Open Access Research

There are many benefits of submitting (also known as depositing or self-archiving) in an open access institutional repository. It ensures the long-term digital preservation of your work, can be used as one stop place to gather and access scholars' work, and makes work widely available and discoverable via Google, increasing visibility and research impact. 

• Greater visibility of your research:  Freely share your work alongside CSU peers for a global audience. Increase your readership, citation counts, and impact on your field.
• Long-term preservation: ScholarWorks is maintained by experts in the CSU Libraries who are committed to consistent access as systems and standards change over time.
• Persistent URLs: No more broken links!
• Promotes open access and collaboration within the scholarly community. 
• Can be a useful tool for researchers' data management plans.

Check out the Research Impact guide below for more information on increasing the visibility of your research! 

Before submitting your work to ScholarWorks @ Cal State LA, please review the following documentation:

What's accepted?

You may submit your work to ScholarWorks @ Cal State LA if all the following are true:

• You are affiliated with CalState LA.
• The work was produced as part of your scholarship and research activities at Cal State LA. 
• You own the copyright to your work OR have obtained written permission from the copyright holder allowing your work to be preserved and disseminated (aka "self-archived") in an institutional repository. 
• Your work is already in a digital format. 

What's NOT accepted?

You may NOT submit work to ScholarWorks @ Cal State LA if any of the following are true:

• You are not affiliated with Cal State LA. 
• You did not create the material you are attempting to submit.  Individuals may only submit works that they have created.
• You do not own the copyright to your submission, or cannot provide documentation from the copyright owner showing that you are allowed to submit it.
• Your material is not already in a digital format.

1. Navigate to Scholarworks: https://scholarworks.calstate.edu/
2. Login to ScholarWorks by selecting the login button in the top right corner or by selecting the "Share Your Work" button from the main ScholarWorks landing page.

3.  When prompted, select Los Angeles as your campus and then login with your MyCalStateLA campus credentials.

4. After logging in, you will be re-directed to your Dashboard.

4. From the dashboard, select Works (under the Repository Contents section on the left side menu).

4. Select "Add New Work."

4. Choose the type of work you would like to submit: Master's Thesis or Dissertation, Project, Presentation, Publication, Dataset, or OER.

7. Fill out the required fields when prompted: 

•     Creator
•     Title
•     Abstract or Summary
•     Type of Work
•     College
•     Department
•     Date Issued

Select as many additional fields as desired.  The more metadata fields you add, the easier it will be for users to find your work!

8. Add your file (s).

• Review the ScholarWorks Deposit Agreement
• On the righthand side, set visibility to Public, and check “I have read and agree to the Deposit Agreement”.

9. Submit. ​​​​​​ (Note: Do not navigate away from the page while the file is being submitted. Wait for the confirmation screen to appear.)