About Research Bank

What is Research Bank?

Research Bank is the Australian Catholic University's institutional research repository. It serves to collect, preserve, and showcase the research publications and outputs of ACU staff and higher degree students. Where possible and permissible, a full-text version of a research output is available as open access.

Why is it important for my research to be in Research Bank?

Research Bank supports ACU’s Open Access for ACU Research Policy, which aims to disseminate “research outputs in a timely and easily accessible way that fosters intellectual, social, economic, cultural and environmental benefits and promotes the development of key capacities of the human person”.

By depositing your research in Research Bank you are also:

How does research get into Research Bank?

Getting your research outputs into Research Bank

The diagram above explains how your research outputs get into Research Bank.

ACU authors report details of their research publications and outputs to the Research Office through Orion, where it is verified, then added to Research Bank.

As part of the Open Access for ACU Research policy authors are now required to submit a copy of the “author’s accepted manuscript” version (also known as the post-print version) of their publication to the Library. We then check the publisher copyright conditions attached to each publication and, when copyright permits, we make it available. We will also implement an embargo on the manuscript, as well as any required acknowledgements and grant details within the record.

We will also add a link to the database or publisher’s site, if the article is accessible via a subscription, as well as links to published versions of articles, book chapters and conference papers that are freely available.

I am a Higher Degree by Research (HDR) Student - how do I get my thesis into Research Bank?

HDR students are now required to submit the final version of their thesis into Research Bank. Please sign into Research Bank to submit your thesis. After you are registered, you will need to enter details about your thesis including title, date of submission, an abstract of your thesis, and upload a copy of your thesis. We will then review these details and publish your thesis to Research Bank.

You can also submit an embargo for your thesis if this is required.

Can I submit publications that I have authored before working at ACU?

Yes, you need to first submit details of these publications to Orion and they will then be sent to Research Bank once verified.

How can I submit datasets to Research Bank?

Contact libresearch@acu.edu.au or contact your Librarian. The Library can then work with you to ensure that the dataset is adequately described and that the dataset complies with any requirements of the ACU Research Data Management Policy. Please see the Toolkit for more information.

How can I make my research Open Access in Research Bank?

To make your publications available as open access in Research Bank, you should email the authors accepted manuscript to libresearch@acu.edu.au once a record for that publication has been created. The authors accepted manuscript is the version of an article which has been revised by the author to incorporate peer review suggestions, and which has been accepted by the journal for publication. Deposit of an author's accepted manuscript in an institutional repository within twelve months of publication complies with the open access requirements of the ARC and NHMRC. The majority of publishers will permit authors to archive the authors accepted version and NOT the publisher PDF in an institutional repository, usually after an embargo period.

A publisher embargo is the amount of time after publication (commonly 12 months) before the publisher will permit a version of a publication to be openly available via another source, such as an institutional repository. Research Bank has the facility to control embargo periods. Find information about the embargo period for a specific journal in the Sherpa/Romeo database.

Which file versions are preferred?

Research Bank accepts a variety of file types, including:

Am I breaching copyright if I deposit my accepted manuscript into Research Bank?

It depends upon which version of your publication you are submitting to Research Bank. To make sure that you are complying with the copyright and publishers’ licencing restrictions, please refer to the Sherpa/Romeo database to determine which version of a publication is available in Research Bank.

An embargo period may apply before your manuscript can be accessed in Research Bank. If so, we will ensure that the embargo period is applied.

What is the difference between a ‘pre-print’ an 'author’s accepted manuscript' and a ‘Published’ version?

The pre-print version (also called the submitted version or manuscript). A ‘pre-print’ is the version of a paper that is submitted for peer review (to a journal or a conference). It has not been through the peer review process and has not been accepted for publication. Depositing a pre-print in an institutional repository does not meet the open access requirements of research funding bodies.

The author’s accepted manuscript version (also called the post-print). This is the version of an article which has been revised by the author to incorporate peer review suggestions, and which has been accepted by the journal for publication. Depositing an author’s accepted manuscript in an institutional repository within twelve months of publication complies with the open access requirements of Australian research funding bodies.

The published version (also called the publisher’s PDF). The published version is the article ‘as published’ in the journal. This version generally includes value added by the publisher, such as hyperlinked references, journal branding, typesetting (into columns) and pagination. Only a small proportion of all publishers will allow this version to be made open access, even after an embargo.

Should I have a copy of my research in Research Bank if it is already available somewhere else on the internet?

Your publication may be readily available today, but there is no guarantee that it will continue to be available in the future – conference websites can disappear and online journals often cease publication. Depositing a copy of your paper in Research Bank creates an additional, long term access point to your research output.

Where can I get additional help?

Talk to your Librarian if you have any questions about depositing your publications into Research Bank. For further assistance please contact the library’s Research Services staff who manage Research Bank.