Postprints
Seminar Series
Journals and Peer-Reviewed Series

Q: What is a postprint?

A: A postprint, in the context of the eScholarship Repository, is a previously published, peer-reviewed article. See the About Postprints page for more information.

Q: Are you asking me to transfer copyright to you when I deposit a postprint?

A: No. The postprint service requires only non-exclusive permission from you to allow us to host your postprint. We are not asking you, nor would we want to encourage you, to transfer copyright to eScholarship.

The postprints service is a tool for faculty to manage their own copyright, and exercise rights granted by many publishers to use previously published articles in institutional repositories, like the eScholarship Repository. More information about UC faculty and copyright management can be found at UC's Reshaping Scholarly Communication site.

Q: How do I know if I can deposit my postprint?

A: The eScholarship Repository Postprints service is open to authors currently affiliated with the University of California. The author must have the legal right (copyright or permission) to include the paper in the Repository. For additional information, see Submitting Postprints to the Repository, the About Postprints page, and a guide to determining if your article is eligible to be used as a postprint.

Q: Does submitting my NIH-funded research article to the eScholarship Repository Postprints service fulfill the NIH recommendation for open access to grant-funded research results?

A: No, not currently. The University of California is seeking clarification from the NIH on their policy. For more information on the NIH policy, see http://www.nih.gov/about/publicaccess/index.htm.

Q: I have a lot of questions about the postprints service and eScholarship – is there someone on my campus who can help me?

A: Yes! Your campus eScholarship liaison can answer your questions and point you to resources for getting the most out of eScholarship. A list of campus liaisons is available at http://www.cdlib.org/inside/projects/escholarship/liaisons.html. Technical inquiries can be sent to .

Q: Can I submit anything other than articles as postprints?

A: As long as your document meets the requirements for a postprint (see http://repositories.cdlib.org/postprints/about.html), it is for you to decide if the content is appropriate. You may also include supplementary files such as data files and images.

Q: I’m an author and my research unit administrator generally deposits my papers; can I ask my unit’s administrator to deposit my postprints?

A: For now, each author must deposit his or her own postprints. Your UC-domain email address serves as your unique account identifier and allows you into the system.

Q: I don’t have time to upload each of my articles to the postprints service – can I give you blanket permission to get them all for me?

A: At this time, we’re unable to get blanket permission for use of a single author’s articles.

Q: My publisher’s copyright policy allows me to use the published PDF as a postprint; can you get that for me?

A: We’re unable to deposit a copy of the PDF for you. You must attach the PDF file when uploading your postprint.

Q: I didn’t finish uploading my postprint, where is it now?

A: To complete the postprint upload process, log-in to My Account and select the article title under the “Submissions” list that you wish to update. If you exited the upload screen without submitting the article, you’ll need to start the upload again.

Q: How do I make a revision to a posted article?

A: If your postprint article has been accepted into the eScholarship Repository, you no longer have author-editing capabilities. To make revisions to a posted article, contact and include a link to the article and the changes you wish to apply.

Q: What is a seminar series?

A: A Seminar Series is a feature in the eScholarship Repository that provides UC seminar and lecture series conveners the tools they need to administer a series and the papers associated with it. For an example, see: http://repositories.cdlib.org/berkeley_law_econ.

Each seminar series includes full-text papers (which are indexed and searchable like the repository's working papers), and may include non-indexed content for information-only items that will never have full-text articles associated with them.

Administrators upload the papers and other information to build the web page for the seminar, with options of entering information about the authors, title, location, time, date of the paper, and date of the talk, along with the full text of papers and any supplementary files. Articles are indexed using the date of the paper and listed on the web page in order of the date of the talk. Location and time can be customized in the event that the talk is given at a different place/time from the default.

The full text of a paper may be omitted in the initial upload of the seminar or lecture series schedule and submitted later as a revision in order to accommodate posting the schedule before all the papers become available.

Q: Can I send updates about my seminar series to a list of people who might want to stay current on event and lecture changes?

A: The Seminar Series service provides a mailing list feature that allows site visitors to sign up for alert messages that are controlled by the department administrator in the Repository. Users can easily subscribe and unsubscribe from this list.

Q: Not all of the lectures in my seminar series have papers, can I still include them on the schedule?

A: Uploading non-article content follows the same procedure as uploading articles, but the administrator indicates via a checkbox that the entry is simply text to be put on the seminar schedule, i.e., not a seminar paper or presentation.

Q: The lecture series sponsored by my department happens every quarter – do I just keep adding papers and schedules?

A: When a quarter- or semester-long seminar is over, the administrator closes that particular seminar. The administrator can then create a new instance of the same seminar by providing the title and date. After creating a new seminar and updating the web site, the previous seminar is available via a "Past Seminars" link. The main page will always feature the most recent seminar.