Open Scholarship at Simon Fraser University
New upload
Records Members Curation policy About

Curation Policy

1. Scope and Purpose

This Collection provides a trusted, open repository for preserving and disseminating outputs produced under the scope of the Open Scholarship Framework Initiative at Simon Fraser University (SFU), Canada.

The purpose of this collection is to:

  • Support open science and research transparency

  • Enable long-term preservation and reuse of research and communication outputs

  • Ensure alignment with international best practices for research data stewardship

  • Increase the visibility, accessibility, and impact of the outputs produced by and with the Open Scholarship Framework Initiative.

This collection complements, but does not replace, institutional, disciplinary, or funder-mandated repositories.

2. Eligible Content

The collection welcomes a broad range of research and communication outputs as long as they are citable, including but not limited to:

  • Slides, transcripts and recordings of presentations
  • Zines, artwork, audiovisual files, and games
  • Project reports and documentation
  • Research datasets
  • Software, scripts, and computational workflows (see information about archiving software from GitHub)
  • Analysis notebooks and pipelines
  • Preprints, technical reports, and white papers
  • Figures, tables, and supplementary materials
  • Experimental protocols and methods
  • Metadata records describing external or restricted-access data
  • Other research outputs that support reproducibility and reuse

Deposits may include outputs associated with completed projects, published studies, preprints, or standalone research and community activities.

The authors are responsible for checking compliance with other associated policies, such as journals' and funders' open access policies (e.g., check the Open Policy Finder before submitting a preprint or depositing a version of record of your accepted article here).

All content included in the collection must be distributed under an appropriate open license that clearly defines reuse conditions.

3. Authorship

Ownership, licensing, and reuse rights must be clearly stated and respected. Authors do not necessarily need to be affiliated to Simon Fraser University, but products must be an outcome of an activity related to the Open Scholarship Initiative.

4. FAIR, CARE, and OCAP Principles

All deposits are expected to demonstrate alignment with:

  • FAIR Principles (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable)

  • CARE Principles (Collective Benefit, Authority to Control, Responsibility, Ethics), particularly for Indigenous or community-related data

  • OCAP® Principles (Ownership, Control, Access, and Possession), where applicable

Depositors are responsible for:

  • Clearly documenting ethical, legal, and cultural considerations

  • Indicating any access restrictions or controlled-use conditions

Deposits that do not meet these principles must include a transparent justification and mitigation strategy.

5. Persistent Identifiers and Metadata

To ensure long-term discoverability and citation:

  • All accepted records will be assigned a Digital Object Identifier (DOI) by Zenodo.

  • Contributors are strongly encouraged to include ORCID iDs for all authors.

  • Links to related persistent identifiers (e.g., grant IDs, RORs, external dataset DOIs, software versions) should be provided where applicable.

High-quality, descriptive metadata is mandatory and must:

  • Accurately describe the content and context of the research output

  • Include keywords, methods, temporal and spatial coverage where relevant

  • Reference associated publications, software, or datasets

6. Documentation and Data Management

Each deposit must be supported by sufficient documentation to enable understanding and reuse, which can be:

  • A Data Management Plan (DMP) covering the full project lifecycle

  • README files describing file structure, formats, variables, and workflows

  • Authorship documentation (e.g., Contributor Role Taxonomy)

  • Clear versioning and change history where applicable

  • Licensing information that specifies conditions for reuse

Documentation should be written for a disciplinary audience beyond the immediate project team.

7. Curation Process

The curation process is designed to be transparent, and it follows four main steps:

Submission

Researchers submit records to Zenodo and request inclusion in the INN collection.

Administrative Review

Curators verify:

  • Submission eligibility

  • Alignment with SFU Open Scholarship principles

  • Completion and clarity of required documentation, including metadata

  • Alignment with FAIR, CARE, and OCAP principles

Feedback and Revision (if needed)

Depositors may be asked to clarify metadata, improve documentation, or address policy gaps.

Acceptance or Rejection

Accepted records are included in the collection, and rejected records will receive a clear explanation and guidance for resubmission.

Curation does not involve peer review of scientific quality, but focuses on compliance, documentation, and stewardship standards.

8. Preservation and Sustainability

Zenodo provides long-term preservation infrastructure supported by CERN. Depositors remain responsible for:

  • Ensuring the accuracy of deposited content

  • Updating records when errors are identified

  • Linking newer versions when appropriate

9. Policy Review and Updates

This curation policy may be updated periodically to reflect:

  • Changes in institutional or funder requirements

  • Advances in open science and data governance practices

  • Feedback from the SFU community

The most current version of the policy will be publicly available via the collection page.