Why deposit material in the Hiroshima University Institutional Repository?
The Hiroshima University sees itself as a part of larger community in which it is placed. Because of this stance, it wishes to share the work, information and intellectual content produced within the University with those in the community that support it. The Hiroshima University Institutional Repository (HiR) aims to achieve this by having authors of intellectual content produced at the University deposit it within the repository. Such authors include academics, students with theses and administrators producing content for their work at the University.
The staff at the Hiroshima University Library are able to help authors on a range of issues they might have in depositing their intellectual content, for example technical support, creation of metadata to help people find the work, and potential copyright matters.
However, there is still the big question - why deposit?
- Why depositing your materials is good for you;
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- It increases the availability of your publication by making them open via open access;
- Articles that are freely available online are more highly cited due to higher exposure and availability to those not able to purchase journals*;
- Materials on the HiR are provided metadata that is searchable by widely used public search engines and web crawlers such as Google and Yahoo;
- You can develop your own research portfolio on the HiR. Unlike a personal website, help is available to deposit and to create metadata which makes your work more discoverable. Persistent URL's with in HiR also remove the problem of 'linkrot';
- Placing a thesis online makes it more discoverable and reduces the chance of plagiarism.
*Reference- Lawrence, Steve. Free online availability substantially increases a paper's impact. Nature 411, pp.521, 2001. DOI:10.1038/35079151
- Antelman, Kristin. Do Open Access articles have a greater research impact? College and Research Libraries. 65, 372-382, 2004 http://www.lib.ncsu.edu/staff/kaantelm/do_open_access_CRL.pdf
- Comparing the impact of Open Access (OA) vs Non-OA articles in the same journals. Harnad, Stevan., Brody, Tim. D-Lib Magazine 10(6), 2004 http://www.dlib.org/dlib/june04/harnad/06harnad.html
- Norris, Michael., Oppenheim, Charles., Rowland, Fytton. The citation advantage of Open Access. Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology. 59(12) pp.1963-1972, 2008. DOI:10.1002/asi.20898
- Why depositing your material is good for the Hiroshima University;
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- The HiR can serve as a 'showcase' for the University's research output;
- Many places provide electronic access to the same materials. An institutions unique worth is partially determined by those materials it can provide that no other can. These written at Hiroshima University fit this category;
- Publications and citation rates contribute to a University's standing and prestige. This reflects in the prestige of those associated with the University, and with the University's ability to attract funding as well as fee-paying overseas students;
- Members of the general community can access the material and research to which they have partially helped fund. This contributes to the aim of the University to be an active and engaged member of the wider community.
- Why depositing your materials is good for the broader academic community:
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- It increases the visibility and accessibility of research outputs, thereby increasing its potential impact;
- The idea of fostering knowledge through the flow of ideas and information is enhanced by making such materials freely available though open access;
- The ability for researchers to read all the available literature in their field is such material, not just that which their institution can afford;
- Open access publishing is of strong significance to those working in poor and developing countries, whose work is severely impeded by lack of access to resources.
If you are interested in depositing your work into the Hiroshima University Institutional Repository, please see the details here.
