Frequently asked questions (FAQs)
General
- What is Qucosa?
- What are the advantages of Qucosa?
- How long is a publication available online?
- What are the technical requirements that apply for long-term storage at the SLUB?
- Can documents once published online be deleted?
- Is a publication that is stored on the Document and Publication Server citable?
Publishing electronic documents
- What documents can be published?
- What do I have to deliver?
- What is metadata?
- What data format do I have to use when submitting the document?
- How do I submit the documents?
- Technical advice on creating a PDF / PDF/A
Using publications from the Qucosa document and publication server
- How can I find publications on the document and publication server?
- How can I read publications on the document and publication server?
- Is it possible for publications to be copied and illegally used by others?
- Is it possible to block the "Mark/Copy text" functions in the PDF documents delivered? Can documents be provided with a technical access and copy protection (DRM)
General
What is Qucosa?
Qucosa is a free content repository server. It has been established for the purpose of electronic publishing, reference and long-term archiving of scholarly publications.
What are the advantages of Qucosa?
- Worldwide availability of full texts
- Long-term storage
- Ensured citability due to a persistent web address
- Extensive research options
- Rapid availability on the Internet
- Reference in library catalogues and search engines
How long is a publication available online?
All publications will be available for a long time. A minimum availability of 5 years is guaranteed. Under certain circumstances, it may be possible to archive the publication in the long-term storage of the SLUB.
What are the technical requirements that apply for long-term storage at the SLUB?
Publications are to be submitted at best in the form of PDF/A-1b and PDF/A-2b(ISO 19005-2:2011) files that are archivable.
You can find information on this under PDF/A creation; the SLUB PDF/A validator is also available to check your documents.
Can documents once published online be deleted?
No, they cannot be deleted. A revised document needs to be registered again. Then, it will get a new Persistent Identifier.
In the event of legal barriers, it is possible to block access to published documents. The data record containing the metadata will still be displayed, but instead of access to the full text a corresponding message about the blocked access appears.
Is a publication that is stored on the Document and Publication Server citable?
Yes, it is. Any publication on Qucosa equals a conventionally printed document and can therefore be used for citation. Citability is ensured by a persistent web address (urn:nbn).
Publishing electronic documents
What documents can be published?
A wide range of documents can be published on the Qucosa document and publication server. The following types of documents are available:
- Articles
Articles taken from a magazine/journal - Bachelor thesis
- Reports
Text material, which cannot otherwise be assigned - reports, external research papers, internal reports, notices, statistical reports, project completion reports, technical documentation, instructions. Conference reports are excluded. - Books
- Theses
- Dissertations
- Research reports
Provisional scientific or technical papers, which are published as part of an institution's series, in which research ensues - also research papers, research memoranda, working papers, staff papers, discussion papers. - Habilitation
- InBook
Parts or chapters of a book - InProceedings
Conference papers - Compositions
- Magister works
- Master theses
- Preprints
Provisional scientific or technical papers, not appearing as part of an institution's series. The paper should appear in a scientific journal or as part of a book. - Proceedings
Complete conference reports - Other publications
Different types of resources that are not text material in nature - specifically for material that cannot otherwise be assigned. - Student research projects
Text drafts arising as part of a study course, such as assignment and seminar papers, research and project reports, which are not classified as a thesis. - Lectures /Presentations
Conference lectures and presentations are excluded. - Magazines/Newspapers
- Journal issues
Year, issue, volume of magazine or periodical
If the content of a previously submitted document is changed and then resubmitted to Qucosa for publishing, then this shall be regarded as a new document and thus receive a new persistent identifier (urn:nbn).
The submission of a document to Qucosa shall not imply a claim to its online provisioning. In exceptional cases, SLUB shall reserve the right not to publish submitted documents. In each case, the authors will be notified of this. There is no right of appeal.
What do I have to deliver?
For electronic publishing, the following is required:
- The electronic version in PDF or PDF/A format
- The completed and signed Deposit license – Publishing agreement of consent for e-publishing on Qucosa
- Metadata
Please transmit the metadata using the input wizard. The transmitting of metadata also represents the submission for publication. No claim for online provisioning exists in association with the submission.
What is metadata?
Metadata refers to structured data, which helps to describe an information resource enabling it to be found more easily by search engines. Metadata provides basic information on a document, such as details of the author, title or date of publication.
What data format do I have to use when submitting the document?
Please send your document in PDF or PDF/A format.
You can find information on this under PDF/A creation; the SLUB PDF/A validator is also available to check your documents.
How do I submit the documents?
You can send your publication by uploading it via the input wizard.If your publication has previously been published on the internet, please send us the exact URL.
Using publications from the Qucosa document and publication server
How can I find publications on the document and publication server?
For publications on the document and publication server, there are various retrieval options available, including:
- Via the Qucosa Retrieval Module
- Via the SLUB catalogue
- In the Südwestdeutscher Bibliotheksverbund (SWB)
- In the catalogue of the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek
- Via national and international search engines (Google Scholar, OAI Service providers e.G. OAIster)
How can I read publications on the document and publication server?
The publications are presented in the PDF format. To read files in this format you need a corresponding reader (Wikipedia: Liste von PDF-Software bzw. List of PDF software).
Is it possible for publications to be copied and illegally used by others?
Although the publications may be copied on local computers, the same legal copyright laws apply to electronic documents as they do to "conventional" publications. Therefore the risk of illegal use of an electronic publication is no greater than with a conventional publication.
Is it possible to block the "Mark/Copy text" functions in the PDF documents delivered? Can documents be provided with a technical access and copy protection (DRM)?
For published documents to remain available on Qucosa on a long-term basis, it is necessary to send unprotected documents. This means that documents may neither be encrypted nor password protected and must be able to be printed out and duplicated.
Furthermore, when data migration is necessary, access and password protected documents cause problems for the processing software and make long-term archiving impossible.
For this reason, in accordance with the specifications laid down by the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek we recommend the use of PDF/A as the ISO standard for the corresponding document format, this format having been especially developed for long-term archiving.