Policies for CSB and SJU Digital Commons

1A. Author Rights and Submitting Previously Published Works to the IR

Scenario 1: Your work is already published elsewhere, and you would like to include it in CSB and SJU Digital Commons.

Whether we can include a published work in the IR – and in what version – depends on your specific journal or publisher’s permissions. Publisher contracts for traditional subscription journals often transfer all copyrights from the author(s) to the publisher. Authors should thoroughly read and review their publishing agreements before signing, because authors can often negotiate to keep certain rights. These rights determine things like whether you can legally distribute copies of your work to colleagues and students, create derivative works, and deposit a copy of your work in an institutional repository. We encourage authors who are planning to publish their work to explore open access publishing options.

As CSB and SJU Libraries & Archives’ staff capacity allows, we can consult with authors on how to successfully retain author rights for future (currently unpublished) work. We can also assist authors in checking publisher permissions and requesting copyright clearances for previously published materials that they would like to deposit in CSB and SJU Digital Commons. Contact us at .

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1B. Submitting Unpublished Materials to the IR

Scenario 2: Your work has not been published elsewhere, and you would like to include it in CSB and SJU Digital Commons.

We strongly encourage CSB and SJU authors to retain copyright to the fullest extent possible. Individual authors depositing unpublished works in CSB and SJU Digital Commons retain their copyright but are asked to complete a Non-Exclusive Licensing Agreement for the works deposited. Any requests for commercial use of materials found in CSB and SJU Digital Commons will be referred back to the author.

By depositing materials into the CSB and SJU Digital Commons repository, authors agree that they are solely responsible for ensuring the following:

  • That they are either the sole creator and owner of the material's copyright, or that they have informed their co-creators/co-owners of their intent to submit the work to the IR. Co-authored works can be submitted by any author without the other authors’ permission, but it’s best to have a conversation with your co-authors first.
  • Submitted materials do not infringe upon the copyrights or intellectual property rights of others / third parties.
  • Submitted materials do not violate privacy rights, laws, or understandings.
  • Necessary right of review will be performed if materials were sponsored or supported by agencies or institutions external to College of Saint Benedict and Saint John's University.
  • Any restricted, confidential, or potentially defamatory content has been appropriately redacted before submission.

2. Our License Agreement and Creative Commons (CC) Licenses

Submitting your work to our repository does not transfer ownership of the work's copyright. CSB and SJU Digital Commons ensures non-exclusive distribution of an author's work, which means that authors can publish a work in other places even when the work is already included in the CSB and SJU Digital Commons repository.

Content will only be added to the IR if:

  1. A work’s author accepts the click-through agreement when self-submitting their work, or
  2. The author/speaker/performer signs and submits a Media Permission Form (Video Recording Request) for their event.

During the submission process, authors must accept our license agreement. This agreement is an acknowledgement that the author gives College of Saint Benedict and Saint John's University the non-exclusive rights to display and distribute the submission in an electronic format. The license agreement grants us the following non-exclusive, royalty free, perpetual, worldwide rights and licenses:

  • To publicly display, reproduce, and disseminate materials, in whole or in part.
  • To make derivative works based on the materials in order to protect, preserve, and store materials, including, but not limited to, processes such as format migration or other future forms of materials synthesis, for the purposes of the maintenance and preservation of public access to the materials.

Creative Commons licenses offer a standardized, “some rights reserved” way to grant specific permissions and clearly communicate to others how they may redistribute, reuse, and adapt your work. Works uploaded to CSB and SJU Digital Commons that have a Creative Commons license are governed by the terms of that license. For any use beyond the terms of that license, users need to obtain permission directly from a work's copyright owners.

As of June 15, 2026, authors who own their work’s copyright must agree to share their work through a baseline Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) license as part of the CSB and SJU Digital Commons submission process. If you are comfortable assigning your work a more permissive CC license, review the six different CC license types first so you can select the license of your choice during the submission process.

3. Submission Review

CSB and SJU Libraries & Archives staff who manage the IR reserve the right to accept or reject submissions to CSB and SJU Digital Commons. Additional information about the IR’s collection scope is available on our FAQ page.

4. Updating Content

Authors may revise or update works published in CSB and SJU Digital Commons. Authors may post updated works and additional files to existing content in the repository. Posting updated versions along with the original material is the preferred way to show the progress of research.

5. Withdrawing Content

CSB and SJU Digital Commons has been established as a permanent repository and strives to provide persistent access to all deposited items. Nevertheless, it may be necessary under some circumstances to withdraw items from CSB and SJU Digital Commons. Authors will sometimes request their material be withdrawn if later publication of an article with a publisher does not allow previous versions to be available. If content has been found in violation of any copyright, intellectual property, privacy, or any related law, is formally retracted by its publisher, or includes factual inaccuracies or instances of plagiarism, CSB and SJU Digital Commons staff reserve the right to take down offending works. Withdrawals may be initiated by the depositor or, in the case of a copyright violation, an internal or external entity. If any information on CSB and SJU Digital Commons is found to be in violation of copyright or intellectual property law, please contact digitalcommons@csbsju.edu and include your contact information, the name of the work, its URL, and a description of the infringement.

Since any item within CSB and SJU Digital Commons may have been cited via its persistent URL, a withdrawn item will always supply a “tombstone” record at this URL. The tombstone contains metadata for the item with a message indicating the item was removed. The tombstone metadata will be visible to those who already have its persistent URL, but your deposited materials and related metadata will no longer be searchable and the items will no longer be available for harvesting by services such as Google and Worldcat.

Disclaimer: College of Saint Benedict and Saint John's University cannot guarantee the accuracy of all information in the repository, especially when information is obtained through third party sources. CSB and SJU are not responsible for the content, availability or accessibility of third-party content, or for the accidental/premature disclosure of confidential information and findings.

The CSB and SJU Libraries & Archives reserve the right to change these policies at any time. Current revision: June 15, 2026.