Frequently Asked Questions


What is Scholar Works at UT Tyler?

Scholar Works at UT Tyler is an Institutional Repository (IR). An institutional repository organizes, preserves, and disseminates digital materials created by institutions and its community members. It allows faculty and students a way to distribute their work to audiences outside their institution, serving as either an alternative or complement to traditional publishing. Scholar Works at UT Tyler is built to maintain the scholarly and artistic output of the UT Tyler community by storing, preserving, and providing access to documents and publications by students, faculty, and staff. Full text of most works deposited in Scholar Works are freely accessible to the world via the web.

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Who can submit work?

Submitting work to Scholar Works at UT Tyler is reserved for UT Tyler faculty, students, and staff. To learn more about what types of work are accepted, see the Accepted Materials section.

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Why should I deposit my work into Scholar Works at UT Tyler?

Access: By submitting work to Scholar Works, you create more visibility of your work. Descriptive information about deposited work is searchable through Google, increasing readership as well as the impact and citation of your research. Scholar Works is an open access repository, so researchers won't have to pay for access to your work, or rely on works only provided through library or publisher subscriptions.

Persistence: Scholar Works provides creators with persistent, permanent and stable URLs to their digital work.

Preservation: The UT Tyler Library is committed to the long term preservation of digital work. Scholar Works is specifically built to preserve digital work (with the assistance of persistent URLs) for long term access, use, and storage.

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What kind of materials can I add to Scholar Works?

Decisions about inclusion in Scholar Works are made by the Head of University Archives and Special Collections (UASC), the Executive Director of the Library, and when appropriate, the UT Tyler Library Advisory Committee, based on the policies below:

Faculty and Staff submissions

Faculty and staff submissions must have been presented or published (peer reviewed) prior to inclusion in Scholar Works at UT Tyler.

Library and Archives submissions

All submissions from the Robert R. Muntz Library or University Archives will be evaluated by the Executive Director of the Library and Head of UASC before inclusion in Scholar Works at UT Tyler.

Student submissions

Student work must have been presented or published prior to inclusion in Scholar Work at UT Tyler. Theses and dissertations that have been approved by your thesis/dissertation committee are considered to be published. Other student research may be submitted only under the discretion of faculty members and/or academic programs, in combination with the Executive Director of the Library, Head of UASC, and UT Tyler Library Advisory Committee.

Journal hosting

When appropriate, Scholar Works at UT Tyler can host open access journals established by UT Tyler faculty. Hosted journals do not have to be listed in the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ), but must comply with the DOAJ’s quality control parameters.

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Do I have to give up/transfer copyright? What rights do I have?

You retain all rights when you submit to Scholar Works at UT Tyler—there is no surrender or transfer of your copyright. By depositing to Scholar Works, you are allowing UT Tyler the right to preserve your work and, when chosen, permission to distribute your work.

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What about my works I've already gotten published? Can I still submit them?

Yes, most of the time, but it depends. Many publishers give authors permissions to deposit a version (usually pre-print or post-print) of their work into their organization's institutional repository. Authors can also negotiate with publishers upon publication to ensure they hold copyright and the ability to add to Scholar Works at UT Tyler. Permissions for many publishers can be found at SHERPA/RoMEO.

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If you do not know or are unsure of whether you hold copyright, you can send your article citation or your CV to archivist@uttyler.edu and the Scholar Works administrator will review your the copyright policies associated with your works. (Your submission must comply with all other policies before posting to Scholar Works).
Where can I learn more about Author Rights?

The Scholarly Publishing & Academic Resources Coalition (SPARC) can offer authors detailed information about rights concerning work, copyright, institutional repositories, and publishing options. You can also review the UT Tyler Scholarly Communication guide here.

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