Introduction
The PolyU Institutional Research Archive (PIRA) is an open access repository for The Hong Kong Polytechnic University’s research, teaching and learning digital materials. Managed by the Library, this platform aims to preserve, secure and provide access to these digital materials produced by PolyU researchers, teaching staff and students.
Aim and Objectives
- To collect, showcase and provide persistent and reliable access to PolyU’s research outputs, teaching materials and students’ works and outputs in the open access domain.
- To increase the accessibility and visibility of the works and outputs from PolyU staff and students, and to facilitate knowledge transfer.
- To provide a long-term platform to preserve the digital materials collected from the PolyU community.
Content and Collections
All PolyU academic and research staff, research degree students, and academic equivalent staff may submit research, teaching and learning digital materials to the PIRA.
PIRA has the following collections:
Research Outputs*: collects research and scholarly publications affiliated with PolyU, such as journal articles, book chapters, conference papers and creative works.
Patents: collects full-text patents affiliated with PolyU
Theses: collects full-text theses and dissertations from PolyU MPhil and PhD students
Open Educational Resources: collects teaching and learning materials that are created and shared by PolyU community.
Outstanding Work by Students: collects a wide range of exceptional work/projects carried out by PolyU students in different disciplines, which are showcased through videos, photographs and documents. All works are nominated by academic departments.
* Scholarly works that are reported to the Research Output System (ROS) from year 2000/01 to 2016/17 are included in PIRA. Full text of the publications may be provided if copyright allows. If relevant permissions cannot be obtained, only bibliographic data will be posted. Bibliographic information from some publications published in 2017/18 to 2018/19 will be included in PIRA. Publications from 2019/2020 onwards, only open access works will be archived in PIRA; for publications without open access works, no bibliographic information will be included in PIRA.
Submit your work
| Type of Work | Submission Channels |
|---|---|
| Research outputs and materials |
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| Teaching and learning digital materials |
|
| Theses |
|
| Outstanding student works |
|
Copyright Issues
When the authors submit their scholarly output to the PIRA, the work is made available for worldwide public in open access domain via the PIRA. Depositing a copy or a version of a work in the PIRA will NOT prevent the author from publishing the work in a journal, distributing or archiving it in any other ways. In other words, submitting a research work to the PIRA will not alter the copyright of the work.
Looking for publisher copyright policies on self-archiving
PolyU authors are encouraged to deposit new and previously published materials in the PIRA. Currently, most major publishers will allow papers published in their journals to be deposited in open access repositories, subject to certain conditions.
Use SHERPA RoMEO to find a summary of copyright and archiving policies adopted by major publishers in the world:
Search by publisher names :
The Library provides help in checking the copyright agreement related to any materials that you would like to add to the PIRA.
What is Open Access?
Open Access (OA) generally refers to making scientific and scholarly knowledge and information freely accessible online. There is a global trend in providing open access to research and scholarly outputs, e.g. articles, conference papers, working papers, theses, etc.
By sharing PolyU’s scholarly and educational output through our PIRA, the PolyU Library is part of a worldwide movement that aspires to make information freely accessible to all members of society.
Visit OA LibGuides to learn more about Open Access, OA publishing, OA archiving and OA copyright.
Open Access@PolyU
PolyU has adopted the following Policy in Support of Open Access to Published Research since September 2010:
PolyU academic and researchers are required to deposit electronic copies of their peer-reviewed journal articles and conference proceedings (author’s final accepted manuscript) in PolyU IR (now known as PIRA) for open access, as of the date of paper publication. Full text of other research outputs should also be deposited where appropriate.
The Library will determine whether deposit in institutional repositories for public access is permitted under publisher agreements when PolyU authors submit their scholarly output to the PIRA. For more information, see the Research Office webpage on the Policy
Open Access Mandates from RGC
For publications resulting from research funded by RGC, upon acceptance of a paper for publication, "the PC / PI / Project holder should check whether the publisher already allows (i) full open access to the publisher’s version, or (ii) the author’s depositing a copy of the paper (either the publisher’s version or the final accepted manuscript after peer-review) in the institutional repository for open access".
Read more from >RGC's Guidelines on Disbursement, Accounting and Monitoring Arrangements for Competitive Research Funding Schemes (updated Nov 2020), pp. 20-21.
FAQs
2. What types of research outputs content can I deposit into PIRA?
3. How do I get my work into the PIRA?
4. What are the benefits of depositing my work in the PIRA?
5. Do I have to check the copyright before depositing full text works in PIRA?
6. Will depositing in PIRA prevent journals from accepting and publishing my research?
7. Can I deposit works produced with co-author(s) from multiple institutions?
8. What is pre-print, post-print, and published version? Which version should I submit?
10. How do I deposit non-traditional research outputs (eg. Design Research Portfolio) in PIRA?
11. Information about me in PIRA is incorrect. What can I do about it?
1. What is PIRA?
The PolyU Institutional Research Archive (PIRA) is an open access repository for The Hong Kong Polytechnic University’s research, teaching and learning digital materials. Managed by the Library, this platform aims to preserve, secure and provide access to these digital materials produced by PolyU researchers, teaching staff and students.
2. What types of research outputs content can I deposit into PIRA?
PIRA accepts a diverse range of research and scholarly materials in digital form, such as:
- Journal articles (including pre-prints and post-prints)
- Conference publications
- Books and book chapters
- Case studies
- Datasets
- Non-traditional research outputs and creative works
If you have particular file format needs, please feel free to contact our PIRA team at library.ira@polyu.edu.hk.
3. How do I get my work into the PIRA?
Any PolyU faculty, staff or student are welcome to deposit content to PIRA. You may deposit your works to PIRA via:
| Type of Work | Submission Channels |
|---|---|
| Research outputs and materials |
|
| Teaching and learning digital materials |
|
| Theses |
|
| Outstanding student works |
|
4. What are the benefits of depositing my work in the PIRA?
Have your work indexed and archived in the PIRA to enjoy the following benefits:
- Make your research and teaching activities visible to worldwide public
- Make your research more discoverable through Google, Google Scholar and other search engines
- Your work is permanently archived for you
- Increase the chance of new contacts, promote research partnerships and facilitate knowledge transfer
5. Do I have to check the copyright before depositing full text works in PIRA?
Library provides help in checking the copyright of each submitted full-text publication before making it available in PIRA for open access. Many publishers allow authors to archive the "accepted manuscript" version of their articles in an institutional repository. Publications without open access works, no bibliographic information will be included in PIRA from 2019 onwards.
6. Will depositing in PIRA prevent journals from accepting and publishing my research?
Only the appropriate version of your research manuscript will be made available in the PIRA after the journals have accepted and will publish your research work.
7. Can I deposit works produced with co-author(s) from multiple institutions?
Sure. As long as you are one of the co-authors, and the work is produced when you are working in PolyU, you are welcome to deposit your work into the PIRA.
8. What is pre-print, post-print, and published version? Which version should I submit?
Typically, there are three primary versions of a scholarly article:
| Versions | Description |
|---|---|
| Pre-Print | Original version of the work as it was submitted to a journal |
| Other terms: | Submitted Manuscript, Author's Original Manuscript (AOM) |
| Post-Print | Author own.pdf/own.doc version, the version of your article after peer-review, same content as the published version but without type-set or formatting done by the publisher. |
| Other terms: | Final Accepted Manuscript, Author's Accepted Manuscript (AAM) |
| Published Version | The final, published version of your article with all of the publisher formatting |
| Other terms: | Publisher PDF, Version of Record (VoR), Final Version, Final Published Version |
Version to use
You should deposit the version that complies with publisher copyright policies. This is usually the Final Accepted Manuscript (postprint), including modifications based on referees' suggestions but before the publisher’s copy editing and formatting.
You may visit PIRA LibGuide to learn more about article versions.
9. How do I deposit my OER?
To deposit your OER, you may
- Direct online submission to the OER portal, or
- Email your materials to the OER staff at LIB_OER@polyu.edu.hk, or
- Contact your Faculty Librarian
10. How do I deposit non-traditional research outputs (eg. Design Research Portfolio) in PIRA?
PIRA welcomes requests to add non-traditional research output to showcase your research.
Here are the steps for your submission:
- Complete the Deposit Agreement Form.
- Save the Deposit Agreement Form together with the files to be uploaded to PIRA.
- Email all the files to PIRA staff or Upload to OneDrive and share with library.ira@polyu.edu.hk.
This Guideline provides more details about submitting non-traditional research outputs to PIRA. For further enquiries, please contact us at library.ira@polyu.edu.hk.
11. Information about me in PIRA is incorrect. What can I do about it?
If you see anything that needs to be updated or experience any problems, please contact us at library.ira@polyu.edu.hk.
Useful Links / Guides
Contact Us
You are most welcome to contact us via phone: (852) 3400 3196 or email: library.ira@polyu.edu.hk about submitting materials to the PIRA or for any enquiries on the PIRA.