Policies and Guidelines for Research Information Online

Research Information Online (RIO) is a curated institutional repository for scholarly, creative, educational, and research works created by Texas A&M International University faculty, staff, and students, and for digitized materials from Killam Library’s Special Collections and Archives.

This document outlines policies and guidelines regarding the submission of content to RIO.

Contributors

    Content creators who wish to deposit material in RIO must be affiliated with TAMIU; that is, contributors must be current faculty, staff, and students. Contributors may also include non-affiliated scholars if they are co-authoring with TAMIU authors or are submitting via a TAMIU-sponsored publication or event.

    General Guidelines

    • Most works added to RIO are open access and therefore available to everyone without campus authentication or login. Select materials are available to TAMIU users only, upon request of the contributor.
    • Works uploaded to RIO can be scholarly, creative, research-related, pedagogy tools, or datasets.
    • The content deposited in RIO must be completed works and files, and not in-progress or regularly updated. Data should be in discrete sets, and addenda may be accepted.
    • RIO contributors must be willing and able to grant TAMIU non-exclusive rights to preserve and distribute the content through the repository.
    • In order for the library to maintain a complete collection, works which are part of a set should be deposited as a complete set as long as the contributor(s) holds copyright to all works in the set.
    • Content deposited in RIO must be in a digital format.
    • RIO is also the location for electronic Special Collections at Killam Library. Policies for Special Collections in RIO are separate from policies for RIO as an institutional repository.

    Content

    RIO accepts a wide range of content. A non-exhaustive list:
    • Publications & preprints
    • Masters Level Theses
    • Dissertations
    • Working papers
    • White papers
    • Datasets (Must be complete and ready for use and must include a readme file.)
    • Teaching and learning resources
    • Audio and visual recordings
    • Open Educational Resources
    If you have questions regarding the eligibility of a work, please contact the RIO administrator (rio@tamiu.edu).

    Author Rights

    • Authors retain their copyright for all works submitted.
    • Authors may request to update and add to existing works.
    • Authors and/or co-authors may upload works to RIO and request the removal of an individual work for any reason. RIO administrators recommend that co-authors consult with one another before uploading a work.
    • Authors may grant additional rights under their control to users through a Creative Commons license.
    • The Texas A&M University System Intellectual Property Management and Commercialization https://policies.tamus.edu/17-01.pdf

    Author Responsibilities

  • Authors are responsible for obtaining permission for any third-party content included in their submitted work that does not fall within fair use.
  • Although any one co-author can upload or request the removal of a work, RIO administrators recommend that co-authors seek consensus before uploading a work.
  • Authors are responsible for compliance with publisher agreements governing previously published or forthcoming works.
  • To verify a publisher’s consent to deposit in an open access institutional repository, check the copyright agreement form for the publication. If the agreement cannot be found, SHERPA/RoMEO contains many scholarly publisher policies regarding permissions for deposit.
  • Authors must consent to the terms governing submissions outlined in the RIO Contributor Agreement.
  • Any work that is in violation of copyright law will be removed from RIO.

File Formats

A wide range of file formats is accepted (including text files, datasets, audio files, and video files) and there is no formal limit to size of material. The library will work with contributors to ensure appropriate file types are used. The Library of Congress recommends specific file formats: https://www.loc.gov/preservation/resources/rfs/RFS%202020-2021.pdf

Library Support

RIO is a service that is provided by Killam Library and the library offers the following support:
  • Consultations and instruction on using RIO,
  • Assisting the TAMIU community with submissions as library staff resources permit, and
  • Notifying contributors about significant changes to repository operations, policies, and procedures.
  • Killam Library will review submissions for compliance with established policies and guidelines in order to ensure consistency in RIO and facilitate discoverability.

Withdrawal of content

RIO is a permanent repository. Once deposited, an item may be withdrawn if removal is legally required, or for reasons of factual inaccuracy, plagiarism, or potential copyright infringement. If a work is removed, a citation including original metadata will always remain, with a note regarding the removal, e.g. “removed at request of author,” or “removed at the discretion of ...,” or “removed by legal order.” Works will not be removed without prior attempt to contact the author.