Contributor FAQ


What are the benefits to contributing and sharing my work on SOURCE
  • Collaboration. Sharing your work encourages creative collaboration with scholars and creators around the world and here at Sheridan. Connecting within and across disciplines opens up new possibilities.
  • Increased Visibility and Dissemination. SOURCE leverages online search tools like Google and Google Scholar to increase the visibility and dissemination of your work, meaning increased citation counts and greater awareness of your expertise.
  • Preservation. SOURCE ensures digital stability by preserving your works in one place.
  • Showcasing Sheridan. Contributing works to SOURCE helps scholars, researchers, the creative community, and prospective students, from diverse backgrounds and locations, easily discover what makes us unique.
  • Open Access Funding Requirements. Sharing your work on SOURCE meets the archiving and dissemination policies mandated by Canadian and international research funding agencies. (See the Tri-Council Open Access Policy on Publications.)

{ top }

Who can contribute?

Current Sheridan faculty, staff, and administration are encouraged to

  • Contribute their own research, scholarship, and creative works.
  • Contribute collaborative works such as conferences, events, speakers’ series, or similar.
  • Sponsor exemplary student work that reflects Sheridan’s commitment to excellence in teaching and learning.

Former Sheridan faculty, staff, and administration as well as alumni may also be able to contribute: contact the SOURCE Team for more information.

{ top }

I’m a current Sheridan student. Can I contribute to SOURCE?

SOURCE welcomes featured student works that reflect Sheridan’s commitment to excellence in teaching and learning. If you wish to participate, contact your professor and ask to be sponsored as a SOURCE contributor. Only faculty members responsible for assigning the work to you may sponsor you and recommend that your work be considered.

SOURCE does not curate student work. Your Faculty is responsible for sponsoring, assessing, and contributing student work to SOURCE.

{ top }

I teach at Sheridan. Can my students contribute to SOURCE?

SOURCE strongly encourages student participation. You can assist your students by sponsoring their work and recommending it for consideration by your Faculty. Contributing student works on SOURCE accomplishes the following:

  • Demonstrates the results of Sheridan’s teaching and learning approaches.
  • Gives students who have achieved academically excellent work a place to promote and showcase their research, scholarship, or creative activities
  • Creates a showcase of student work that inspires fellow students.

Faculty who agree to sponsor student work are asked to:

  • Abide by Sheridan Research Ethics Board requirements for research involving human participants
  • Have the students agree to and sign a Student Non-Exclusive Licensing Agreement, available here (opens in a new window).

Once the work is approved by their Faculty, the sponsoring faculty member is asked to contact the SOURCE team to discuss how best to showcase the work.

The SOURCE team does not evaluate, assess, or edit student work. All student contributions are published as originally submitted. Contact the SOURCE Team for information on the sponsorship process within your Faculty.

{ top }

What can I contribute?

Contributions include, but are not limited to, the following works of research, scholarship, and creative activities:

  • Journal articles
  • Working papers
  • Creative works (e.g., artworks, photography, music, recorded performances, videos)
  • Primary research collections (e.g., oral histories, images, field notes, data sets)
  • Working papers, technical reports, research reports
  • Books, book chapters
  • Lectures and speeches presented by Sheridan faculty or staff; or by presenters invited by Sheridan faculty or staff
  • Conference presentations and proceedings (e.g., papers, presentation slides, posters, presentation recordings)
  • Student work assessed as exemplary and sponsored by the originating faculty.

The SOURCE Team curates items only for relevance to the scope and purpose of the repository, contributor’s affiliation with Sheridan, supported formats, and copyright considerations. The SOURCE Team does not edit, fact-check, or advise on content.

{ top }

How do I contribute work?
Current Sheridan faculty, staff, and administration

Send us your C.V., or contact the SOURCE Team and tell us about the contribution you wish to have published in SOURCE. We’ll take it from there.

Ask the SOURCE Team for advance assistance if you wish to:

  • Organize a conference and capture proceedings using the SOURCE platform.
  • Contribute works that might form a collection. For example, student works from a group show or project; works that include primary material such as oral histories, images, datasets to accompany an article; or a body of work collected over time.

Current students

Contact your professor for sponsorship.

Alumni, and former Sheridan faculty, staff, and administration

Please contact the SOURCE Team to discuss your contributions.

{ top }

What about copyright?

Copyright ownership of the work you contribute.

Contributing your work for publication to SOURCE does not affect the copyright ownership of your work: copyright to contributed works always remains with the copyright holder.

In many cases, you, as the author/creator of the work, will be the copyright holder. Where an author/creator holds copyright, the SOURCE Team will ask you to agree to a Non-Exclusive Distribution Licensing Agreement that licenses Sheridan College to publish your work on SOURCE.

Contributors are ultimately responsible for informing themselves and the SOURCE Team of the copyright status of their works or works contributed on behalf of students. Guidelines for assessing copyright ownership include:

  • For published works such as journal articles or books, check your publishing contract and the journal’s self-archiving policy for rights ownership and publishing conditions. While the SOURCE Team automatically checks the self-archiving policies of journals and will work with you to ensure the correct version (pre-print, post-print, or published version) is published to SOURCE, understanding the terms of your agreement ensures you understand who owns copyright to the article and which version can be uploaded to SOURCE.
  • For works created with or for a company, check for non-disclosure and copyright ownership.
  • For works created as part of your employment with Sheridan, check with your faculty for copyright ownership.

Material not under your copyright ownership in a contributed work you created.

If your contributed work or the work of your students contains material created by others, it is your responsibility to ensure that:

  • Material under copyright is used either through an exception in the Copyright Act, such as fair dealing, or through written permission of the copyright holder.
  • Licensed material, such as material provided through the Sheridan College Library and Learning Services databases, is used according to the permitted uses for each database. Check the A-Z Database list (opens in new window) on the Library’s website for permitted uses of each database, or contact the Copyright Coordinator for advice on use and requesting permission.

Don’t know the copyright status of your contribution? No worries: The SOURCE team is ready to help you understand copyright ownership and ensure all rights and terms are observed. Contact the SOURCE Team for assistance with copyright questions.

{ top }

Are there conditions on how my work can be downloaded and used? Can I restrict access?

All contributions on SOURCE are shared on the Internet with the scholarly, research, and creative communities as well as the general public. SOURCE includes the following information to ensure SOURCE readers understand how they may use contributed work:

  • A Creative Commons license lets viewers know the work must be cited or acknowledged appropriately; can only be used non-commercial purposes; and can only be used as originally published, without alteration. This is the equivalent of Creative Commons 4.0 BY-NC-ND license.
  • A link to our Terms of Use page.

Works published in journals or books may carry publisher restrictions, which SOURCE will ensure are respected.

If you require less restrictions or more, let us know and the Source team will work to accommodate your requirements.

{ top }

What is meant by pre-print and post-print versions of my published journal articles, and why should I save them?

When you contribute your published journal articles to SOURCE, the SOURCE team works with you to ensure we publish only the article version allowed by your publisher. Most publishers do allow some version of your article to be re-published in SOURCE. The SOURCE team will investigate which version we can upload to SOURCE. Not all publishers allow us to upload the final published version, in which case, we'll request from you the version we can upload, either the pre-print or the post-print.

There are three versions of your article:

  • Pre-print – Sometimes called the Author's Original Manuscript, this is the version you submit to the publisher of a peer-reviewed journal or conference proceeding. The "pre" refers to pre-peer review. This version is not peer-reviewed, has not been edited in any way, nor formatted by the publisher for publication.
  • Post-print – Sometimes called the Author's Accepted Manuscript, this is the version that incorporates the peer-reviewed comments, but has not been formatted or copyedited by the publisher.
  • Final Published Version– Sometimes called the Version of Record, this is the version that appears in the published journal. It incorporates peer reviews and any value-added publisher functions such as copyediting and formatting.

    • If you have published under Open Access, the final published version can usually be uploaded to SOURCE. Contact the SOURCE Team for more information.

{ top }

What are my publishing options if I contribute work to SOURCE?

You retain the rights to your work when it is posted in SOURCE. If you share an article in SOURCE and then decide to revise and/or submit it for publication, please contact us to discuss your options. While most journal publishers do not consider posting a work in a repository like SOURCE to constitute a previous publication, some do. We can investigate particular journals or publishers for you and offer options for making your work available. Contact the SOURCE Team for assistance.

Can I change my work after I contribute?

Changes cannot be made to works deposited in SOURCE, however there are options:

  • Corrections may be included with the original record.
  • An updated version may be deposited. Links between the earlier and later versions will be provided with the most recent version clearly identified.

{ top }

Can I delete my work after it is uploaded to SOURCE?

SOURCE is intended to provide long-term preservation and access so removing works from this repository is discouraged.

{ top }

What formats and file sizes can SOURCE accommodate?

Most common files can be accommodated. Contact the SOURCE Team for more information.

{ top }

Will my work be preserved for the future?

SOURCE is committed to preserving and providing access to the works uploaded to it and will work with Digital Commons to ensure continued readability and accessibility. If Sheridan College determines at a future date that Digital Commons no longer meets our needs and a new repository platform is chosen, every effort will be made to migrate the works to that new platform. While Sheridan College will make every effort to preserve file formats, over time some file formats may no longer be supported due to changes beyond the control of the College.

{ top }

What is the Digital Commons platform?

SOURCE uses the Digital Commons platform from a U.S.-based company called bepress to provide its infrastructure and technical support. Over 300 universities and colleges worldwide are members of the Digital Commons Network.

{ top }

Why am I being asked for limited personal information to set up my Digital Commons account? Where is that information stored?

The Digital Commons account gives you access to personalized statistical reports on the work you contributed to the Sheridan SOURCE. Opening an account is voluntary. All data, including the limited personal information identifying your work and required to create an account, is stored on U.S. servers and therefore subject to the laws of that country.

{ top }

Who do I contact if I want to contribute work or have other questions?

Contact the SOURCE Team.

Information in these Contributor FAQs may be subject to review or modifications.

{ top }

Applying for an ISBN/ISSN

ISBN

  1. Who can apply for an ISBN through Sheridan college?

    Sheridan faculty, staff, and departments. Student publications sponsored by faculty are also eligible.

  2. What is an ISBN?

    An ISBN (International Standard Book Number) is a 13-digit number that uniquely identifies each specific edition of a book or book-like product.

  3. What items are eligible for an ISBN?

    Print, audio and electronic text. For more information about what material an ISBN can and cannot be applied to please refer to ISBN Canada https://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/services/isbn-canada/Pages/isbn-canada.aspx#toc9

  4. Is my ISBN valid worldwide?

    Yes.

  5. Is an ISBN the same as a barcode?

    No, an ISBN is used to identify items and barcodes are used to help sell items.

  6. Where can I obtain a barcode?

    Barcodes can be obtained from printers, graphic designers or GS1 Canada

ISSN

  1. What are the benefits of an ISSN?

    To help identify a serial publication that is published regularly in sequence (e.g., a journal that is published monthly or a newsletter that is published quarterly)

  2. What is the difference between ISSN and ISBN?

    International Standard Serial Numbers (ISSN) are eight-digit standard numbers for the unique identification of serial publications.

    International Standard Book Numbers (ISBN) are 13-digit standard numbers for the unique identification of each edition of a book or other monographic publication (e.g., pamphlets, educational kits, etc.).

    Some types of publications, such as annuals or biennials, may be assigned both an ISSN and an ISBN. Books published in a monographic series should have both an ISBN for the individual book and an ISSN for the entire series.

  3. Is an ISSN required for each issue of a serial publication?

    No. An ISSN identifies a serial publication at the title level. It does not identify individual serial issues.

{ top }