Guidelines of the Cologne University Publication Server (KUPS)
Objectives and content criteria of KUPS
The Cologne University Publication Server KUPS offers all members of the University of Cologne the
organizational and technical framework for digitally publishing scientific documents. For this purpose and in
compliance with quality standards the University and City Library (USB) Cologne provides scientific documents for research
and teaching on the internet.
The digital documents receive persistent identifiers and addresses, and are indexed within national and international library catalogues, search engines,
and other reference tools. Furthermore, digital preservation is guaranteed for at least five years.
Recommendations and standards of national and international organizations such as the Deutsche Initiative für Netzwerkinformation (DINI) or
the Open Archives Initiative (OAI) are taken into account in the operation and the development of the Cologne Unversity Publication Server.
The collection guidelines of the USB Cologne for digital documents
The collection mandate of the USB consists of collecting, cataloguing and archiving all scientific documents published on KUPS by members of the University of Cologne.
Authors intellectual property rights will be observed. Publishing the document on KUPS is not an obstacle to publish it elsewhere, like in scientific journals, monographs or on other document servers.
In accordance with the recommendations of the German Science Council ("Wissenschaftsrat") all scientists in Germany are called upon
to secure additional rights of use when negotiating with publishers and to publish their documents in KUPS, perhaps after a certain freeze period
.
The observation of third party legal rights regarding copyright and usage are the sole responsibility of the authors or the editors of the digital documents.
Authors are encouraged to use Creative Commons Licences.
Digital documents
The term "digital document" as used in this policy is defined as a document based on text and images, that is stored in digital form on a data medium, and that is distributed via computer networks. It is planned to extend this term towards multimedia documents that include audio and video sequences. A document published on KUPS should meet the following requirements:
-
It is intended for distribution to the public.
-
It is no dynamic document.If changes are necessary in the document a new version will be stored.
-
It fulfills the technical parameters given by the USB.
The contents of the documents are described formally and textually by the author or a representative through a www-form and then uploaded to KUPS. This data is available for an agreed period of time (at least five years). Ultimatelly published documents cannot be altered or deleted. The content indexing of the documents is carried out by the author using free keywords and a DDC-notation.
Prerequisites for publishing elekctronic documents in KUPS
The following categories of electronic documents are stored and distributed via KUPS::
- Final theses such as bachelor or master's theses, dissertations or habilitation theses
- Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Fakultät only: Dissertation abstracts
- Papers from conferences ans workshops
- Research reports, technical reports
- Book chapters, monographs and conference proceedings
- Journal articles, newspaper articles and completejournals issues
- Publication series of the University of Cologne
All members of the University of Cologne as well as central facilities of the University are entitled to publish on KUPS.
Content classification
When publishing on KUPS authors are asked to prepare an abstract and to choose free keywords for the content indexing of their document. In addition to that, authors have to classify their publication by choosing a DDC-notation which is necessary for the exchange of data by OAI-PHM-Protocol, e.g. with the German National Library. This makes it easier to retrieve and to find the document on the internet.
Technical characteristics of KUPS
- The digital documents are given individual and permanent addresses which enable direct access to the documents. The addresses are registered as URNs (Uniform Resource Name). In addition a Digital Object Identifier (DOI) can be assigned. The administration and maintenance of URNs is guaranteed by the USB Cologne.
- Finding digital documents is possible through KUPS, library catalogues, bibliographic searches of metadata, as well as regional and national library systems, search engines and OAI service providers such as BASE, OAIster.
- International standards such as the guidelines of the Open Archives Initiative (OAI) are used for the indexing,storage and archiving of digital documents and for the exchange of metadata.
- The archival life of the documents depends on the availability of the format, the viewer software as well as the conversion options. The archiving period is at least 5 years.
Organizational rules
KUPS is operated by the USB Cologne. The digital publication is free of charge for members of the University of Cologne. Contact address for all questions concerning KUPS is the Electronic University Publications team.
We thank the Arbeitsgruppe Elektronisches Publizieren of the Humboldt University Berlin whose policy for its document repository served as template.