Working Papers, Technical Reports and Departmental Research Series 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. 

Many departments and research groups publish research series, technical reports, or working papers that can be added to ScholarWorks.  These reflect the rich variety and proud scholarly traditions of KU scholarship. ScholarWorks makes these works available to a worldwide audience, increasing their visibility and impact and ensuring their long-term preservation. 

If you are interested finding out more about how to share Working Papers, Technical Reports and Departmental Research Series in KU ScholarWorks, please contact Marianne Reed, Digital Publishing & Repository Manager at mreed@ku.edu.

Eligibility

The rights to share digital copies of working papers, technical reports and departmental research series in an institutional repository like ScholarWorks vary widely.   Departments that want to share these materials will work with Marianne Reed, Digital Publishing & Repository Manager at mreed@ku.edu to determine whether the materials are able to be shared.  

1. In general, if the department holds the copyright for the works, they can share them in ScholarWorks.  If they wish to do so, the department can choose a Creative Commons license that lets the readers know how how the work can be used without asking the department for permission.
2. All materials must be able to be shared openly, so that anyone in the world can read them.  Materials that need to be restricted to a certain audience are not suitable for ScholarWorks.
3. Materials that are only available in paper form will not be accepted for ScholarWorks.  If there are only a few items in paper form, we can assist by digitizing the materials, but our capacity to do this is limited.  Departments with large inventories of working papers, technical reports and departmental research series that are only available in paper form are encouraged to work with a vendor to digitize the materials so that they can be added to ScholarWorks. 

Adding Working Papers, Technical Reports and Departmental Research Series to ScholarWorks

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

1. The department or research group that wants to share working papers, technical reports and departmental research series in KU ScholarWorks will start the process by contacting Marianne Reed, Digital Publishing & Repository Manager at mreed@ku.edu to let her know that they want to share these works in ScholarWorks.
2. ScholarWorks staff will then work with the department to determine the copyright status for the materials and whether the material is allowed to be shared in ScholarWorks.  This process may, if the copyright status is unclear, involve the department asking the funder for clarification about whether they can share the materials in their institutional repository.
3. If the materials can be shared, the department will provide the digital files, as well as information about each file, listed below, in a spreadsheet and send it to Marianne Reed, Digital Publishing& Repository Manager at mreed@ku.edu.
• Author
• Title
• Series name, if there is one
• Publication date
• Abstracts
• Keywords, if available
• ORCIDs for each author, if available
4. In order to make this process as easy for you as possible, we will add the materials to ScholarWorks for you and send you the permanent links to the materials in the spreadsheet.  These URLs will never change and can be used whenever you cite the working papers, technical reports and departmental research series.  Most departments choose to put links to the materials on the department web pages for easy access. 
5. As new working papers, technical reports and departmental research series are published, they can be sent to Marianne Reed, Digital Publishing& Repository Manager at mreed@ku.edu for deposit.  If the author, title, series, ORCIDS, abstract, publication date, and keywords are in the publication, they do not need to be provided separately. 

Visibility

• Permanent Links:  All items in KU ScholarWorks are assigned URLs that will never change and can be used whenever the work is cited.  These URLs are often used to link to the resources in ScholarWorks from departmental, research group, or faculty web pages. 
• 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.
• 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.  
• 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.

Resources from KU Libraries

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

• About KU ScholarWorks

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

• Digital Publishing
• Resources for Editors of Scholarly Journals
• Journals @ KU .

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

• Research Data Management

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:

• Funder Public Access Policies: 2022 Updated OSTP (Office of Science and Technology Policy) Guidance