Policies

Metadata Policy

1. Anyone may access the metadata free of charge.
2. The metadata may be re-used in any medium without prior permission for not-for-profit purposes only provided:
   • a link to the original metadata record is given, and
   • CaltechTHESIS is mentioned.
3. The metadata must not be re-used or re-sold in any medium for commercial purposes without formal prior permission.

Data Policy

1. Anyone may access full items free of charge.
2. Full items must not be harvested by robots except transiently for full-text indexing or citation analysis.
3. No commercial reproduction, distribution, display or performance rights in full items are provided.
4. Full items must not be sold commercially in any format or medium without formal permission of the copyright holders.
5. Full items must not be stored in any format or medium for commercial purposes.

Content Policy

1. This is an institutional repository.
2. CaltechTHESIS holds theses and dissertations and related materials.
3. Deposited items may include:
   • submitted versions
   • accepted versions
   • published versions
4. Items are individually tagged with:
   • their version type and date.
   • their publication status.
5. Principal Languages: English

Submission Policy

1. Items may only be deposited by accredited members of the institution, or their delegated agents.
2. The administrator vets items for the eligibility of authors/depositors, relevance to the scope of CaltechTHESIS, accuracy of the metadata, and the exclusion of spam.
3. The validity and authenticity of the content of full items is not checked.
4. Items can be deposited at any time, but will not be made publicly visible until any publishers' or funders' embargo period has expired.
5. If CaltechTHESIS receives proof of copyright violation, the relevant item will be removed.

Preservation Policy

1. Items will be retained indefinitely.
2. CaltechTHESIS will try to ensure continued readability and accessibility.
   • Items will be migrated to new file formats where necessary.
   • It may not be possible to guarantee the readability of some unusual file formats.
3. CaltechTHESIS regularly backs up its files according to current best practice.
4. The original bit stream is retained for all items, in addition to any upgraded formats.
5. Items may not normally be removed from CaltechTHESIS.
6. Acceptable reasons for withdrawal include:
   • Proven copyright violation or plagiarism
   • Legal requirements and proven violations
   • National Security
   • Falsified research
7. Withdrawn items are not deleted per se, but are removed from public view.
8. Withdrawn items' identifiers/URLs are retained indefinitely.
9. The metadata of withdrawn items will not be searchable.
10. Errata and corrigenda lists may be included with the original record if required.
11. If necessary, an updated version may be deposited.
    • The earlier version may be withdrawn from public view.
    • The item's persistent URL will always link to the latest version.
    • There will be links between earlier and later versions, with the most recent version clearly identified.
12. Items are allocated a checksum to facilitate the detection of alterations.
13. In the event of CaltechTHESIS being closed down, the database will be transferred to another appropriate archive.