Hamilton Digital Commons
An open archive for scholarly and creative works by faculty, students and staff.
Submissions
Hamilton College faculty, students, staff, and individuals closely affiliated with the college are welcome to contribute their scholarly or creative works to the Hamilton Digital Commons. Consult the frequently asked questions below for basic information on submitting works. For additional help, contact Reid Larson at rslarson@hamilton.edu or 315-859-4480.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who can help get me started?
Your liaison librarian can help you add your work to the Hamilton Digital Commons. We just need you to:
- Send a CV identifying the works you want to include.
- Provide PDFs of work you want to make available for download.
- Meet with a librarian to review your profile page and learn how you can manage your online presence.
How do I create an account?
To create an account, select the "MY ACCOUNT" link located in the top-right portion of the banner appearing on all Hamilton Digital Commons pages. Click on the "Sign up" button under "Create new account." Provide your email, name, institutional affiliation (Hamilton College), and password. Once you have signed up, you will receive a confirmation email with a link to your user profile page.
How do I submit a work?
- Visit the Hamilton Digital Commons home page.
- Choose the "Submit Research" link located in the right hand column.
- Select the document type you intend to submit.
- Complete the submission form.
What types of materials may be contributed by faculty and staff?
We encourage faculty and staff to consider contribute the following types of scholarly and creative work:
- journal articles
- conference proceedings, papers, presentations, and posters
- white papers, essays, technical reports, and campus publications
- artwork, music, theatre, or dance performance
- books, book chapters, or manuscripts
- teaching and learning resources
- research reports from grant-funded projects with Open Access or data management requirements
- data sets
Works should be scholarly and substantive in nature. Contributions are intended to be permanent additions to the Hamilton Digital Commons, so works that are still in progress or ephemeral in nature are not recommended.
What types of materials may be contributed by students?
Student contributions to the Hamilton Digital Commons must be recommended for inclusion by a faculty member, an academic department, or a Hamilton office for whom the work was produced. These may include:
- theses and senior capstone projects
- prize-winning submissions for college awards
- grant-funded research
- course projects
What file formats are accepted?
The Hamilton Digital Commons can archive and make available most digital formats, including text (e.g., .pdf, .txt), audio (e.g., .wav, .mp3), video (e.g., .avi, .mp4, .mov) and other file formats (e.g., .cad, .png, .xpt, .por). For text documents, OCR-enabled PDF files are recommended to assure long-term operability and improved search engine results.
To ensure the preservation and long-term access of your work, we encourage you to consult the list of preferred and acceptable file formats listed in the Library of Congress’ Recommended Formats Statement.
What file sizes are accepted?
There is no limit to the size of files you may submit to the digital commons with the exception of Word files, which are limited to 800MB.
Can I contribute previously published work?
This depends on what the publisher allows, which is usually specified in your author agreement. If you don’t know what is allowed in your author agreement, permissions information for many publishers can be found at SHERPA RoMEO.
Which version of a published or soon-to-be published article should I submit?
Consult your author agreement or SHERPA RoMEO for what is allowed. Publishers often make distinctions between three primary versions of a manuscript—the pre-print, the post-print and the published version. In most cases, you will be submitting a post-print of the article that has undergone peer review and incorporates reviewer comments, but has not been formatted for publication.
For a full explanation of pre-print, post-print, and publisher versions of articles, consult:
Do all authors of a multi-author work need to assent to the contributor agreement?
Only one author has to assent to the contributor agreement. The U.S. Copyright Office considers joint copyright owners to have an equal right to register and enforce the copyright. Unless the joint owners make a written agreement to the contrary, each copyright owner has the right to commercially exploit the copyright, provided that the other copyright owners get an equal share of the proceeds.