1. Contents

   1. The Research Collection contains publications and other research output by members of staff and selected works by students from ETH Zurich (cf. list of publication types).
   2. New references are imported from bibliographic databases (currently Web of Science and Scopus) once a day. Moreover, members of staff at ETH Zurich can enter new research output independently at any time.
   3. Research output that members of staff published before they joined ETH Zurich is marked accordingly in the metadata.
   4. A digital object in the Research Collection might be an original work or a self-archived copy of an already published work.

2. Access and re-use

   1. Anyone can access bibliographic data (metadata) in the Research Collection.
   2. Publications and research data can either be accessed via a digital object available in the Research Collection or via a link on an external publisher's website/repository.
   3. The following options are available to access the digital objects:
      • Open access: freely accessible
      • Embargoed: freely accessible after a stipulated embargo
      • ETHZ users: accessible for registered users from ETH Zurich
      • Selected users: only accessible for a particular group of users defined by the submitter
      • Closed access: only deposited for archiving purposes and only accessible for administrators
   4. It is possible to apply to access research data with access restrictions. ETH Library forwards release applications to the work's copyright holder, provided that he or she is still employed by ETH Zurich or has an ORCID record with an up-to-date email address.
   5. A full-text search browses the contents of all documents regardless of access rights. Documents with restricted access are also searched.
   6. If no special end user licence is stipulated, the users may download and save the objects on offer free of charge for their own personal use and for non-commercial purposes. Any further use is only possible with the permission of the rights holder.
   7. All metadata are available for reuse under a Public Domain Dedication (CC0) and may be used, modified and redistributed without prior consent.
   8. For abstracts, the reuse conditions mentioned in the respective item under "Rights / license" apply. If no such rights notice is available, the abstracts may only be used for personal use.

3. Responsibility for the content/quality standards

   1. The authenticity and academic quality of the full texts and other digital objects are the sole responsibility of the copyright holders.
   2. The copyright holders agree to observe the ETH-Zurich Compliance Guide and the provisions and ethical standards stipulated in the ETH Zurich Guidelines on scientific integrity.
   3. The electronic version of a submitted examination paper (Habilitation Thesis, Doctoral Thesis, Master or Bachelor Thesis) must correspond to the printed version accepted by the examination boards.
   4. Semester, Bachelor and Master Theses as well as Student Papers will only be published with the consent of the supervisor.
   5. The upload of strictly confidential research data, non-anonymised health-related personal data and unpublished research data subject to export control is prohibited. The classification of the data is the responsibility of the researchers.
   6. Software developed at ETH Zurich must be registered with ETH transfer via the Software Disclosure Process before publication in the Research Collection.

4. Data entry and scope of the work's utilisation

   1. All members of staff at ETH Zurich are entitled to enter bibliographical references in the Research Collection.
   2. Full texts and research data have to be uploaded by the copyright/rights holder or an authorised representative.
   3. In accordance with the ETH Zurich's open access policy, members of ETH-Zurich staff are required to publish their research results in a freely accessible way. Thus, publications can be submitted using the open access mode – if necessary, applying an embargo.
   4. When submitting research data, the access modes ETHZ users, selected users and closed access (see above) can be selected.
   5. Doctoral Theses are published based on the Ordinance on the Doctorate at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (version: 1 January 2022) and their Implementation Provisions of 23 November 2021 (version: 1 January 2022).
   6. Doctoral theses published in full are made available to the National Library for archiving and consultation on its premises.
   7. Habilitation Theses are published based on the Habilitation Ordinance from 2 June 2004 (version: 1 August 2008).
   8. The publication of open source software is based on the Guidelines for the Financial Exploitation of Research Results at ETH Zurich.
   9. ETH Library receives permission to publish and/or archive the digital object in the Research Collection. It is authorised to save and archive the object and the associated metadata on ETH Zurich's servers, extract summaries of examination papers, alter and/or enrich the object's metadata and pass it on to third parties, and take measures for long-term, digital archiving, including migration into new file formats.
   10. Rights holders can stipulate how their works are allowed to be re-used, for example by publishing them under a Creative Commons licence or an Open Source licence. ETH Library explicitly recommends choosing open licences. The licence selected must be integrated in the work. Moreover, it appears on the landing page.

5. Internal processing procedure and copyright checks

   1. All entries undergo an internal processing procedure. ETH Library checks new publications for the
      • Consistency and completeness of the metadata
      • Legibility of full texts and other digital objects
      • Relevance of the contents for the Research Collection
      • Observance of possible legal norms (copyright and self-archiving guidelines of the publishing houses)
   2. The metadata of all publications is directly visible after data entry and can be searched. Digital objects (full texts and research data) are not visible until the internal processing procedure has been completed.
   3. Publications for which the processing procedure is not yet complete are displayed with a message to this effect.

6. Content-related changes to bibliographical data and digital objects

   1. Changes to bibliographical data can be requested via the button "Suggest edit".
   2. To guarantee citability, content-related changes to full texts and research data that have already been published are not possible.
   3. New versions of full texts and research data that have already been published can only be uploaded by the rights holders/authorised people and linked to the earlier version published. The same goes for errata and corrigenda.
   4. After the electronic version of an examination paper (Bachelor or Master Thesis, Doctoral Thesis, Habilitation Thesis) has been submitted and published via Research Collection, it can no longer be exchanged. It is only possible to add errata or corrigenda to the work.

7. Restriction of the accessibility of objects and retention periods

   1. In principle, digital objects that have already been published are not deleted from the Research Collection. In exceptional cases, a digital object's accessibility can be restricted if evidence is provided.
   2. ETH Library takes such an exception into consideration if evidence of one of the following issues is provided:
      • Copyright infringement
      • Infringement of the ETH Zurich Guidelines on scientific integrity
      • Infringement of confidentiality obligations
      • Retraction by the publishing house
   3. Applications to restrict accessibility are to be made to: research-collection@library.ethz.ch
   4. If there is a justified exception, the digital object is withdrawn. The landing page with the bibliographical information on the object remains freely accessible and indicates the date of and reason for the change.
   5. For research data, a restricted retention period of ten or 15 years can be agreed. ETH Library reserves the right to delete digital objects once the stipulated retention period has elapsed without further consultation.
   6. The guaranteed retention period for research data published via the libdrive service is 10 years.

8. Long-term archiving

   1. All objects available in the Research Collection are saved unchanged and stored long-term in the ETH Data Archive.
   2. Where possible, the usability of data available in a standard file format is guaranteed for the long term. The selection of suitable formats facilitates this process. See the File-format recommendations for archiving.
   3. Research data published via the libdrive service are not archived in the ETH Data Archive.
   4. Data that enters the ETH Data Archive from the Research Collection is only accessible there for library staff members.

9. Technical operation

   1. The Research Collection's IT platform is operated by ETH Library's IT Services in collaboration with ETH Zurich's IT Services. The goal is a system availability of 99.5% during normal operating hours. Application and infrastructure updates are made within the scope of announced maintenance windows. The technical operator strives to ensure that the platform works properly around the clock (best effort), but guarantees neither the uninterrupted usability nor accessibility of the platform, nor is liable for technical transmission delays or breakdowns.
   2. The operator reserves the right to change or discontinue Research Collection functions without prior notice, if required by operational necessity. Moreover, the operator is entitled to assign operational, development or support services to third parties in part or in full at any time with or without giving reasons.

(Status: May 2023)