General Questions
Who can search, browse, and download from Texas ScholarWorks?
Who can submit works to Texas ScholarWorks?
Can I submit data or data sets to Texas ScholarWorks?
How is Texas ScholarWorks different from Texas Data Repository?
Can faculty, researchers, or students not affiliated with UT submit works to Texas ScholarWorks?
Why should I submit works to Texas ScholarWorks?
- Dissemination: TSW provides high visibility and increased access to your research by furnishing descriptive information about your submitted works to search engines (e.g. Google, Bing, Yahoo), Google Scholar and other services.
- Increased impact and citation of your research: Works in TSW are openly available on the web. See a bibliography of studies on the increased impact and higher citations of open access research and scholarship.
- Reliability: TSW provides a persistent URL for your work.
- Long-term access: TSW commits to responsible and sustainable management of submitted works. View the Preservation Policy for details.
- Control: You or your assignee retain copyright in works you submit to TSW. Many publishers will allow you to submit previously published works to institutional repositories.
- Usage statistics: All items in TSW have an openly accessible link to view usage statistics. You will be able to see how many times your work has been viewed and downloaded, and you can see where that activity originated.
How is Texas ScholarWorks different from posting research on my own web site?
TSW provides benefits that may not be available on your own web site:
- Full-text indexing of text files
- Enhanced discoverability through Google Scholar and various repositories of scholarly material
- A persistent URL for your work so that it may be reliably cited over time
- Responsible and sustainable management of submitted works
Can I still link to my work from my own web site?
What is the relationship between Texas ScholarWorks and the Texas Digital Library?
What are Texas ScholarWorks communities and collections?
Getting Started
How do I submit my work to Texas ScholarWorks?
You should find the process of submitting to Texas ScholarWorks quick and easy. You may either send your files and descriptive information about those files to the Repository Curator, or you may upload the content yourself following these steps:
- Obtain authorization (see How do I gain authorization to submit to Texas ScholarWorks? for more information)
- Login to Texas ScholarWorks
- Select a collection
- Grant a distribution license
- Upload your work
- Describe your work
- Review your submission
- Click submit
How do I gain authorization to submit to Texas ScholarWorks?
- Faculty, Staff and Graduate Students: If you are interested in submitting to an existing collection, please contact tsw@utlists.utexas.edu for further information.
- Departments: Departments or research centers on campus wishing to establish their own collections may do so by contacting tsw@utlists.utexas.edu to begin the process.
- Undergraduate Students: Individual undergraduate students wishing to submit must first obtain a faculty or departmental sponsor. Once faculty sponsorship has been obtained, contact the Repository Curator for authorization. See the Student Works collection for more information.
What descriptive information do I assign to my work during submission?
During submission, the following information about your work is required:
- Author(s) or Creator(s)
- Title
- Date published or created
- Department
- Subject keywords/tag (at least one)
- Type of work (article, photograph, technical paper, etc.)
Additional information about your work is optional and highly encouraged:
- Publisher
- Citation
- Series/Report number
- Identifiers (ISBN, ISSN, etc.)
- Language
- Abstract
- Sponsors
- Description
Does Texas ScholarWorks automatically assign any descriptive information or tags?
At the time of submission TSW automatically assigns:
- A persistent URL for you and others to cite
- The date of submission
- The name of the submitter (this may be different from the author/creator of the work)
- File format (based on its extension)
How does my department or research unit set up its own collection?
Can my department archive conference proceedings in Texas ScholarWorks?
Submission Questions
What kinds of materials/content can I put into Texas ScholarWorks?
Can I upload video and audio files into Texas ScholarWorks?
What file formats can I submit to Texas ScholarWorks?
How does Texas ScholarWorks decide the recommended file formats for submission?
TSW recommends file formats based on the following characteristics:
- Openly documented
- Supported by a range of software platforms
- Widely adopted
- No compression (or lossless data compression)
- Does not contain embedded files or embedded programs/script
- Not a proprietary format
Is there a limit on file size?
Is there a limit on the number of files I may submit?
Can I use Texas ScholarWorks to publish an electronic journal?
Copyright and Intellectual Property Questions
When you agree to our Distribution License you grant TSW the non-exclusive right to:
- Retain, reproduce, and distribute the submitted work;
- Keep more than one copy of the work for purposes of security, backup, preservation, and access, and;
- Migrate the work to various formats as needed in perpetuity for preservation and usability.
For additional information, please see the Copyright and Licensing Repository Policy.
What rights do I retain to my work when submitting to Texas ScholarWorks?
Most publishers will allows some version of a previously published article to be shared publicly online. The Sherpa list of Publisher Copyright Policies and Self-Archiving is the most definitive list of publisher policies at this current time. If you have a list of your publications, Repository staff may be able to investigate permissions for you. You may also contact your publisher directly and ask whether you can submit your previously published work into TSW. If you have questions about submitting previously published materials, please contact the Repository Curator.
When you publish, you can negotiate with the publisher to retain the right to submit your work to TSW by using the SPARC Author Addendum or by directly modifying the publisher's license. Please see the Copyright and Licensing Policy for more information.
Can I place material someplace else if I've already submitted it to Texas ScholarWorks?
It depends. Some publishers will not accept material that has been made available elsewhere - even if it has not been formally published. This is slowly changing, but we do recommend checking with potential publishers to ensure that you can safely submit your work to TSW. The Sherpa list of Publisher Copyright Policies and Self-Archiving is the most definitive list of publisher policies at this current time.
I've found my work in Texas ScholarWorks and I didn't add it. Why is it here?
Access and Privacy Questions
Can I restrict access to work I submit to the Texas ScholarWorks?
Texas ScholarWorks was established to provide open access to the digital works of the University; however, in exceptional cases access restrictions may be warranted. Concerns about access restrictions should be discussed with the Repository Curator before submission of a work occurs. Please contact the Repository Curator with questions or concerns about restricting access to a work.
Access to electronic dissertations are open in accordance with the policies of the Office of Graduate Studies; see ETD questions.
Can I make changes to an item once I've submitted it to Texas ScholarWorks?
TSW does not support revisions or editing of works once they are in the repository. However, you may make separate submission of different versions of a work (e.g., submitting both a preprint and a postprint). If you need to make changes to the descriptive information about your work (the metadata), contact the Repository Curator.
Revisions to electronic theses or dissertations are not accepted; see ETD questions.
Can items be withdrawn from Texas ScholarWorks?
Under special circumstances, items may be withdrawn from TSW. Please see the Withdrawal section of the Submission and Withdrawal Policy for more information.
Access to electronic dissertations are open in accordance with the policies of the Office of Graduate Studies; see ETD questions.
What privacy policies are in place for Texas ScholarWorks?
Electronic Theses and Dissertations Questions
Graduating doctoral students at The University of Texas at Austin, as of the summer semester of 2001, are required to publish an electronic copy of their dissertation. Master's students, as of Fall 2010, are required to publish an electronic copy of their thesis. Texas ScholarWorks accepts deposits of theses and dissertations from the Office of Graduate Studies at UT Austin. These digital documents and their metadata are exposed to Google and other search engines upon deposit so they can be available to the world for viewing and downloading.
If you have questions or need more information, please contact:
UT Office of Graduate Studies: 512-471-4511
Dean Neikirk, Associate Dean of Graduate Studies
The University of Texas at Austin
Office of the Vice Provost and Dean of Graduate Studies
110 Inner Campus Drive, STOP G0400
MAI 101
Austin, TX 78712
No. The digital version of your work in Texas ScholarWorks is an exact copy of your submitted version which was signed and approved by your committee and the Office of Graduate Studies. The UT Libraries cannot accept modified or replacement versions.
If you would like more information about modifying your thesis or dissertation, please contact:
UT Office of Graduate Studies: 512-471-4511
Dean Neikirk, Associate Dean of Graduate Studies
The University of Texas at Austin
Office of the Vice Provost and Dean of Graduate Studies
110 Inner Campus Drive, STOP G0400
MAI 101
Austin, TX 78712
UT Libraries is happy to digitize print theses and dissertations upon request of the author. The process can take up to six weeks depending on current digitization projects. If you would like to have your work digitized, please contact the Repository Curator to initiate the process.
If you would like to request a digital copy of someone else's thesis or dissertation (i.e. you are not the author), please contact InterLibrary Services to request a scanned digital copy for a fee.