How to deposit your research

In accordance with Research England policy for the Research Excellence Framework (REF) you are required to enter the date of acceptance when depositing a journal article (the date when the article was formally accepted by the publisher). In order to comply with the policy, outputs must be deposited in the Research Repository within three months of the date of acceptance.

This applies to journal articles and conference papers that are published with an ISSN.

You are required to enter a 'Linked Journal' when uploading a journal article. If your journal is not listed, select '(00) Journal not Listed' and enter the correct name in the 'Journal' field below. We will add the journal to the list at a later date.

Please be aware that, due to the REF policy requiring date of acceptance and accepted manuscript, we will reject any articles uploaded with the publication status 'Submitted.' Please only upload articles once they have been formally accepted for publication.

Articles are classed as 'accepted' when they are accepted for publication and have not yet been published. Articles which have been published online first, but are still awaiting assignment to an issue, are classed as ’early online’. We will not class articles as 'published' until they are formally published with a date of publication, volume and issue numbers where applicable.

• Conference Paper (published) – for conference papers that were published in official Conference Proceedings with an ISBN or series ISSN.
• Conference Paper (unpublished) – for papers that were presented at a conference but not published in formal proceedings.

For conference papers please upload the author’s accepted manuscript. For other conference contributions such as posters or talks, please upload a relevant supporting document. This could be a copy of the poster, slides used in a presentation, or a transcript of a speech for example.

When uploading the full text, please consider any images used in presentations. Ensure that you have appropriate permission from the copyright owners so that they can be reproduced online in the repository.

When uploading a book chapter please ensure that you include the title of the book in the ‘Book title’ field. If the book is an edited collection, include the editors on the Contributor tab.

Many publishers allow us to make the accepted manuscript of a chapter discoverable in the Research Repository. If you are uploading a book, please let the Repository Team know which chapter you would like to make discoverable, and provide the accepted manuscript of that chapter.

As an MPhil, PhD, DPhil/MPhil, or Professional Doctorate student, you are required to submit an electronic copy of your thesis for examination to the Research Repository. Once any post-viva corrections have been made, you should submit the final version which will be made publicly available to anyone who wishes to access it.
You will not be awarded with your degree until this has been done.

Why do I have to submit my thesis?

Because it is a requirement of the University. Don’t worry, only those with administrative permissions to the Research Repository will be able to see the thesis. This means that it will be visible to the Doctoral Academy and external examiners, but remain hidden to the general public.

What do I need to include when uploading my thesis?

The ‘Thesis’ output type has some mandatory fields which do not appear on other output records. When uploading your thesis please include the following information:

• Qualification Name and Qualification Level – choose the type of thesis you are completing (eg PhD, EdD, DCP.)
• Award Date – list the date that you are depositing the thesis. The Repository Team will update this at a later time when the final version of your thesis is completed.

You can upload multiple files to the record for your thesis on the Files tab if necessary. Please ensure that you upload your thesis as a PDF file. This also applies to any revised versions of your thesis when emailing them to the Repository Team.

I have used images and materials by other authors in my thesis - is that ok?

If there is third party material in your thesis, it is likely you will need to get permission from the copyright holders before the thesis can go live on the Research Repository. You must also ensure you make the appropriate attributions within the thesis itself. This can include getting copyright permission for your own previously published work, if you signed copyright over to the publisher.

These are important considerations for you while writing your thesis, please consult the guide on including copyrighted materials in your thesis (PDF).

Remember, getting third-party copyright permissions can be frustrating, so don't delay! Investigate any third-party copyright requirements while you are drafting your thesis.

What about personal data in my thesis?

Students are responsible for anonymising and/or removing all personal data used in their thesis. This includes both their own and participant personal information and information of any other person. Such data may include home addresses, mobile phone numbers,  signatures, and email addresses. Most of this data is found in letters and documents which are included in appendices, for example, ethics confirmation letters, participant information sheets, consent forms etc.

In order to prevent this data from being made publicly available when the thesis is published on the Research Repository, please ensure that you submit all documents such as these (documents which provide information and contain personal data) in a separate appendix file when you submit your electronic thesis. The file will be kept on the thesis record (allowing it to be assessed by examiners) but not made publicly visible.

What about later versions of my thesis?

Where a previous version of your thesis exists on the repository (for example, first submission prior to viva or revised version following viva), please email the revised thesis to the Repository Team at repository@uwe.ac.uk and we will upload it for you.

When you have been advised by the Graduate School that the examiners have confirmed that amendments to your thesis have been completed to their satisfaction, please email the approved version to the Repository Team at repository@uwe.ac.uk, indicating clearly in the subject line of the email that this is the 'final approved version'. If the most recent version on the Research Repository is the final version you need to email the Repository Team and tell them. We will not make any version live until we have a) heard from the Graduate School and b) heard from you, the thesis author.

Remember: you will not be awarded with your degree until the final version of your thesis has been added to the Repository.

Will making my thesis live on the Research Repository prevent me from publishing?

This is a common concern. Please read the information about publisher positions on e-theses and prior publication (PDF).

Further information

Please email the Repository Team at repository@uwe.ac.uk if you have any questions.

If you are not the copyright holder of the work, you will require permission from the copyright holder before any full text is made publicly visible.

Authors of reports published by the university can apply for an ISBN number by contacting the Repository Team at repository@uwe.ac.uk. This must be applied for prior to the report being published, and you will need to give a version of the final report to the Repository Team for deposit with the British Library.

If your report was commissioned by anyone other than UWE Bristol please include a comment letting the Repository Team know whether we can make the full text of the report publicly discoverable in the Research Repository. If you do not leave a comment we will assume that the full text must remain hidden.

The UWE Bristol Research Repository does not solely contain research being considered for the REF. Any relevant research you have produced can be added. It does not necessarily have to be carried out exclusively at UWE Bristol.

You will need to deposit publications in PIMS in order for them to appear in the UWE Bristol Research Repository.

All research outputs can be submitted. This includes, but is not limited to, journal articles, books, book sections, technical reports, project reports, working papers, discussion papers, conference and workshop items (including papers, posters, lectures, speeches and presentations), patents, artefacts, compositions, performances, images, videos, and audio recordings.

The only exclusion is learning objects which are housed separately in Blackboard.

To deposit a dataset, please upload it to the UWE Bristol Research Data Repository. This is a separate repository solely for datasets rather than research outputs.

Please upload the "author accepted manuscript" version. This is the version most often stipulated by publishers for use in repositories. It is the author-created version sent to the publisher post-refereeing. The publisher's PDF is unlikely to be acceptable.

If possible, please upload the item in its original format (e.g. Word). Repository staff will convert the item to PDF. The original format will also be retained.

If the original format is LaTeX, please convert to PDF/A yourself (it is best done on your own computer) and provide both versions. You can convert to PDF/A using the Save As facility in Word 2007: Save As > PDF > Options > ISO 190005-1 compliant (PDF/A)

Multiple files can be associated with a single research output.

Co-authored papers can be deposited providing one of the authors is a UWE Bristol researcher. However, the depositing author must check with co-authors that they are happy for the item to be deposited.

Co-authors at other universities are free to deposit in their own repository as well.

No, only one author needs to add any given item to the UWE Bristol Research Repository. Be sure to include the other author's names, and add them as a linked person, in the order they appear on the publication. You may wish to decide between you who will be responsible for uploading the item.

Yes, you are welcome to add research output from previous employments to the UWE Bristol Research Repository. You can upload your existing research outputs in bulk by importing a BibTex file.

Guidance on how to produce and upload a BibTex file (PDF) is available in a library guide.

We can often make a version of the work available, even if you transferred the copyright to a publisher.

More information can be found via copyright advice.

Yes, you can upload as many different versions as you like. If the new version directly supersedes an older version we can link the two together.

If you wish to do this, please email the Repository Team at repository@uwe.ac.uk.

DOI stands for Digital Object Identifier.

Many journal articles are given a DOI number. DOIs can usually be found when looking at an abstract for a journal article.

A DOI number usually follow a similar format, with a number, then a slash, then some letters and numbers. For example: 10.1016/S0048-9697(02)00292-9.

DOIs can always be made into links by adding https://doi.org/ before the DOI. This link will then take you to the abstract for that article, and, if the institution you are logged into (for example UWE) has paid for access, a link to the full text. DOIs are used as links because they provide persistent identifiers, meaning the links will not break when any changes are made to Internet pages.

Not directly. If you want to make changes, email the Repository Team at repository@uwe.ac.uk and we will make the changes for you.