Access Restriction Policy

By default, items in BDEARS have no access restrictions, that is, they are openly and freely available via the World Wide Web. Open access to deposited items encourages a primary mission of BDEARS: the distribution, dissemination, promotion, and use of research and scholarship produced at Busitema University. The University Library strongly encourage depositors not to place access restrictions on deposited items.

However, there may be some situations when depositors need to restrict access to items in BDEARS. For example, a publisher may allow deposit of published articles into an institutional repository (such as BDEARS), but require an embargo of six months before the article may be made publicly accessible. Such a postprint might be deposited into BDEARS, but no access would be allowed for a period of six months.

Access restrictions for dissertations and theses deposited after 2022 shall be covered under a different policy. See Policies governing dissertations and theses.

BDEARS allows depositors to impose access restrictions at the item or file level. The individual depositor or the BDEARS community or collection administrator is responsible for the decision to impose access restrictions.