The goal of the Arizona State University KEEP Digital Repository is to share our collections as widely as possible. Deposit in the ASU Digital Repository is governed by U.S. intellectual property rights statutes. Authors retain ownership and copyright of their materials.
ASU Library makes every effort to establish copyright for materials in the ASU KEEP Digital Repository. Copyright may be unclear due to the nature of historic collections, and the absence of explicit information on copyright is no guarantee that materials are in the public domain.
ASU Library makes no express or implied warranty to others who wish to use digital materials with no known copyright. Users are responsible for obtaining permission for materials to be reused. For questions about copyright, trademark or other rights, please contact the ASU Library Scholarly Communications Librarian.
Copyright Status
When considering the copyright status, there are two possible scenarios:
1. Author Owns All Rights
Authors own full copyright to materials and can submit to the ASU KEEP Digital Repository.
2. Publisher Owns Some or All Rights
This occurs when authors sign an agreement with a publisher. Typically, such agreements may transfer some or all rights to the publisher. Publisher copyright policies determine if, and in what form, materials may be submitted to an institutional repository.
A number of publishers allow the post-print article (defined as the post-peer reviewed version of the article that is accepted by the publisher for final publication) to be submitted to an institutional repository. Sherpa/RoMEO provides a list of journal publishers' archiving policies, and uses the following terms to define different versions of a work:
- Post-print: the final, revised version of an article after peer review but prior to publisher’s formatting.
- Pre-print: the author’s version of the article before peer review.
- Publishers PDF: the final, published version of an article.
Contact the ASU Library Scholarly Communications Librarian for assistance with publisher rights and policies.
Unit representatives can contact University Archives, archives@asu.edu, for guidance about the copyright status of materials created in ASU units.
Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations
Please see the Copyright section of the Graduate Theses and Dissertations page for more information.