• Section 1 - Summary
• Section 2 - Accountability
• Section 3 - Scope
• Section 4 - Definitions
• Section 5 - Policy Statement
• Section 6 - Procedures
• Section 7 - Guidelines

Section 1 - Summary

(1) The objective of the Policy is to provide an accessible, permanent and searchable digital repository that showcases the publicly available scholarly and research output of Victoria University (VU). It supports the University’s commitment to disseminating the outputs of research and scholarship as widely as possible. 

Section 2 - Accountability

Section 3 - Scope

(2) This Policy applies to all VU staff and postgraduate research students, and authors affiliated with the University.

Section 4 - Definitions

(3) Author: The creator of an original work.

(4) Metadata: Information describing an item, for example title, author, year of publication.

(5) Open Access: Available online and world-wide, free of charge and free of restrictions.

(6) Refereed: Papers or articles that have been the subject of external or peer review prior to inclusion in a scholarly journal or proceedings.  For research theses, the examination process is considered equivalent to the external or peer review referee process

(7) Scholarly Work: Work intended for academic publication (e.g. article, book, manuscript or manual regardless of format).

Section 5 - Policy Statement

(8) VU is committed to free and open access of the scholarly and research output of the University.  The University aims to showcase, disseminate and manage publicly available scholarly and research output through the provision of a digital repository, the Victorian University Research Repository (VURR).

(9) The following material must be included in deposit to the VURR:

1. Refereed scholarly publications and research articles and contributions by current VU staff and students;
2. Classified Doctoral (PhD and Professional Doctorate) and Masters by Research degree theses by VU students;
3. Research outputs necessary to comply with the open access requirements from funded research (for example research funded by ARC and NHMRC).

(10) The following material must not be included in deposit to the VURR:

1. Material which contains confidential information, or of which the promulgation would infringe a legal commitment by the University;
2. Any research outputs for which the author has entered into an incompatible licensing or assignment agreement which prevents inclusion in the VURR.
3. Unedited/un-reviewed personal opinion outputs, letters;
4. Unreferenced draft papers or draft versions made available for comment;
5. Book reviews;
6. Non-educational/non-scholarly outputs;
7. Textbooks and teaching materials;
8. Material to which granting unrestricted access would compromise ethical considerations; including those relating to cultural sensitivities;
9. Theses, other than Masters by Research or Doctorates [except by special request of Institute Director];
10. Newspaper articles;
11. Abstracts or extracts of conference papers, PowerPoint presentations, posters;
12. Administrative documents and records including those associated with a research project.

(11) In addition to the mandatory deposit listed above, VU staff and postgraduate research students are encouraged to deposit the following:

1. University related research material such as grey literature e.g. working papers, discussion papers, government submissions, reports and inaugural professorial lectures;
2. Conference papers that have been peer reviewed but not published;
3. Significant research data collections and primary materials with accompanying metadata records that are linked to publications, where ethics approval has been granted;
4. Creative works with a research component;
5. Scholarly and research material in a language other than English.

(12) Depositing the material in the VURR does not transfer copyright to the Repository. Copyright remains with the author or publisher as per the publishing agreement.

(13) The inclusion of material in VURR does not restrict the author’s right to include the material in any other open archive.  In situations where there is demonstrable benefit for the works to be accessible from another open archive (e.g. subject repository), links will be established from the metadata in VURR.

Section 6 - Procedures

(14) VU Research Repository Open Access Procedure.

Section 7 - Guidelines

(15) Nil.