) and National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) funding mandates on Open Access to Research generated from Australian Research Council grants.

Scope

(3) This Policy applies to:

1. All staff, including adjunct, visiting, emeritus and conjoint appointees and Higher Degree Researchers with research publications; and
2. All research outputs produced by staff and Higher Degree Researchers.

(4) This Policy does not apply to confidential material, commercially sensitive material or material subject to intellectual property or commercialisation.

Section 2 - Definitions

(5) For the purposes of this Policy:

1. Institutional Repository - an archive for preservation, dissemination and hosting of the research outputs of Southern Cross University. The Institutional Repository is managed by the University Library.
2. Open Access - permanent, free online access to research and scholarly publications through a central repository on the public internet. 
3. Accepted Manuscript - the version accepted for publication, following peer review and revision. The accepted manuscript need not include the publisher formatting and layout. This should be the author's final version.
4. Pre-print - the original version of a manuscript as it is submitted to a journal or other publication before peer review and subsequent changes. 
5. Researcher - staff and students of Southern Cross University identified as being research active and having published research or received research funding for projects associated with Southern Cross University.
6. Higher Degree Researcher - a higher degree by research student.

Section 3 - Policy Statement

(6) The University Library will make all research outputs available on Open Access via the Institutional Repository wherever copyright, intellectual property and publisher agreements permit.

(7) Where copyright, intellectual property and publisher agreements do not permit research outputs to be made available on Open Access, the University Library will create a metadata only record for the research output. The metadata only record will:

1. Identify the owner of the research output; and
2. Provide contact details and a link to the published version where possible.

(8) The University Library will facilitate the automatic harvesting of publications metadata from machine readable sources such as databases and indexes.

(9) The Institutional Repository will also facilitate the manual reporting and deposit of non-traditional research outputs by the Researcher.

Section 4 - Roles and Responsibilities

(10) Researchers will:

1. Ensure their research outputs that are not able to be harvested are reported to the Institutional Repository in a timely manner.
2. Provide Accepted Manuscripts of research outputs to the Library to be made available on Open Access wherever possible.
3. Provide the research output in a file format that can be stored and made available on Open Access in the Institutional Repository.
4. Ensure their profile information is current and complete.

(11) The University Library will:

1. Automatically harvest publications metadata of Southern Cross University affiliated Researchers from available sources into the Institutional Repository;
2. Provide a platform for manual submission of research assets to the Institutional Repository;
3. Create Researcher records for eligible staff and Higher Degree Researchers of Southern Cross University;
4. Ensure publications are available on Open Access wherever possible;
5. Ensure Open Access publications are made available according to the publisher terms and conditions and in line with copyright requirements;
6. Provide training and assistance to Researchers on matters associated with the institutional repository; and
7. Provide regular reports on outputs reported or harvested into the Institutional Repository to the Office of Research, Associate Dean (Research) and College Deans for the purpose of identifying research outputs to be recorded in the University's research management system for internal and external reporting on research outputs such as Excellence in Research Australia.

(12) Technology Services will:

1. Facilitate integrations with Southern Cross University systems to ensure up to date information on staff is held in the Institutional Repository and disseminated across the website.
2. Provide technical expertise to support interoperability and integration of the Institutional Repository.

(13) The Graduate School will:

1.  Provide regular updates to the Library on staff approved for HDR supervision.

(14) Office of Research will:

1. Provide regular reports on successful ARC and NHMRC grant applications and Researchers associated with them.

Section 5 - Research Outputs excluded from the Institutional Repository

(15) The following categories of research outputs will be excluded from the Institutional Repository:

1. Material intended for commercialisation;
2. Material containing confidential or proprietary material;
3. Material that should not be made publicly accessible for reasons of cultural or commercial sensitivity;
4. Material that contains offensive, defamatory or unlawful content;
5. Research publications or collections which are in breach of copyright or other commercial or regulatory agreements;
6. Honours theses and undergraduate essays;
7. Draft papers or draft versions of papers released for discussion;
8. Pre-prints of journal articles where the pre-print has not been peer reviewed, except in cases where publisher permission is granted for pre-print only;
9. Material intended for teaching and learning (e.g. course notes, reading material);
10. Material submitted as part of the course requirements for a Masters by Coursework;
11. Administrative documents and records, including those associated with research projects; and
12. Where the Library has been advised that the journal article or conference paper has been retracted by the publisher, usually due to research integrity issues, the corresponding paper will also be retracted.

Section 6 - Guidelines

(16) The types of research deposits that are supported include but are not limited to:

Section 7 - Associated Documents

(17) This Policy should be read in conjunction with:

1. Open Access Policy
2. Research Data Management Policy
3. Intellectual Property Rights Policy