Behind the scenes at the Library: Making your research discoverable in GRO

Have you ever wondered what happens behind the scenes at the Library to make your research outputs and full text files discoverable in Griffith’s institutional repository, Griffith Research Online (GRO)? 

Enhancing the metadata
It all begins when you click the ‘deposit’ button on a research output in your Symplectic Elements profile—this sends it to a private queue in GRO to await review by the Library. The first task in the review process is to enhance the output’s metadata, which is an important step for maximising online discoverability—and making your Griffith Experts profile look tidy.

Adding a full text file
Once we’ve enhanced the metadata, it’s time to attach a full text file. For outputs published open access (that is, under a Creative Commons licence), we can upload the final published version without permission from the rights holder. Making a copy available in GRO ensures long-term access if the journal or other publishing outlet disappears from the internet, which happens more often than you might think!

For non-open access outputs, it’s a bit more complicated, because we require permission from the rights holder to upload a full-text file. In this case, we’ll confirm that we have permission from the relevant party, source a copy of the full text version they allow us to use (for journal articles, usually this will be the accepted manuscript), and attach it to the GRO record in compliance with any conditions set out by the rights holder. 

Making it discoverable
After enhancing the metadata and, if possible, attaching a file, all that’s left for us to do is approve the output for public access in GRO. Once approved, the GRO record and file will become accessible through your Griffith Experts profile, and will also be indexed by Google, Google Scholar and the National Library of Australia’s Trove, ensuring the discoverability of your research output for global audiences. 

Keen for the Library to work its magic on your research outputs? Learn how to deposit to GRO or contact us for more information.