Here you will find answers to the most frequently asked questions about Commons Open Repository Exchange (CORE). Should your question not be answered below or should you wish to provide general feedback, please feel free to e-mail us at core at hcommons dot org. We will respond as quickly as possible, and certainly within one working day.

Why should I deposit my work with CORE?

PRESERVATION Depositing your work with a repository ensures that it is archived and attributed to you and makes it quickly and widely available to others.

ACCESS AND PRIVACY Uploading scholarship to CORE makes it quickly and widely available to others—without requiring them to register for Humanities Commons or provide us with any personal information.

ATTRIBUTION Works deposited with CORE are automatically given a permanent identifier called a DOI. DOIs provide persistent, citable metadata for scholarly and creative works, including gray literature such as blog posts, syllabi, data sets, presentations, and video and audio files.

DISCOVERABILITY Materials uploaded to CORE are indexed by Google, Google Scholar, SHARE, Altmetric, and BASE-OA, which fuels open-access initiatives such as the OA Button and OA DOI. Since you can notify the members of any of your Humanities Commons groups when you upload materials to CORE, the platform offers another discovery mechanism for the people most likely to want to read your work.

What kinds of items can I deposit with CORE?

The following item types can be deposited with CORE: abstract, article, bibliography, book, book chapter, catalog, chart, code or software, conference publication, course material or learning objects, data set, documentary, dissertation, essay, fictional work, finding aid, image, interview, map, music, performance, photograph, podcast, presentation, report, review, syllabus, technical report, thesis, translation, video essay, visual art.

What file types does CORE accept?

CORE accepts the following file types. Please note that if you are uploading a word processed document, PDF files are preferred for reasons of cross-platform compatibility and security, but make it more difficult for others to remix your content.

• Audio: .mp3, .ogg, .wav
• Data: .csv, .ods, .sxc, .tsv, .xls, .xlsx
• Image: .gif, .jpeg, .jpg, .png, .psd, .tiff
• Mixed material or software: .gz, .rar, .tar, .zip
• Text: .doc, .docx, .htm, .html, .odp, .odt, .pdf, .pps, .ppt, .pptx, .rdf, .rtf, .sxi, .sxw, .txt, .wpd, .xml
• Video: .f4v, .flv, .mov, .mp4

Is there a maximum file size?

The maximum file size for a single item is 100MB. Need to upload something larger? Let us know by e-mailing core at hcommons dot org.

How do I cite an item I find in CORE?

To cite an item not covered by the usual style guides, we recommend that you include the following information: author name(s), title, date of creation, version or edition (if any), permanent URL, DOI.

How do I make my work available for others to use?

Works deposited to CORE are covered by the Humanities Commons Terms of Service, which stipulate that users “may not copy, distribute, transmit, publicly display, publicly perform, modify, sell or transfer, create derivative works from, or in any other way exploit any of the Site Content (including any programs, code, and software contained therein) in any manner, whether in whole or in part, unless authorized by us in writing in advance, except that if a user has made the content he or she posts to the Site available under the terms of a Creative Commons license, [they] may use that content in accordance with that license.”

If you are depositing an image, data set, or other item that you would like to make available to other scholars, we encourage you to grant such permission by way of a Creative Commons license. You have the option to attribute such a license to your work at the time of deposit.

How do I know if I can legally deposit an article I’ve published elsewhere?

Policies vary by publisher and journal. Look up the journal or publisher name in the SHERPA-RoMEO database to find out its policies covering archiving and deposit. For example, if your article was published in PMLA, you may deposit preprint versions of the article (ones that have not yet been peer reviewed) as well as postprint (peer-reviewed) articles. You may also publish the PDF available from the publisher as long as you comply with certain conditions. If your article was published in French Studies, you may archive a preprint version before it is accepted and a postprint version after a two-year embargo, but not the publisher’s PDF. If you are looking for a journal or publisher with which to publish, sites such as the DOAJ and Think Check Submit will help you find the ones that best suit your work.

If you wish to deposit a book chapter or a monograph, please check your agreement with the publisher. To negotiate a more open contract with a publisher, check out Scholar’s Copyright Addendum Engine, which can pre-populate an addendum to your agreement.

How can I find items that have been shared with an ASEEES Commons or Humanities Commons group?

Go the forum’s page on the Commons and click on Deposits.

How do I share my deposit with multiple ASEEES Commons or Humanities Commons groups? 

If you are using a Mac, left click the first forum with which you want to associate your deposit, then hold down the COMMAND key and click on the other forums. If you are using a PC, click the first forum, hold down the CTRL key, and click each of the other forums with which you want to share your deposit. Note: you have to be a member of a group before you can share you work with its members.

Help! I made a mistake while entering information about my deposit. What can I do?

E-mail us at core at hcommons dot org! We’re working on an interface that will allow users to edit their deposits, but for now you can contact us with the DOI and the corrections you’d like made and we’ll fix it for you.

I’m intrigued, but I’m not ready to commit. Where can I find more information about CORE?

You can check out our NEH white paper or our 2015 SlideShare presentation, but if you still have questions, please do get in touch (core at hcommons dot org).