ScholarWolf FAQ

Launched in 2024, ScholarWolf, formerly known as ScholarWorks, is a collection of services designed to capture and showcase all scholarly output by the University of Nevada, Reno community. These services include: 

• Identifying and making available via the ScholarWolf web site scholarship-related documents and files produced by the faculty, research groups, and students of University of Nevada, Reno, and
• Promotion of research efforts via a searchable database, reports to key administrators and stakeholders, and coordination with other research recognition activities. 

An institutional repository is a single, online place where our university gathers and preserves scholarly output produced by our members and makes these materials available to the world free of charge (copyright permitting). This output may include both publications in peer-reviewed journals and materials not published elsewhere (pre-prints, accepted versions of articles, performance recordings, syllabi, theses and dissertations, etc.) 

ScholarWolf offers numerous benefits to scholars. Chiefly among these are: 

• Permanence - Our system offers permanent URLs (called handles) for items hosted within the repository. This means even if our repository's underlying systems change, the handles will continue to work (this is great for CVs). We are committed to the long-term preservation of materials submitted to ScholarWolf. 

• Reach - Content is covered by Google Scholar, Google, and other major search engines; as a trusted repository managed by a university, this helps boost the visibility of scholarship. 

• Open Access - Finally, by releasing work as open access, scholars help improve the reach of their research by removing financial access barriers for scholars around the world. ScholarWolf also does not require researchers to transfer their rights, allowing them to keep any copyright they have. 

• Cost – The Libraries do not charge you for hosting scholarship in ScholarWolf, making it much less costly than self-hosted options. 

Anyone belonging to the University community can contribute to ScholarWolf. Undergraduates must have a faculty advisor approve submission prior to deposit into ScholarWolf. 

What types of materials (content) are included? 

Suitable works have either scholarly or instructional value, although for data files, we recommend the Dryad data repository [link], especially for larger files. They can also support the mission of the University community. Examples of works include but are not limited to: 

• Research articles
• Theses and dissertations
• Digital humanities projects
• Conference posters
• Datasets (in some cases; please first look at the Dryad data repository) [https://library.unr.edu/places/delamare-library/research-data-services/dryad]
• Unpublished articles (also known as preprints)
• White papers
• Technical reports
• Instructional material
• University publications
• Open access journals
• Open access books
• Material documenting creative research exhibits and performances 

Contact the ScholarWolf team.

There are two paths that content follows into ScholarWolf:

• If you are a graduate student, we encourage you to work with the Graduate School if you have any questions about the procedures for submitting your work
• If you are an undergraduate student, post-doc, or faculty/staff member, we ask that you submit your materials through our online form. Our team will work with you to deposit the content

You are always welcome to contact our team for assistance.

Most digital formats can be uploaded to ScholarWolf, but to assure long-term useability we encourage users to submit text-based works as PDFs and data tables as CSVs. We will make our best efforts to maintain the content, structure and functionality of work you deposit. Please contact our team if you have questions about acceptable formats. 

Our online file transfer system limits individual files to 4GB. If you have a larger file, email the ScholarWolf team.

If you need help determining what storage system to use, we suggest you visit our guide to building a research storage toolkit.

We encourage authors to submit materials that meet basic accessibility guidelines. Please use the following steps to meet these requirements: 

• Run an accessibility check using tools built into the software you are using
• Address the issues pointed out in the check
• Communicate any issues that you are aware of to our team during the submission process 

We strongly encourage use of accessible templates for file creation. 

Data will be archived and available in the University ScholarWolf repository for public access.

The ScholarWolf submission and publication process is designed to help ensure the long-term preservation of your content. Our procedures include automatic tracking of your files’ digital fingerprints and the creation of derivatives that will remain useable after proprietary formats become obsolete. Starting in Fall 2024, a copy of all submissions will also be stored in the Libraries’ active preservation system, which will automatically migrate and check the health of files well into the future.

When graduate students submit their dissertations and theses through the Graduate School’s partnership with ProQuest, the work will then automatically be sent to ScholarWolf as well with no extra steps on behalf of the student. There is no extra cost for this. If a student selects to embargo their work from ProQuest, the same embargo will be applied to the work in ScholarWolf.

You can contact your subject librarian or Scholarly Communications and Social Sciences Librarian Teresa Schultz for help. 

For more information on author rights, please visit Libraries’ Copyright Guide or contact the ScholarWolf team. 

Checking your publishing contract is a good first step to see what your publisher allows. If you still have questions or are unsure, please contact Scholarly Communications and Social Sciences Librarian Teresa Schultz. 

Yes, copyright owners retain copyright over their materials. By putting material into ScholarWolf, you are granting UNR a non-exclusive license to distribute it, which means that you are authorizing ScholarWolf to make it available but can also distribute it through other mechanisms.

ScholarWolf does not generally support the removal of publications once posted. We feel it is important to provide perpetual access to materials published within ScholarWolf whenever possible and appropriate. However, we will remove publications under special circumstances, including in the case of rights violations. Please be aware, however, that even after the removal of a text, a citation to the paper will remain in our system, along with a URL. If you think a work which you own the copyright to has been deposited in ScholarWolf without your permission, please contact repository team. 

As creator, you retain non-exclusive rights to your work unless you have transferred those rights to another entity, such as a scholarly publisher. By agreeing to store your material in ScholarWolf, you are not transferring your rights to the university and remain free to publish in other venues. If rights associated with your work also apply to co-authors, sponsors, publishers, or others, we will endeavor to assist you in meeting legal and contractual obligations before uploading to ScholarWolf 

An interdepartmental team from the University Libraries maintains ScholarWolf.

The vast majority of items in ScholarWolf can be freely accessed by anyone in the world with an Internet connection. There's no need to register or login to view or download items.

We are working to make all of our items accessible, but until we do, please email the ScholarWolf team for requests to make a specific item fully accessible. We will work to respond to each request in as timely a manner as possible. 

Within ScholarWolf, items are organized into four broad collections. Most faculty work will be held within the Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activity collection. Within that collection, works are organized by department or unit. Theses and dissertations of honor undergraduates, graduate students, and doctoral students are housed together in the Theses and Dissertations collection.  The University Publications collection houses publications and reports produced by the university, such as journals and books. The Arts, Cultural Heritage and Performance collection houses outputs of various creative endeavors on campus, such as music and performances.