ThinkIR is an open access digital archive of scholarly work created by the University of Louisville community. ThinkIR preserves and disseminates works of enduring merit for future generations of scholars making them available to a worldwide audience of scholars and researchers.

Collection Policy

ThinkIR welcomes scholarly work created by faculty, staff, and students of the University of Louisville (UofL).

Student Scholarship

Graduate theses, dissertations, and capstones and undergraduate honor theses are deposited by students in accordance with their respective program requirements. Please see Guidelines for the Preparation and Processing of Theses and Dissertations (PDF) ) for additional information. If your University of Louisville thesis or dissertation does not currently appear within ThinkIR but you would like to give us permission to include it, please fill out an Electronic Theses & Dissertations form.

Instructors who wish to include their students’ research papers, posters, and other scholarship in ThinkIR should submit a ThinkIR Project Proposal form. It is helpful to talk with your students about including content in ThinkIR before deciding. Please bear in mind that students not only hold copyright in their work but that these materials will become publicly available worldwide and remain in ThinkIR in perpetuity. Students will also have to sign a license agreement to deposit their work in ThinkIR. If you simply want to showcase or share student work for the semester or a specific class, ThinkIR is not an appropriate solution.

Faculty and Staff Scholarship

ThinkIR also showcases worldwide the research and creative work of faculty and staff. Please see About ThinkIR for information about how the ThinkIR Coordinator can help faculty and staff create profiles and deposit their scholarship.

Examples of these types of scholarly effort include:

  • journal articles
  • conference posters/presentations/proceedings
  • technical reports/working papers

For the types of materials noted above, faculty may deposit works as defined by their unit’s Personnel Document. Staff may deposit these types of material if created in the course of their work assignment.

If something you’re interested in sharing through ThinkIR is not listed above, please fill out a ThinkIR Project Proposal form.

Open Access Journals

ThinkIR can serve as a platform for electronic journals sponsored by UofL entities in connection to their university roles. The journals must be open access and have a scholarly focus. See ThinkIR Open Access Journal Proposal Form to apply to establish a journal with ThinkIR.

Journal editors receive free access to the software as well as training and support provided by the ThinkIR Coordinator, but are responsible for identifying and communicating with editors, peer reviewers, and authors; configuring the software; and posting all content. The Libraries will assist with the International Standard Serial Number (ISSN) registration with the Library of Congress, submit the titles to the Global LOCKSS Network (GLN) for long-term preservation, and, if desired by the department, register Digital Object Identifiers (DOIs) for each article. See our Memorandum of Understanding for additional details.

Copyright & Intellectual Property

Faculty, staff, and student authors contributing scholarship to ThinkIR retain copyright in their submitted works, permitting them to freely reuse the content elsewhere as detailed more specifically in the required Nonexclusive License Agreement. The license agreement grants the University of Louisville the non-exclusive right to reproduce and distribute the submission electronically to support sharing the scholarship worldwide. Contributing authors must confirm that their submissions reflect their original work and that they hold sufficient rights and permissions to grant the nonexclusive license. Typically, that outcome requires that faculty members either hold direct copyright in the scholarship through their authorship or retain sufficient rights under a publication agreement to grant those nonexclusive rights to UofL. Contributing authors also hold sole responsibility for complying with copyright and all other legal requirements governing the creation and sharing of their scholarship, including any collaborations with co-authors.

If you have any questions about whether you have permission to share your work with ThinkIR, email the ThinkIR Coordinator at for guidance.

Withdrawal Policy

In general, once submissions have been approved and posted in ThinkIR, they cannot be removed as they constitute a permanent record of the scholarly output of the University of Louisville community.

However, the University Libraries acknowledge that there may be instances when it may be necessary to remove items from the repository. We reserve the right to withdraw items, and will strive to provide post-notification of that withdrawal if possible or permissible.

Contact Information

If you have any questions, please contact ThinkIR Coordinator Sarah Frankel at .