Please contact lib-scholarssupport@csus.edu for any questions that are not answered below. The University Library updates these FAQs frequently.
Normally, you own the copyright to most works that you create and should have the right to upload them to your profile. However, if your work has been previously published, you should check your publisher agreement to see if the publisher now owns the copyright to the work. If you have concerns about whether you have the right to upload something, contact lib-scholarssupport@csus.edu and we will do our best to check the copyright status.
“Pre-print” is the original version submitted to the journal prior to peer review.
“Post-print” follows the peer review process and is usually the version allowed to be deposited in repositories.
“Published version” is the final version as laid out in the journal. These usually cannot be deposited in repositories.
Creative Commons licenses are public copyright licenses that allow you to set the terms of how your work can be used by others. There are a number of different licenses depending on how much control you want to maintain over how your work is disseminated. Information is available at https://creativecommons.org/share-your-work/. Creative Commons also has a tool to help you decide which license is appropriate for your needs, available at https://chooser-beta.creativecommons.org/. When uploading your work to Sac State Scholars, you can select the appropriate license once you've added your file to the submission form. Select Edit metadata, then Add license to select from a list of available licenses.
No, you do not give up your copyright by submitting to Sac State Scholars. You grant the University a non-exclusive distribution license. This gives the University the right to distribute the work but you retain the rights to post to other websites or repositories.
Yes! Unlike ResearchGate, Sac State Scholars will preserve your materials in perpetuity. Sac State Scholars also meets funder open-access requirements, which ResearchGate does not.
Static websites are difficult to keep up to date. Sac State Scholars allows for your materials to be managed in a central location with standardized formats and automatic harvesting of new materials. Sac State Scholars also optimizes for search and retrieval.
