Publishing Conference Proceedings

Many departments and research groups host conferences that produce proceedings of papers presented at the conference.  KU Libraries' Digital Publishing Services can help publish those conference proceedings in KU ScholarWorks, KU's online institutional repository of work by KU faculty, staff, and students.  ScholarWorks makes them 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 publish your conference proceedings, please contact Marianne Reed, Digital Publishing & Repository Manager at mreed@ku.edu.

Eligibility

Departments or research centers that want to publish conference proceedings will work with Marianne Reed, Digital Publishing & Repository Manager at mreed@ku.edu to determine how Digital Publishing Services can help. 

1. 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.
2. 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 or research groups with large inventories of past conference proceedings 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 Conference Proceedings to ScholarWorks

We have services to help KU scholars and departments publish conference proceedings in ScholarWorks. 

1. As new conferences are planned, hosts are encouraged to speak to Marianne Reed, Digital Publishing & Repository Manager at mreed@ku.edu for information about adding the conference proceedings to ScholarWorks.  
2. In general, hosts work with the authors to set the terms for the papers being included in conference proceedings, including who holds the copyright in the individual papers, whether a Creative Commons license should be used, and any formatting requirements, including style for citations and any footnotes. 
3. Once the conference is ended and the authors send the papers to the organizers, they are edited by the hosts, if needed.  Once the papers are edited, the digital files for each paper, with the authors' names and affiliations, title of the paper, author ORCIDS, and an abstract on the front page of each paper will be sent to Marianne Reed, Digital Publishing & Repository Manager at mreed@ku.edu
4. Layout:  In order to make this process as easy for organizers as possible, we will combine the individual papers into a single volume that can be added to ScholarWorks and send it to you for approval.
5. Once the volume has been approved, we will deposit it in ScholarWorks and send organizers the permanent link.  This URL will never change and it can be used whenever the conference proceedings are cited.  Most hosts choose to send the link to the proceedings to all participants, as well as adding links to the proceedings on the conference web pages for easy access. 
6. If printed copies are desired, conference organizers can work with Jayhawk Ink or the printer of their choice to set up a Print On Demand option that can be added to the ScholarWorks record. 

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