Montclair State University Digital Commons Guidelines
About Montclair State University Digital Commons
The mission of the Montclair State University Digital Commons is to collect, preserve, and make accessible, scholarly and creative works, research data, and other materials produced by the faculty, staff, and students of Montclair State University. A service of Montclair State University Libraries, the repository provides non-exclusive worldwide access to the scholarly, creative, and cultural works of Montclair State University.
About Institutional Repositories
Institutional Repositories (IRs) bring together all of a University's research under one umbrella, with an aim to preserve and provide access to that research. Presentations, technical reports, and other works not published elsewhere can also be published in the IR in addition to scholarly publications.
Who can submit content?
Montclair State University faculty and staff who are affiliated within a Montclair State University division, department, school or college, institute, center, research team, program, collaborative project, conference, or event may submit content. Contributed scholarship (books, articles, and other scholarly materials) should have been authored during the contributor's time at Montclair. Current students may submit work to selected collections with the approval of a faculty sponsor or adviser. Works contributed by other University-affiliated entities will be considered on a case-by-case basis. Deposits are non-exclusive, and do not prevent the author from submitting or hosting works elsewhere.
What types of materials are accepted?
Original, creative work that is scholarly in nature, research oriented, or of institutional significance. While there are no restrictions on file formats, in the spirit of openness, interoperability, and long-term preservation, it is recommended to submit file types that are non-proprietary in nature. Content/files submitted should be compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 Level AA (“Benchmarks for Accessibility”). For more on Montclair State University’s accessibility policies please visit the Digital Accessibility Initiative page.
Examples of types of content collected in Digital Commons include but are not limited to:
- Theses, dissertations and culminating projects (Montclair State University students)
- University Archives
- Faculty and staff scholarship and creative works
- University publications and documents
- Conferences and events
- Books and media
- Journals
If something you’re interested in sharing in the repository is not listed above or on the website, please contact digitalcommons@montclair.edu so we may discuss the potential for your work to be preserved and shared through Digital Commons.
Please note that the following content is not permitted for submission/publication to Montclair State University Digital Commons:
- FERPA-protected information.
- HIPAA-regulated information (protected health information), including any information related to the past, present or future physical or mental health of an individual, except only if the individual has authorized release of his or her information in writing, and such release is in the hands of the publisher.
- Content for which the submitter does not have permission to submit and distribute.
- Human subjects data that contains identifiers. Please consult the Institutional Review Board (IRB) before posting human subjects data sets on the Digital Commons.
- Non-public personally identifiable financial or contact information of any kind, including, but not limited to, social security numbers, credit/debit card numbers, account numbers, account balances, and private residential addresses, except only where such records preexist as legitimate publicly accessible records outside the college.
- Photographic depictions of individuals in areas where a reasonable expectation of privacy exists, except only if all individuals depicted have given written consent to publication of their image.
- Records protected by state privacy laws. Please note that privacy laws vary by state, and protect their residents even when they are out of state.
- Data considered Confidential or Private as outlined by the Montclair State University Data Classification and Handling Policy.
Sharing Data Sets
Montclair State University Digital Commons is a repository for research and scholarly data sets generated by funded and unfunded research at the University. These data sets include:
- Data sets associated with publications
- Data sets generated by funded research activities
- Stand-alone data publications
- Contain at least one Montclair author or contributor*
- Be non-restricted data that do not contain any private, confidential, or other legally protected information
- Be absent of direct and indirect identifiers** that may pose a disclosure risk
- Contain adequate documentation describing the nature of the data at an appropriate level for purposes of reuse and discovery, and that complies with any relevant policies or oversight authorities. (e.g. IRB, OMB Uniform Guidance, HIPAA etc.) For example, NSF awardees must consider their data management plans [PDF] in posting data sets in the repository
*Data sets created with external collaborators should consider use of the University Guidance on Data Use Agreements.
**Direct identifiers or Personally Identifiable Information (PII), such as name, address, email and phone number. Indirect identifiers, such as zip code, birthdate, education, and race/ethnicity, that could be used in combination to uniquely identify an individual.
Take Down Policy
Digital Commons is meant to be a permanent record of the University’s scholarly and creative output; however there may be instances when contributors may request that content be removed. Reasons for removal may include but are not limited to: impermissible categories of content, copyright infringement, plagiarism, and fabricated or falsified data. Authors will be notified in the case of files being removed by repository administrators for reasons outlined above.
If a contributor leaves the University, their material will remain in the repository. At their request, new contact information can be added to their files.
Authors or contributors wishing to remove or update their content should contact digitalcommons@montclair.edu and provide a brief statement explaining the reason for removal.
Take Down Policy of Graduate Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects:
All requests to remove graduate theses, dissertations and culminating projects must be approved by the Graduate School Dean or their designee. Because theses and dissertations are completed as part of a degree program, and because Montclair State University promotes the public sharing of knowledge, the Graduate School will only approve the removal of theses and dissertations in rare, extenuating circumstances. The administrators of the repository will not remove any theses or dissertations without the Graduate School’s approval.
If you do not want your thesis, dissertation or culminating project to be publicly available in Montclair State University Digital Commons, please contact the Graduate School directly.
Digital Commons Guide
For additional information, see our Digital Commons Research Guide.