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University of Houston Libraries

UHIR Policies

Content Guidelines

Content accepted in the University of Houston Institutional Repository (UHIR) includes:

  • Digital content reflecting the scholarly, educational and administrative output of the university from faculty, students, staff and campus units

  • Electronic theses, dissertations, and capstone projects

  • Pre-/post-prints, and/or previously published materials (e.g., books, journal articles, music scores, poetry, fiction and creative non-fiction, art, music and dance recordings)

  • Unpublished works (e.g., technical reports, white papers, research posters, symposia proceedings or other creative work)

  • Learning objects, including syllabi, instructional materials, and primary sources organized for teaching purposes

  • Electronic administrative records produced by university units to document actions and/or decisions

  • Student organization digital objects, including rosters, meeting minutes, and event publicity materials

 

Note: submitted works must meet the requirements of the UHIR Copyright and Licensing Policy, available below.

Submission

  • Items may only be deposited by faculty, staff, students, or delegated agents of University of Houston (UH) with a valid CougarNet account.

  • Works should be complete and ready for distribution.

  • The validity and authenticity of the content of submissions is the sole responsibility of the depositor.

  • File uploads greater than 50 MB must be pre-approved by UH Libraries staff since large uploads require a mediated deposit process
  • Projects (including those for individuals, classes, departments, and research centers) are subject to a 2 GB maximum limit

Metadata

Digital Preservation

  • The UH Institutional Repository within Texas Digital Library (TDL) provides basic, bit-level preservation through fixity checks and secure backup of deposited content.

Copyright and Licensing Policy

  • Faculty, staff, and students retain their copyright while granting non-exclusive rights to UH and Texas Digital Library to copy, display, perform, distribute, and publish their work within copyright law or any applicable license agreement. UH Libraries will manage these non-exclusive rights.

  • Copyright owners will grant UH and TDL the non-exclusive right to migrate their work to various formats as needed in perpetuity for preservation and usability.

  • When submitting a work to UHIR, submitters will be asked to warrant:

    • They are either the copyright owner of the work, or they have permission from the copyright owner(s) to submit the work

    • The work does not infringe any copyright, patent, or trade secrets of any third party, and does not contain any libelous matter, nor invade the privacy of any person or third party

    • The work has not been sold, mortgaged, or otherwise disposed of, and is free from all exclusive claims

  • Some works may not fit the warranties or options described above. If so, the submitter should contact Taylor Davis-Van Atta (tgdavisv@central.uh.edu), Head of Research Services, for further licensing options.

  • Any copyright violations are entirely the responsibility of the authors/depositors. If the repository receives proof of copyright violation, the relevant item will be removed immediately.

Withdrawal

  • Items may be deaccessioned from the repository for the following reasons:

    • copyright violation

    • legal requirements and proven violations

    • national security

    • falsified research

    • confidentiality concerns

  • Requests for withdrawing works (except for electronic theses and dissertations) must be directed to the online Takedown Request Form.