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Digital Commons

A guide to posting and navigating DigitalCommons@CalPoly

What is DigitalCommons@CalPoly?

DigitalCommons@CalPoly, a service of the Robert E. Kennedy Library, preserves and provides access to research, scholarship and creative works produced by Cal Poly students and faculty. As an online, open access repository, DigitalCommons@CalPoly makes these contributions available to view and download from anywhere in the world.


Who can archive their work with DigitalCommons@CalPoly?

Undergraduate students can submit their senior project and occasionally other class content that is already being collected by DC@CP. Ask your professor to find out if your class work is being archived in DC@CP. For more information on submitting your senior project, go to the Senior Project LibGuide.

Graduate students are required to submit their master's theses to graduate. For more information on submitting your master’s thesis, go to the Master's Thesis Website.

Faculty & Emeritus faculty *Policy in Progress*

Alumni may submit scholarship if it expands upon a previous work authored by the individual during their time at Cal Poly. Alumni must sign and adhere to the terms outlined in the Contributor Agreement. They may submit their senior projects retroactively but must follow the senior project submission process.


What materials can be contributed?

The work should be scholarly in nature. Because deposits are intended to be permanent contributions to the repository, faculty works that are in progress or ephemeral in nature are not recommended for contribution.

Examples of scholarly work:​

  • Journal articles and essays
  • Conference proceedings, papers and/or presentations
  • White papers and technical reports
  • Research reports from grant-funded projects with Open Access requirements
  • Research data sets
  • Patents
  • Audio/visual presentations, tutorials 
  • Multipart content, e.g. research paper and datasets

What kinds of file formats are accepted?

DigitalCommons@CalPoly can archive and make available any file format including text (examples .pdf, .txt), audio (examples .wav, .mp3), video (examples .avi, .mp4, .mov) and other file formats (examples .cad, .png, .xpt, .por). Other file formats can be stored in the repository, however, to ensure the preservation and long-term access of your work, we encourage you to consult the list of preferred and acceptable file formats listed in the Library of Congress’s Recommended Formats Statement. All work must be ADA compliant.


Why should I contribute my work to DigitalCommons@CalPoly?

By contributing your work to the repository, you’ll be able to:

Store your work. Your work is digitally preserved with unique, persistent URLs to ensure stability.

Share your ideas. Full-text indexing and discoverability via Google and other search engines means more views and more citations for your work.

Measure your impact. Usage statistics for your work are delivered automatically so you know how frequently your work is being accessed and by whom (IP address, geography, and institution).


I want an item withdrawn from DC@CP. Whom do I contact?

If you would like an item withdrawn from DC@CP, please contact the Digital Commons Staff with a request in writing, including the URL of your item and reason for request. Please note that we do not remove submissions except under legal and significant extenuating circumstances. A notice and takedown procedure will apply if proof of copyright infringement or complaint for other reasons, such as data protection or alleged research misconduct, is received. If content is removed from the IR, a publicly accessible item record which includes the original item description and a statement explaining the reason for withdrawal will be retained.


Who owns copyright to the works in DC@CP?

DC@CP does not own copyright to any of the material in the repository. Students own the copyright to their works, per Cal Poly Intellectual Property Policy. Copyright to faculty and staff works may belong to the authors or the publisher and is specified in the record. If you would like to request permission to duplicate a work, you will need to contact the author directly.