ScholarlyCommons

Related information:

• Appropriate Submissions - https://guides.library.upenn.edu/scholarlycommons/policy-submissions

• Preferred Formats - https://guides.library.upenn.edu/scholarlycommons/policy-formats

Before your first submission

PennKey credentials are required to create an account and submit to ScholarlyCommons. 

1. Log in with your PennKey to automatically create a ScholarlyCommons account

2. Select "Yes" to agree with the agreement

For more information about obtaining a PennKey, contact PennKey Support.

Presubmission checklist

• If you are new to ScholarlyCommons, we suggest you review this guide and our help resources.
• If you are depositing data, we suggest you contact the Research Data Services team for assistance.
• Check your content for accessibility, and correct any issues.
• Identify the Penn collection to which you wish to submit.  Request a new collection, if necessary, by contacting libraryrepository@upenn.edu.
• Review the ScholarlyCommons License and Copyright Considerations and consider whether you want to apply a Creative Commons license to your work.
• Have your metadata and files ready.

Submission process

1. Login to your ScholarlyCommons account.

2. Under the Management Panel in the left sidebar, click on “New” and select “item”

3. Select your submission type.

• Article: an article published in a journal. 
• Book Chapter: a chapter from a monograph or edited volume.
• Book: an entire monograph or edited volume. 
• Briefs: A short report summarizing key points
• Datasets: Ordered collection of data
• Dissertations and Theses: an essay involving personal research written by a candidate for a college or graduate degree. 
• Media: Video or audio files
• Presentation: a presentation given at an academic conference, event, or other proceeding.
• Report: a document produced by a research center, for instance, proving information on a given topic. 
• Review: a review of another work.
• Working Paper: a preliminary article or paper that has not yet been published in a journal or other publication. 
• Other: any type of work not specified above. 

4. At the top of the form, upload your file.  Your files will display towards the bottom of the page. 

5. Fill in the form fields. 

6. Verify your file upload and add additional files if necessary.

7. Agree to the deposit license. 

8. Verify your submission.  Review all fields and your file(s) to ensure that all information is correct. Click "Submit" to complete the submission.

At any point during the process, you may cancel the submission, or save what you have entered and return to it later.   Your in-progress submission can be found on your “My ScholarlyCommons” page.  Choose “Your Submissions” in the Show menu.    

Add an Embargo

Individuals may apply an initial embargo to their work when depositing to ScholarlyCommons.  The standard ScholarlyCommons embargo lasts 3 years but academic programs may set their own embargo terms.  Please contact your program to verify embargo terms before depositing your work. 

Instructions and a video on how to add an embargo to your submission can be found at this link. 

After You Submit

All your submissions in the repository can be found on your “My ScholarlyCommons” page. 

1. Click the profile icon at the top of any page. 

2. Select “My ScholarlyCommons”

3. The page will display “Workflow Tasks”. 

4. In the dropdown menu under “Show”, select “Your Submissions”.