Scholar@UPRM (UPRM Institutional Repository): Introduction

We are interested in preserving and providing access to:

• articles, blueprints, book chapters, books, capstone projects, dissertations, images, learning objects, maps, music sheets, posters, post-prints, pre-prints, presentations, project report, software programs, technical reports, theses, undergraduate theses, video or audio recordings, and working papers
• Other types of documents can be deposited provided they comply with the previously established requirements. 

Deposits can only be uploaded in the following formats: 

• Text = PDF/A, PDF
• Images = TIFF
• Audio = WAVE, MP3_FF
• Video = MPEG-4, FF_2

To expedite access to files:

• Files should not exceed 5 MB.
• Books that exceed the above file limit, should be uploaded as individual chapters.

DSpace is an open source repository package originally developed by MIT and HP Labs. It enables the development of open access institutional repositories and allows for customization of its interface. The platform is aligned with digital preservation and metadata standards, promoting the application of best practices.

Scholar@UPRM focuses on preserving and providing access to the scientific and creative products that are developed on campus or generated from the work of our faculty and students. 

The following are some of the requirements before depositing: 

• You must be a faculty member, student (undergraduate or graduate), or researcher affiliated to UPRM. 
• You must be an active member (i.e. have an institutional account) of the UPRM community to access the platform and initiate the deposit process.
• All deposits must be products of the UPRM creative, academic or research work.  
• Documents authored by collaborators of active UPRM community members may be deposited.
• Deposits can be those generated as part of conferences, events or activities held at the UPRM campus.
• All deposits must include a file.

To deposit in the repository, the document must meet the following requirements:

• It must be authored by you.
• If there are multiple authors, then permission must be obtained from all of them before depositing
• If it was previously published (journal, book, etc.) then permission must be obtained from the publisher or agency. Only the allowed version of the document must be deposited.

You can go to SHERPA/RoMEO to obtain information about the permissions that different journals grant to authors for depositing their published documents in repositories and other venues.

Scholar@UPRM collects and records the intellectual and creative work of our students, researchers, and faculty. It is a centralized space that grants access to the variety of projects that make up our research ecosystem. Original work such as theses, dissertations, technical reports, articles, videos, and other resources generated by our university community are just some of the resources that can be accessed.

Furthermore, it simplifies discovery of all these products from one platform, increasing the institution's local and international prestige by a gateway to the knowledge produced at UPRM.  

• Each deposited product is automatically assigned a unique identifier (handle). This handle serves as your permanent or stable link to your publication. It can be added to your resume and your researcher pages and profiles to easily share your academic work.  
• By assigning an open access license to your academic and creative work, you increase their discoverability and their impact. The repository is indexed in Google Scholar enabling the process of finding your work using online search engines and expedites the task of adding it to your Google Scholar profile.

In order to maintain consistency, the following format has been established and should be followed for the naming of files before they are deposited. 

• Thesis
  • PROGRAM_LastNameInitial_yyyy
  • Example: ADEM_CruzMatosB_2020
• Articles, book chapters, etc. 
  • PROGRAM_LastNameInitial_BriefTitle_yyyy
  • Example: MATE_PerezGarciaF_PonenciaCIA_2021

Sometimes immediate access cannot be granted to certain documents due to a variety of reasons, such as, a pending patent, possibility of future publication, sensitive security information or data protected by a nondisclosure agreement, among others. Hence, the repository has established an alternative for depositing these types of time-sensitive resources by keeping them under a limited-time embargo. 

An embargo is a time-based restriction assigned to a document by the author that grants the user access to view only the bibliographic citation (author, title, abstract) of the document. The full text of the document remains hidden until the end of the assigned embargoed period.

• If your document requires an embargo, you will need to know the date when it can be made accessible to the public. If the embargo is permanent, notify it in the comments section.
• Theses and dissertations can be embargoed for a maximum of two (2) years.

This guide was originally created in Spanish. The English translation was done by student Daniella Angueira.