Research Repository UCD: Access and Usage

As an Open Access repository anyone with an internet connection will be able to access your papers.

The most common routes will be via a Google or Google Scholar search. Additional ways will include via the UCD Library catalogue, searching Research Repository UCD directly, using some form of portal to which items are automatically harvested (e.g. RIAN, Base Bielefeld), or from a link on your own webpage. Please see the links below:

Google and Google Scholar

Sometimes a paper will not appear in Google Scholar. This is because Google Scholar links first to the 'version of record'. In our experience this is usually the publisher's website, or if unpublished, a high-ranking site that provides a full-text such as the repository. Often it will point to both the publisher's site in the main link, and link to the PDF on Research Repository in the right-hand column with the words 'PDF from ucd.ie'. It may also store a link to other versions, sometimes including the version you uploaded to Research Repository, in a link named 'View all n versions'.

Google maintains corporate secrecy over their search and index algorithms, so there is no way to know how or why Google Scholar has listed your paper. A recent study indicates that up to 50% of the papers in institutional repositories like Research Repository UCD will be found by Google Scholar. However, it is safe to assume that all papers will appear in the standard Google, as it crawls the Repository multiple times daily for new additions.

Research Repository UCD provides long term access and storage for your papers and all items are assigned permanent links, similar to digital object identifiers (DOIs).

The use of permanent URLs within the repository makes referencing the online version of your paper easier and more robust.

Cite as you would cite the published version, including the DOI, and if you can't access the published version, include the permanent link to the version found in Research Repository UCD, e.g. <http://hdl.handle.net/10197/2083>.

Citations to different versions will not be counted differently by citation databases such as Web of Science and Scopus.

If you need to refer to page numbers but don't have access to the published version, cite the section header and paragraph number of the version found in Research Repository UCD.

Research Repository UCD provides both viewing and download statistics for each individual paper, and from which countries papers are viewed and downloaded. It also provides download and viewing statistics at School, Research Centre and UCD—wide levels.

Research Repository UCD will also send you an automatic monthly email outlining the number of items you have uploaded, the number of times your items have been downloaded, locations of downloads, collections your items appear in, and other statistics.

A UCD paper, “Impact of clay on early jet grouting strength”, has been downloaded more than 1,700 times, with most interest from USA, China, Iran, India and Turkey.

Downloads by country 2010-2016