Frequently Asked Questions


What is DigitalCommons@ONU?

DigitalCommons@ONU is an online institutional repository that stores and showcases the intellectual output of faculty, students and staff of Ohio Northern University.

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What are the benefits to submitting materials to the institutional repository?
  • Visibility - Adding your materials to DigitalCommons@ONU can increase visibility and discoverability of your work, the work of your department and of your students. Items deposited in DigitalCommons@ONU are indexed by Google and Google Scholar.
  • Accessibility - Obtain persistent URLs for your materials so you can always find and share them easily. Greater accessibility may also increase the number of times your work is cited.
  • Partnerships - Increased visibility of your materials could potentially lead to new partnerships both on campus and worldwide.
  • FREE - No-cost home for ONU faculty, students and staff for their publications and datasets.

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What is the difference between DigitalCommons@ONU and other websites like ResearchGate?
  • Provides a centralized place to retrieve an institution’s intellectual materials.
  • DigitalCommons provides free analytics for authors with no additional fees.
  • Provides long-term stable storage, persistent linking, and preservation for the output from the institution.

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What kinds of materials can be added?

The following is a listing of examples of materials, but is not all-inclusive:

  • Working papers, conference papers and technical reports
  • Student papers, projects or posters
  • Journals published by the ONU community
  • Published articles when copyright and/or license allows
  • Data sets
  • Technical reports, documents and manuals that have been recognized as a professional or industry standard
  • Pre-prints of articles

Please contact digitalcommons@onu.edu for further information about what can be added.

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What do I need to do to add my materials? Is it time-consuming?

Adding materials is simple! Just contact digitalcommons@onu.edu and a librarian will assist with digitizing, getting permissions if necessary, and uploading your work. For more detailed instructions please see our guide here.

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Can I withdraw items that I am listed as an author on from the repository?

DigitalCommons@ONU is designed to provide long-term persistent access to items deposited in the repository. However, there may be occasions where it will be necessary to remove an item. All requests for items to be removed must be sent to digitalcommons@onu.edu. For more information on our takedown policies, please visit our About page.

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Can I update or revise a submission?

Faculty/Staff

Please send an email to digitalcommons@onu.edu if you would like to revise your material.

Students

Any student work submitted to DigitalCommons@ONU must be the version approved by an ONU faculty or staff member or department or office. If revisions are necessary, the work must be resubmitted by the ONU entity that previously approved the submission. If you have any questions on this process, please send an email to digitalcommons@onu.edu.

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How do I log in to DigitalCommons@ONU?

To log in to DigitalCommons@ONU, select the My Account tab at the top of the page. If you are a current ONU student, faculty, or staff member, you can log in using your ONU username and password by using the appropriate link at the top of the My Account page. If you are not a member of Ohio Northern University, you'll need to log in using a Digital Commons account. If you do not already have one, you can create one on the My Account page.

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Who owns the copyright to the materials in DigitalCommons@ONU?

Copyright belongs to the author(s) of the work submitted unless they have transferred those rights. The institutional repository retains only a non-exclusionary right to display and preserve the items. Some publishing agreements do allow for a copy of your final work to be displayed in your institution’s repository. Items in the repository are protected by United States copyright laws.

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Can I still access the author dashboard for items I submitted if I'm no longer a member of Ohio Northern University?

Yes, if you are no longer a student, faculty, or staff member of Ohio Northern University, you can still access the author dashboard by setting up a Digital Commons account. Once you've set up your account, please email digitalcommons@onu.edu with a request to update and connect your items in the repository to your new account.

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