Articles in KU ScholarWorks

KU ScholarWorks (KUSW) is the institutional repository of the University of Kansas. It contains scholarly work produced by KU faculty, staff, and students, as well as departmental research publications. 

Published articles comprise about half of the works in ScholarWorks.  They reflect the rich variety and proud scholarly traditions of KU research. ScholarWorks makes these works available to a worldwide audience, increasing their visibility and impact. 

If you are interested finding out more about how to share your articles in ScholarWorks, please contact Marianne Reed, Digital Repository & Publishing Manager at mreed@ku.edu.

Eligibility

Publishers of scholarly articles generally determine the circumstances under which the articles that they publish can be shared in an institutional repository, like KU ScholarWorks. 

  1. KU faculty, staff, or student authors can add to ScholarWorks any articles that they have the rights to share.
  2. You can work with us to deposit a single article, or we can do a CV Service, an analysis of the publisher policies for all of your journal articles about sharing in an institutional repository and send you a report with next steps. 
  3. KU departments or research groups may coordinate with their faculty to request a departmental CV Service, an analysis of the publisher policies about sharing in ScholarWorks for all of the articles published by the researchers in that group. The CV service report contains next steps for each article that is in the report.   

Adding Articles to ScholarWorks

We have services to help KU scholars and departments deposit journal articles in KU ScholarWorks. 

  1. Email a link to the published article to Marianne Reed, Digital Repository & Publishing Manager at mreed@ku.edu, letting her know that you wish to share it in KU ScholarWorks
  2. ScholarWorks staff will use the SHERPA/RoMEO database of publisher policies about open sharing to determine the version of the article that is allowed to be shared in ScholarWorks.  If the publisher's policies are not available in SHERPA/RoMEO, we will check the journal website to see if sharing is allowed. 
  3. If the published version of the article is allowed to be shared, we will add the article to ScholarWorks and send you the permanent link to the article.  This URL will never change and can be used whenever you cite the article. 
  4. Most often, publishers will allow only the accepted manuscript to be shared.  If that is the case, we will let you know and you can send the accepted manuscript to Marianne Reed, Digital Repository & Publishing Manager at mreed@ku.edu for deposit.  This is the version of the article that incorporates peer review suggestions but is not yet formatted for publication.  Microsoft Word documents are preferable.
  5. In order to make this process as easy for you as possible, we will add the article to ScholarWorks on your behalf and send you the permanent link to the article.  This URL will never change and can be used whenever you cite the open copy of the article. 
  6. If you are interested in finding out how your other articles can be shared in KU ScholarWorks, we can do a CV Service for you, where we analyze the publisher policies about open sharing for all of your articles and send you a report with next steps.  

Visibility

  • Google and Google Scholar: The developers of DSpace--the software package behind KU ScholarWorks--have worked closely with Google to ensure that the works in those systems are easily found by Google and Google Scholar.
  • Article Metrics:  Articles in KU ScholarWorks display Altmetric scores that show visibility and impact of the research from online forums, including news outlets, policy documents, blogs, Twitter, readers on Mendelay, etc.
  • Permanent Links:  All items in KU ScholarWorks are assigned URLs that will never change and can be used whenever the work is cited.
  • ORCIDs:  KU ScholarWorks supports the use of Open Researcher and Contributor IDs (ORCIDs). An ORCID gives each researcher a unique identifier that supports connections between the author and their work.  Researcher identifiers like ORCIDs are used by many systems in the research ecosystem, including many granting agencies, where ORCIDs are used by applicants to automatically populate lists of publications.
  • Open Access:  KU ScholarWorks strives to provide open and public access to all content in the repository.  For exceptions, see Delayed Access (Embargoes), below.

Copyright

Copyright and Non-Exclusive License:  Items in KU ScholarWorks remain the property of the copyright holder(s) and any rights held by the copyright holder (whether the author or publisher) before depositing the work in KU ScholarWorks remain unchanged by the non-exclusive license granted to KU ScholarWorks to distribute the works. 

Using materials found in KU ScholarWorks:  Linking to materials in ScholarWorks is strongly encouraged.  For uses beyond Fair Use, permission from the copyright holder, as well as full attribution, will be required.  Where indicated, some works may have Creative Commons Licenses that specify permissions.

Delayed Access (Embargoes)

Where required by publisher policies, items in KUSW may be embargoed for a specified period of time after which they will become openly available.

Resources from KU Libraries

Find out more about KU ScholarWorks, its policies, and the types of materials you can deposit:

Thinking about submitting to a journal and interested in exploring how you may be able to make your article open access? 

Did you know that KU Libraries also publishes books and journals edited by KU researchers?  These resources can help you learn more about publishing with KU Libraries:

Looking for help with your research data and aren't sure where to go?  

Do you receive Federal funding for your research?  Here is a guide to the research sharing policies from Federal agencies that must be in place 12/31/2025:



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