Frequently Asked Questions


All Submissions

For Faculty and Staff

For Students

Is Encompass open access?

Primarily, including all of our journals and most of our student scholarship, but faculty research already published in other sources may have copyright restrictions that prevent us from providing open access to the full text. In these cases, the source publication information may be linked from Encompass.

Some Encompass collections or individual works may be placed under temporary or permanent embargoes, depending on the situation. Many of the student Honors Theses, for example, are available to EKU users only.

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What kinds of works can be submitted?

Journal articles, book chapters, presentations, conference proceedings, creative activities, media, theses, performance recordings, archival records of the university, and poster sessions.

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Can Encompass host journals?

Yes. Encompass can host journals for university organizations. Here is the list of journals hosted on Encompass.

For more information about hosting journals on Encompass, please contact Linda Sizemore or Laura Edwards

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I don't have electronic versions of old working papers that I'd like to include in the repository. Is it okay to scan the printed page to a PDF file?

Yes--scanning printed pages is a great way to create PDF files for inclusion in the repository. There are two ways to scan a page: using OCR (Optical Character Recognition) or scanning the page as an image. Making OCR scans requires careful proofreading and loses the original formatting of the documents. Image scans cannot be searched. The best solution takes advantage of both of these methods. Many software applications allow for the OCR capture of image scans. When documents are scanned this way, users see the image scan but search the full-text of the document. This is the preferred method for scanning documents for the repository.

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When I copy and paste abstracts into the Submit form, some formatted text reverts to plain text. What's going on?

When copying abstracts from a word processing file or a PDF file, and pasting the text into the submission form, you are taking text from an environment that supports fonts and text style changes. Because the abstract is intended to be presented on the web, text styles must be specified using HTML codes.

If submitting an abstract in HTML format, please be sure to select the corresponding option on the submission form.

The following HTML tags are recognized by the system and may be used to format an abstract (use lowercase tags):

How to include HTML tags

HTML tags
<p> - paragraph
<p>This is the first paragraph.</p>
<p>This is the second paragraph.</p>

This is the first paragraph.

This is the second paragraph.

<br /> - line break
<p>This is a line of text with a linebreak here. <br /> This is text after</p>

This is a line of text with a linebreak here.
This is text after
<strong> - strong/bold
<strong>bold text</strong>

bold text

<em> - italics/emphasis
<em>italicized text</em>

italicized text

<sub> - subscript
Text with <sub>subscript</sub>

Text with subscript
<sup> - superscript
Text with <sup>superscript</sup>

Text with superscript

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How do I include accents and special characters in the abstracts and titles?

The repository software supports the worldwide character set (Unicode, utf-8). Accents, symbols, and other special characters may be copied and pasted into the abstract or title field from a word processing file or typed in directly. Windows users may also use the Character Map to insert these characters. Macintosh users may use the Character Palette (available via Edit > Special Characters in the Finder).

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How do I revise a submission?

To revise a submission that has been posted to the repository, contact the repository administrator with the new version.

If the submission has been submitted, but not yet posted, you may revise it via your My Account page:

  1. Locate the article on your My Account page, and click the title.
  2. Click Revise Submission from the list of options in the left sidebar.
  3. Enter your changes in the Revise Submission form, and click Submit at the bottom of the page to submit your changes. (You only need to modify the portion of the form that corresponds to the changes you wish to make.)

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How can I submit a multi-part file, such as multiple chapters for a book?

Combine all the sections together as one Microsoft Word file or PDF file and submit that.

To make one PDF file from multiple files, open the first PDF file, then choose Document>Insert Pages from Acrobat's menus to insert the second file (indicate it should go after the last page of the first file), and repeat for all documents. The result will be one compound PDF file which may then be submitted.

If you feel that the one large PDF file might be too large for some people to download, we suggest that you submit the consolidated file as the full text of the article, and then upload the separate chapters or sections of the document as Associated Files. These files will appear on the web page alongside the complete document. For more information about uploading associated files, see below.

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Can I post related files (sound clips, data sets, etc.) alongside the published article?

Yes. The bepress system refers to these supplementary items as Associated Files. You will be prompted to submit Associated Files when you upload your submissions. The name of the files you upload will appear on the web site along with your short description of it. Viewers must have the necessary software to open your files; that is not provided by the bepress system.

Please be sure that there are no permissions issues related to use of the associated material. Sometimes, especially with images, you must write a letter seeking permission to use the material before it can be posted.

Also note that where possible, items such as images, charts and tables that are referenced in the document (or otherwise an integral part of the document) should be included directly in the article itself and not posted just as associated files.

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Can I post a reprint from a journal?

It depends on what the journal allows, which is usually specified in their agreement with the author. If it would not violate copyright to post the reprint on your repository site, you're welcome to do so. Permissions for many publishers can be found at SHERPA RoMEO.

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A working paper in our repository site has been published in a slightly revised form in a journal. What should I do?

Many journals do not have any restrictions on working papers that preceded an article, especially if substantial revisions were made. You should check your author agreement with the journal to confirm that there is no problem with leaving the working paper on the site. The repository would constitute noncommercial use.

Assuming the working paper does remain on posted in the repository, it is a good idea to include the citation to the published article on the cover page of the repository working paper. Please contact the repository administrator to request this change.

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Can I place my paper in a repository and still publish it in the journal of my choice?

Most journal publishers now allow authors to deposit their papers in repositories. However, they differ over whether they allow this before (pre-print) or after (post-print) the paper's publication. Some have an embargo period between publication and deposit in a repository. Some will also stipulate how post-prints should be formatted. The SHERPA RoMEO website at gives details of publisher's current policies on self-archiving and copyright.

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How do I know whether the journal I published in allows placement of my manuscript in Encompass?

You can consult your agreement, the publisher’s website, or the SHERPA RoMEO website, a searchable database of many publishers’ open access and institutional repository policies. Most major publishers will allow you to place a version of your article into an institutional repository, but many of those request that you not use the publisher’s version, and instead post a pre-print or post-print manuscript (see below).

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Some publisher policies will only allow for pre-print (or post-print) manuscript of my article in an institutional repository. How are post-print and pre-print defined?
  • A pre-print manuscript refers to your own version of the article as it existed when it was submitted for peer review.
  • A post-print manuscript refers to your own version of the article after revisions following peer review.
  • The publisher’s copy will include the journal formatting and page numbers, and will usually be a PDF document.

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How does one link to works for which one doesn’t own the copyright?

Publishers of journals tend to not allow their pdfs to be uploaded into an institution’s repository. Most publishers allow pre-prints (see the SHERPA RoMEO website to determine publisher policies on self-archiving), but very few people keep copies of pre-prints.

Links to the article or book record in GoogleBooks, Worldcat.org, or any subscribed platform can be provided.

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What is the difference between Encompass and Selected Works and Digital Measures?

Encompass is intended to be used and accessed by the public. It is web-based, primarily open access, and intended for global access.

Digital Measures is a database into which faculty deposit records of all of their teaching, research, and service activity, is not accessible by the public. It is a database intended for internal and institutional use only.

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What is the process for submitting a graduate thesis or dissertation?

EKU’s Graduate School manages the process of submitting graduate theses and dissertations. More information about their requirements for preparing and submitting your graduate thesis or dissertation can be found at their Thesis Guidelines site. Graduate theses and dissertations are automatically uploaded to Encompass Digital Archive as part of the submission process.

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What image filetype does Encompass accept for posters?

Posters must be uploaded in JPEG format (*.jpg).

  • If you created your poster in Powerpoint, you can save a JPEG version. Go to "File" and select "Save As." In the "Save as type" dropdown menu, select "JPEG File Interchange Format (*.jpg).
  • If your poster is in PDF format, you can convert it to JPEG using this free online service: https://cloudconvert.com/pdf-to-jpg

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How can I get more help?

Submit your question via this form and a librarian will be in touch with you soon

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