Policies

Metadata Policy

1. Anyone may access the metadata free of charge.
2. The metadata may be re-used in any medium without prior permission for not-for-profit purposes provided the OAI Identifier or a link to the original metadata record are given.

Data Policy

1. Anyone may access full items free of charge.
2. Any use made of material in this repository must comply with the copyright law of the United States (Title 17, United States Code) and must be properly acknowledged. Redistribution or reproduction in any format is prohibited without the permission of the copyright holder.
3. Full items may be harvested transiently by robots only for full-text indexing
4. Individual files have depositor-specified rights permissions and conditions.
5. This repository is not the publisher; it is merely the online archive.

Content Policy

1. This is an institutional or departmental repository maintained by the Honors College and Charles C. Sherrod Library at East Tennessee State University (ETSU).
2. The ETSU Honors Thesis Repository contains only ETSU undergraduate honors theses and associated files.
3. The principal language is English.

Submission Policy

1. Items may only be deposited by registered undergraduate students authorized by the ETSU Honors College Program Director.
2. Authors may only submit their own work for archiving.
3. Depositors must provide bibliographic metadata for each thesis.
4. Depositors must submit the primary thesis document in Portable Document Format (PDF). Multimedia files associated with the thesis may be uploaded separately. Software required to play multimedia files will not be provided by the repository nor can the repository guarantee that multimedia files sill remain accessible in the future.
5. Depostitors must sumit the full version of their thesis but may restrict its public availability until any applicable embargo period has expired or indefinitely if it contains third-party copyrighted material for which the author has not obtained permission. Authors must submit an edited version of their thesis for public availability that omits any third-party copyrighted material for which they have not obtained permission.
6. The validity and authenticity of the content of submissions is the sole responsibility of the depositor.
7. Any copyright violations are entirely the responsibility of the authors/depositors.
8. ETSU Honors Thesis Repository editors review items submitted before moving them into the repository for public access.
9. If ETSU Honors Thesis Repository receives proof of copyright violation, the relevant item will be removed immediately.

Preservation Policy

1. No retention period is defined for the ETSU Honors Thesis Repository.
2. The prinited version of the honors thesis retained by the Honors College is the preservation copy.
3. ETSU Honors Thesis Repository will try to ensure continued readability and accessibility.
   • Items will be migrated to new file formats where necessary and feasible.
   • It may not be possible to ensure the readability of some unusual file formats.
4. ETSU Honors Thesis Repository regularly backs up its files according to current best practice.
5. Items may be removed at the request of the author/copyright holder made through the Honors College Program Director.
6. Acceptable reasons for withdrawal include:
   • Proven copyright violation or plagiarism
   • Legal requirements and proven violations
   • Falsified research
7. Withdrawn items are not deleted per se, but are removed from public view.
8. Withdrawn items' identifiers/URLs are retained transiently.
9. URLs will continue to point to 'tombstone' citations, to avoid broken links and to retain item histories, with:
   • a link to a replacement version, where available
   • a note explaining the reasons for withdrawal
10. Changes to deposited items are not permitted.
11. Errata and corrigenda lists may be included with the original record if required.
12. In the event of the ETSU Honors Thesis Repository being closed down, a digital backup copy of the database will be transferred to the ETSU Honors College.