Archive for Scholarship, Publication, Innovation, and Research Experience (ASPIRE)

The Archive for Scholarship, Publication, Innovation, and Research Experience (ASPIRE) is a digital repository designed to collect, preserve, distribute, and showcase the scholarly and creative output of the Austin Peay State University (APSU) community.

Policy

Faculty, staff and students at APSU may submit their work for inclusion in ASPIRE by uploading their publication to the ASPIRE website. Works submitted to ASPIRE:

• must be clear of copyright violations and plagiarism;
• must not violate any laws, break any University Policies, or breach any proprietary contracts;
• must not invade a person's privacy;
• must not include materials used solely for commercial or financial gain.

Many publishers have clauses in a publisher's agreement that do not allow the author to post a copy for their article either before it is published (pre-print) or after (post-print) on the web or in an institutional repository. For example, many publisher state that the publisher's version (the actual PDF of the final article as it is published in a journal) cannot be posted in an institutional repository such as ASPIRE. Policies on posting pre or post-prints in an institutional repository such as ASPIRE can be found in the SHERPA/RoMEO website.

Some publishers permit authors to use an author addendum to add articles to the institutional repository. An author addendum allows for the selection of which individual rights out of the bundle of copyrights an author wants to keep, such as distributing copies in the course of teaching and research, posting the article on a personal or institutional website, or creating derivative works. SPARC provides a copy of an author addendum on their website.

Permission to include documents in ASPIRE must be granted by all parties involved in the creation of a work. For example, if a work was created by a faculty memeber and a student, the student as well as the faculty member must give permission to deposit the work. Additionally, for works created by an APSU faculty or staff member and an author from outside the University, the other party must grant permission for submission.

Procedures

Access to ASPIRE

Documents are submitted via the ASPIRE website. First-time submitters must contact aspire@apsu.edu to establish an ASPIRE account in order to upload documents. For subsequent submissions, submitters simply login to ASPIRE with their APSU network login credentials.

File Formats and Collections

• PDF is the preferred file format.
• A number of collections have been established in ASPIRE. New collections may be created upon request.
• Email aspire@apsu.edu if PDF is not feasible, if you have questions about the format, are unsure about which collection to use, or wish to request the creation of a new collection.

Guidelines

Submitting Materials

When submitting materials, you will be prompted for the following information:

• author/creator's full name (first name, middle name or initial, last name);
• co-author's or co-creator's full name(s);
• current email address for author and co-authors;
• unit affiliation (college, department, etc.);
• title of work
• creation date (YYYY-MM-DD if available YYYY-MM or YYYY);
• complete citation (if previously published);
• keywords/subject headings for the work;
• abstract and/or artist's statement;
• other descriptive information about the work (e.g., if a poster was displayed at a poster sessions at a conference).

Faculty and staff may submit works that have been approved through individual departments' processes. Individual departments will be responsible for selection and review (if applicable) of works.

Acceptable Materials

Research, Scholarly, and Academic Publications:

• articles from scholarly, professional journals or trade publications;
• articles published in a professional society's newsletter;
• departmental newsletters;
• department, college, or university produced journals and magazines;
• grant proposals;
• data and datasets (e.g., those required by National Science Foundation grants);
• creative works such as artistic works or musical compositions (audio and scores);
• conference posters or presentations (as long as permission has been granted by the conference organization);
• master's theses, field study reports, and doctoral dissertations.

Materials Related to University Administration and Governance:

• enrollment data and reports;
• budget reports;
• building plans;
• Faculty Senate meeting minutes;
• University Committee meeting minutes.

Non-acceptable Materials:

• personal blogs and websites;
• personal items posted to social media sites;
• unsubstantiated faculty research, data, or claims.

Faculty in the Department of Library Administration reserved the right to reject works from inclusion that do not meet the submission guidelines.

Definitions

Pre-print: a work before it has been peer reviewed, edited, or prepared for publication by a publisher.

Post-print: a work in the form accepted for publication in which the author has incorporated in to the text the outcome of the peer review.

Definitive version: the publisher's version which includes further editorial refinement and preparations made by the publisher for producing a version for publication.

Contact

Updated February 2025