Guidelines

Red Deer Polytechnic Digital Repository is a digital collection of scholarly, research, and creative works, enhancing and showcasing Red Deer Polytechnic’s academic reputation.

Content

Red Deer Polytechnic Digital Repository is an open access institutional repository containing works created by Red Deer Polytechnic faculty, staff, and students while they are at Red Deer Polytechnic:

  • Journal articles 
  • Conference and workshop papers 
  • Theses and dissertations 
  • Unpublished reports and working papers 
  • Books, chapters, and sections 
  • Learning objects 
  • Multimedia and audio-visual materials 
  • Other special item types: e.g., posters 

The repository includes all types of digital formats, except for datasets and software.

Red Deer Polytechnic Digital Repository only contains works produced by creators who are affiliated with Red Deer Polytechnic. Works must be scholarly, educational, or research-oriented, or of cultural or historical value to the Central Alberta community. Student works may be included if they are recommended by faculty members. Select official Red Deer Polytechnic publications and other materials related to the history of the institution may be included. Other types of works will be considered on a case-by-case basis.

Deposited items may include:

  • submitted versions (as sent to journals for peer-review) 
  • accepted versions (creator’s final peer-reviewed drafts) 
  • published versions (publisher-created files)  

In order to help users identify which version of an item they are viewing, each item is individually tagged with its version type and date, its peer-review status, and its publication status.

Red Deer Polytechnic is not responsible for the maintenance and/or performance of external web links within documents and records in the repository. Works must not contain libelous or other unlawful matter, or violate anyone's right to privacy.

Submission

Items may only be deposited by faculty, registered students (whose work has been recommended by a Red Deer Polytechnic faculty member), and employees of Red Deer Polytechnic with their permission, and where permitted under Canadian copyright law. Creators submit their own work for deposit or provide their work to a designated faculty member to submit on their behalf with supporting documentation. Creators must accept the terms of the Submission Agreement and provide a digital copy of the version of the work that may be legally included in the Red Deer Polytechnic Digital Repository. Items may not be deposited until any publisher’s or funder’s embargo period has expired.

The validity and authenticity of the content of submissions is the sole responsibility of the creator. The administrator only reviews items for the eligibility of creators, relevance to the scope of the repository, and valid layout and format. Materials will be neither critically examined nor peer-reviewed as part of the process of submission and deposit into the digital repository. Any copyright violations are entirely the responsibility of the creators. If the repository receives proof of copyright violation, the relevant item will be removed immediately.

Access, Copyright, and Permissions

Anyone may access full text items free of charge. Copies of full text items generally can be reproduced and given to third parties in any format or medium for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-profit purposes without prior permission or charge, provided:

  (i) the creator(s), title, and full citation information are given

  (ii) a hyperlink and/or URL is given for the original metadata page

  (iii) the content is not changed in any way

Items must not be sold commercially in any format or medium without formal permission of the copyright holders. Red Deer Polytechnic is not the publisher and is not responsible for any use or misuse by third parties who access works through Red Deer Polytechnic Digital Repository.

Anyone may also access the metadata free of charge. The metadata may be re-used in any medium without prior permission for not-for-profit purposes provided:

  (i) the OAI Identifier or a link to the original metadata record is given

  (ii) Red Deer Polytechnic Digital Repository is mentioned

Retention and Withdrawal

Items will be retained indefinitely. If a creator leaves Red Deer Polytechnic, their material will remain in the repository. Red Deer Polytechnic will strive to ensure continued readability and accessibility of files; however, it may not be possible to guarantee the ongoing readability of some unusual file formats. Arca regularly backs up its files according to current best practice.

Changes to deposited items are not permitted. Lists of errors and corrections may be included with the original record if required; if necessary, an updated version may be deposited. If an updated version is deposited, the earlier version may be retained but withdrawn from public view. The item's persistent URL will always link to the latest version; there will be links between earlier and later versions, with the most recent version clearly identified.

Items may be removed at the request of the copyright holder, but this is discouraged. Acceptable reasons for withdrawal may include:

  • Publishers' rules 
  • Proven copyright violation or plagiarism 
  • Legal requirements and proven violations 
  • Falsified research   

Withdrawn items are not deleted but are removed from public view. Withdrawn items' identifiers/URLs are retained indefinitely. URLs will continue to point to 'tombstone' citations, to avoid broken links and to retain item histories.

In the event that Red Deer Polytechnic Digital Repository is discontinued, the database will be transferred to another appropriate repository, if possible.

Updated: 2019-09-19
Name transition update: 2022-02-10

Platform migration: 2025-04-21