Frequently Asked Questions


What is the University of Minnesota Law School Scholarship Repository?

The University of Minnesota Law School Scholarship Repository provides open access to scholarship and academic content from the University of Minnesota Law School. This repository is a service of the University of Minnesota Law Library.

The Repository’s Faculty Scholarship collection contains journal articles created by University of Minnesota Law School faculty members during their tenure with the Law School.

The repository also houses the archives of the journals published at the University of Minnesota Law School, including Minnesota Law Review, Constitutional Commentary, the Law & Inequality, the Minnesota Journal of International Law, and the Minnesota Journal of Law, Science & Technology.

The repository also hosts materials produced by the law school's Centers, multimedia content such as recorded lectures and podcasts, and digitized materials from the Riesenfeld Rare Books Center.

Scholarly materials included in the Repository are indexed and optimized for search engine discoverability, and have a persistent web link that will remain constant. The materials are freely accessible although the authors and publishers retain their copyright according to the original publishing agreement.

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What platform does the University of Minnesota Law School Scholarship Repository use?

The Repository uses the Digital Commons platform created by bepress. The vast majority of law school repositories in the United States use Digital Commons as their platform. All of the individual school repositories combine to form the Law Commons (http://network.bepress.com/law/) and can be searched together or browsed together by subject.

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Who can submit materials to the University of Minnesota Law School Scholarship Repository?

Submission of materials is limited to University of Minnesota Law School faculty and staff holding faculty-like appointments as defined in the University of Minnesota Board of Regents Policy: Copyright, as well as all institutes and centers associated with the law school.

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Copyright Guidelines for Authors

To include a work in the Repository you need to: hold the copyright; or have reserved your rights to publicly post the work in an institutional repository; or have specific permission from the publisher to post the work.

Some publishers allow institutional repository deposit of published works as a matter of course, sometimes with an embargo period. Others may restrict deposit in an institutional repository to “post print” versions, which refer to the article after acceptance and review but prior to final formatting for publication. Publication agreements with student-edited law school journals often include a reservation of rights to post. If not, most student-edited journals routinely give this permission if requested.

Although materials in the Repository are freely available, open access does not mean loss of copyright: All materials in the Repository retain copyright privileges. The use of the material is subject to the terms and conditions noted in the publication agreement signed between the author and publisher.

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How do I submit content to the University of Minnesota Law Scholarship Repository?

To add content to the Repository, please email the University of Minnesota Law Library at law-ref@umn.edu. You will need to provide:

  • A copy of the scholarly work in Word or pdf format
  • The citation for the published work
  • An abstract
  • Your confirmation that you have retained the rights necessary to post the work publicly or an indication that the Library will need to request permissions on your behalf.

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How is a submission revised or removed?

To revise or remove a submitted article, paper, or abstract, or to make other changes, please email the University of Minnesota Law Library at law-ref@umn.edu.

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What file formats are acceptable?

Most documents will be published as PDFs, but MS Word Documents can be submitted as well. Video, audio, and images can be submitted in any open format. If you have a question about your own content and whether it is a good fit for our repository, contact the University of Minnsota Law Library at law-ref@umn.edu

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Will I be able to post related files (sound clips, data sets, etc.) with repository materials?

Related files may be posted along with your scholarly work. Please be sure that there are no permissions issues related to use of the associated material. Sometimes, especially with images, you must write a letter seeking permission to use the material before it can be posted.

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Why are some of my publications not available in the Repository?

The most common reasons for works to not be available in the Repository are that they have not been cleared for copyright permission, or they were published prior to the time the author joined the University of Minnesota Law School faculty. Other works may be in the process of being scanned for the Repository. If you have any questions, please contact the University of Minnesota Law Library at law-ref@umn.edu.

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I still have a question. Whom do I contact for more information?

Contact the University of Minnesota Law Library at law-ref@umn.edu with any questions.

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