What is Merrimack ScholarWorks?
Merrimack ScholarWorks is an institutional repository created to preserve and display the intellectual and artistic works created by members of the Merrimack College Community.
Who can contribute content?
Any individual affiliated with a department, center, or other unit of the College can participate- this includes administration, faculty, students, and staff. If desired, a department or community can assign a coordinator who can work with the Library to develop the unit's content in the repository.
What kind of content can be included?
A wide range of material can be placed in the repository including but not limited to text, video, image and audio files. If your digital objects consist of multiple files of different formats, it will be placed in the repository as a set. Possible material includes but is not limited to the list below:
Who has access to the content?
MSW is intended to be an open access repository. By open access, we mean that anyone with an internet connection will be able to access and download the files and documents it houses. However, some publisher policies prohibit the display of works on an open network. In some cases, works may only be downloaded by members of the Merrimack community.
How is my work protected?
Works uploaded in MSW still maintain their original copyright- regardless of if copyright is held by the author or the publisher. For works that are not under copyright agreement, a Creative Commons License of your choice can be assigned to your work. If you are unfamiliar with Creative Commons Licensing, the repository administrator can help you choose a license that works best for your work.
Why should I contribute research/scholarship/creative work?
MSW provides increased visibility and impact for your work, allowing barrier-free discovery by tools such as Google Scholar. The repository also provides long-term, stable preservation of your content, and gives you more control over access to your own work. By depositing your work, you help to demonstrate the scientific, social, and economic value of Merrimack College to the local community and to scholars and researchers worldwide.
I already have my work available online via academia.edu/ResearchGate, why do I need to add it to Merrimack ScholarWorks?
As part of a network of over 300 institutions, Merrimack ScholarWorks provides yet another access point for your work. The more ways readers can access your work, the higher your potential for citation impact. Also, in some cases, publishers will make allowance for including works in institutional repositories that are not allowed to share online otherwise. Consolidating works from across campus in MSW demonstrates the quality of our academic output and programs, and serves as a great advertisement for potential students, faculty candidates, or funding opportunities.
How do I get my articles or other publications into Merrimack ScholarWorks?
To submit your work, contact the library's repository administrator. We will work with you to check copyright restrictions, assign metadata to your work to enhance discoverability, and make it available.
What about copyright issues?
Authors retain the copyright for all content posted in the repository. The author agreement specifies a nonexclusive right to use, meaning the author is free to reuse the content elsewhere. If you have signed copyright over to a journal or other publisher, other steps may have to be taken to obtain permission to deposit a copy in the repository. See the SHERPA/RoMEO website for a list of publisher copyright and self-archiving policies. The repository administrator can work with you to verify copyright status and seek permission for previously published work. Publisher copyright policies are strictly followed.
Please consult the Terms of Participation and Merrimack ScholarWorks Community and Collections Policies for additional information.
My work has joint author(s). Do I need their permission to submit the work to MSW?
As a joint author, you have an independent right to license your work. This means that you can submit your work to MSW without the approval of your co-author(s). However, MSW administrators may remove a work from the repository at the request of a joint author if the authors cannot come to an agreement on its inclusion.