About Refubium
Objectives and content criteria
Refubium gives all Freie Universität Berlin members the organizational and technical framework for the electronicpublication of academic documents and makes them accessible on the Internet for research and teaching purposes in compliance with quality standards.
The electronic documents are assigned persistent addresses and are listed in the University bibliography and are made searchable in selected national and international library catalogs, search engines and other bibliographic tools.
By means of special measures, such as digital signatures and time stamps, the server offers protection against falsification. Furthermore, long-term preservation of the electronic documents is ensured for a minimum of five years in cooperation with the German National Library (Deutsche Nationalbibliothek, DNB).
Server maintenance and development are integrated in national and internationale initiatives and projects, such as the Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertation (NDLTD) and the Open Archives Initiative (OAI).
The Freie Universität Berlin University Library's responsibility in collection development, as it applies to electronic documents
The University Library's responsibility in collection development in the realm of electronic documents includes storage, cataloguing and preservation of all academic documents in electronic format published by Freie Universität Berlin members as well as publications commisioned or edited by Freie Universität Berlin units. That applies both to strictly electronic publications as wll as to electronic version of printed documents.
Furthermore, the University Library is responsible for collecting doctoral and habilitation theses in electronic format as well as documents (including graduation papers) produced by students if a member of Freie Universität Berlin faculty recommends publication of the document in writing.
Important works held by the University Library and other Freie Universität Libraries in physical formats that have been digitized for content or preservation reasons or to allow remote access are also made accessible on Refubium.
Intellectual-property rights
Publication on Refubium does not prevent subsequent publication of documents, for instance, in journals, in book format, or on other servers.
In other words, authors of documents grant the University Library the non-exclusive right to permanent presentation of the documents on Freie Universität Berlin servers.
According to the recommendations set forth by the German Council of Science and Humanities (Wissenschaftsrat), all researchers at Freie Universität Berlin who enter into publication agreements with publishing houses are called upon to retain the right to subsequent publication so that they can additionally submit their works to Refubium – after an embargo period if it cannot be avoided.
Responsibility for compliance with intellectual-property rights and licensing rights of third parties lies with the authors and editors of the works. Intellectual property rights of authors remain intact.
Terms and conditions of use
Material submitted to Refubium, the Freie Universität Berlin repository, may be copied, printed, and quoted for academic purposes and for personal use, according to German intellectual-property law (§ 53 UrhG). Intellectual property rights lie with the authors. As far as each document's content is concerned, the authors bear all responsibility.
All commercial use of documents, including that of parts and excerpts, without prior consent by, and consultation with, the server operators is expressly prohibited. Attribution to authors / rights holders must be made by name.
Authors can assign a Creative Commons license to their work, as published on Refubium. Thereby, authors can grant the users of their work rather extensive rights, such as those of adaptation or of comercial use. Electronic publication on Refubium allows Freie Universität members to meet the standards set forth in the Freie Universität Berlin Open-Access-Policy.
The electronic document
In the context of this guideline, the term "electronic document" is understood to refer to a document that is based on text and graphics, is stored in digital format on a storage medium, and is distributed through computer networks.
In order to be made accessible on Refubium, an electronic document must meet the following conditions:
It is intended for distribution to the public. It is not a dynamic document. If changes are necessary, the changed electronic document is saved as new, additional version.
It is in keeping with the technical parameters predetermined by the Freie Universität Berlin University Library.
All All electronic documents in the repository are uniformly indexed, documented and made publicly accessible.
Types of electronic documents
Electronic documents stored and made publicly accessible fall into the following categories:
- publications and publication series created at Freie Universität Berlin
- publications by Freien Universität Berlin researchers
- publications and publication series, such as edited volumes, conference proceedings, research reports, electronic journals or periodicals, edited by Freie Universität Berlin members
- documents the publication of which is required by graduation regulations or other regulations; doctoral and habilitation theses fall into this category
- publications and publikation series created by, or edited by, authors or insitutions associated with Freie Universität Berlin
- documents created by Freie Universität Berlin students, such as bachelor's, master's, and similar theses, as well as course papers, provided publication is recommended in writing by a member of faculty
- electronic journals, especially archive copies, provided the necessary permissions with respect to license regulations have been provided by publishers
- Electronic documents produced by third-party institutions insofar as they fall within the collection profiles of the University Library or department library and relevant rights have been acquired
Distribution of electronic documents can be restricted either in terms of space – e.g., use on Freie Universität Berlin grounds only – or in terms of time if so reauired by the terms and conditions of use.
Technical details of Refubium
By employing suitable technology, the University Library as operator of Refubium ensures the integrity and authenticity of the stored documents.
The electronic documents are assigned individual and persitent addresses so as to make them directly accessible.
The electronic documents are discoverable by searches in library catalogs and across bibliographic metadata. Search terms can be located within the structure of each electronic document. Alphabetical and classification orderings as well as dynamically created lists and indexes are also provided.
Long-term preservation (five years garanteed, but basically forever) is ensured in cooperation with the German National Library (Deutsche Nationalbibliothek). That includes conversions to technical formats differnt from the format of submission or transfer to other servers. Submission file format is currently defined as PDF; more specifically, PDF/A as the most suitable format for long-term preservation is the preferred submission format.
Organizational regulations
- Refubium is provided and run by the Freie Universität Berlin University Library.
- In principle, electronic publication is free of charge for Freie Universität Berlin members and members of institutions associated with Freie Universität Berlin.
- For publication on Refubium, electronic documents have to be submitted to the Freie Universität Berlin University Library.
- Upon consultation, members of the University Library staff will assist authors with additional work necessitated in the process of publication, such as preparation of electronic documents or conversion to other formats, but as a rule, the actual tasks involved will be carried out by the authors themselves.
Objectives and content criteria for the Freie Universität Berlin research-data repository
The Freie Universität Berlin research-data repository gives all Freie Universität Berlin members the organizational and technical framework for the digital publication of research data and makes them accessible on the Internet for research and teaching purposes in compliance with quality standards.
In line with the Open Access Policy, by providing this service, Freie Universität Berlin supports researchers in publishing their research results and preserving research data for the long term.
The publication of research data makes it possible to review and academically verify the university research as well as to re-use the collected data.
On Refubium, sets of research data are published as separate objects independent in terms of time and space from any interpretative publications.
Metadata pertinent to research data created by Freie Universität Berlin members and already published on other repositories should also be reported for additional documentation on Refubium, the Freie Universität repository. That contributes to making the achievements of Freien Universität Berlin researchers more discoverable.
Research data
The definition of research data in the context of this repository includes data created digital data and data that can be electronically saved die in the course of academic activity, such as investigation of sources, experiments, measuring, surveys or interviews.
Distribution and long-term preservation
In the process of publication, the research data are assigned persistent identifiers (currently, DOIs), which are then communicated to the authors and can be used for referencing.
By means of special measures, such as digital signatures and time stamps, Refubium offers protection against falsification. Furthermore, bitstream-based long-term preservation is ensured for a minimum of ten years. All research data in the repository are uniformly indexed, documented and made publicly accessible.
The research data are searchable in local, regional and supraregional search machines as well as through DataCite Metadata Store and the academic search engine BASE. In order to make the Freie Universität Berlin research-data repository more discoverable, it is registered with the Registry of Open Access Repositories (ROAR), the Directory of Open Access Repositories (OpenDOAR), and the Registry of Research Data Repositories (re3Data) registriert. Discoverability measures are taken continuiously as necessitated by new developments.
Refubium, the Freien Universität Berlin repository, as registered OAI data provider, meets the requirements set forth in the OAI-PMH 2.0. The baseURL is: https://refubium.fu-berlin.de/oai/
Access to research data can be restricted in substantiated exceptional cases.
Requirements for datasets
If possible, save your data in non-proprietary, standardized formats. You can find more information concerning recommended data formats on the help pages. In addition to the actual data, create documentation, such as a readme file or similar document, containing all information required for subsequent use. That would include information on the structure of the data and on the context of their creation and interpretation.
In order to be made accessible on Refubium, the Freie Universität Berlin repository, a dataset must also meet the following conditions:
- It is in principle intended for distribution to the public as per the respective terms of use.
- It is not dynamic. If changes are necessary, the changed dataset is saved as new, additional version.
- It is in keeping with the technical parameters predetermined by the Freie Universität Berlin University Library.
Rights
Publication on Refubium, the Freie Universität Berlin repository, does not prevent subsequent publication of the data, for instance, on a disciplinary repository.
In other words, the providers of data grant the University Library the non-exclusive right to permanent presentation of the data on the Freie Universität Berlin research-data repository.
Responsibility for compliance with intellectual-property rights and licensing rights of third parties and responsibility for compliance with privacy regulations lies entirely with providers of data.
The research data made accessible on Refubium, the Freie Universität Berlin repository, may be re-used and quoted for academic purposes. The intellectual property rights to the research data submitted to Refubium lie with the providers of the data. The responsibility for content lies entirely with the providers of the data.
The providers of the data are required to assign a Creative Commons license or an open-source license to the datasets published on Refubium.
Organizational regulations
Refubium, the Freien Universität Berlin repository, is a service provided and run by the University Library.
In principle, electronic publication of datasets is free of charge for Freie Universität Berlin members and members of institutions associated with Freie Universität Berlin.
For publication on Refubium, datasets have to be submitted to the Freie Universität Berlin University Library.
Upon consultation, members of the University Library staff will assist authors with additional work necessitated in the process of publication, such as preparation of datasets or conversion to other formats, but as a rule, the actual tasks involved will be carried out by the authors themselves.
Related Links
| Institution: | Freie Universität Berlin University Library – represented by the President of Freie Universität Berlin |
| Address: | Kaiserswerther Str. 16/18, D-14195 Berlin |
| Contacts: | University Library Repository Editorial Team, e-mail: edocs@ub.fu-berlin.de |
| Legal status: | Freie Universität Berlin is a public corporation (Körperschaft des öffentlichen Rechts) according to the Berlin Higher Education Act (Berliner Hochschulgesetz, BerlHG, §§ 1 and 2) |
| VAT identification number: |
DE 811304768 |
Disclaimer
Refubium, the Freie Universität Berlin repository is a services provided by the Freie Universität Berlin University Library. All content available are intended exclusively for academic and personal information. Responsibility for content lies with the respective authors.
Intellectual property rights / Terms and Conditions of Use
The electronic documents, including all other pertinent forms of data, such as pictures, graphics, multimedia files, made publicly available through Refubium, the Freie Universität Berlin repository, are protected by intellectual-property law.
Take note of our Disclaimer and our privacy statement.
Any reproduction, e.g. copies and printouts, may only be made for private and other personal use (German intellectual-property law, Urheberrechtsgesetz, UrhG § 53). Reproduction and distribution requires the authors' express approval – unless perimission is already indicated by the authors' choice of specific Creative Commons licenses.
Responsibility for compliance with legal regulations lies entirely with users; users may be held liable in the event of rights violations.
Refubium is run on DSpace (version 6.2 currently implemented), an open-source software, on a virtual server running on Debian in a recent distribution.
The virtual server and the pertinent blade-storage unit are located in a specially secured server room operated by the Freie Universität central computing services unit (Zentraleinrichtung Datenverarbeitung, ZEDAT) and are subject to the guidelines for secure computer operation as valid at any given time.
Virtual-server operation and the strict separation between server and application (including data) facilitates the adaptation of all components (CPU, disk space, maintenance) to all respective requirements, as may arise.
The data security is guaranteed by ZEDAT's own backup daily as an incremental backup; a full backup is carried out approximately every four weeks.
Application and server are managed by the University Library IT department. Metadata maintenance and activation of content on the server lies with the Repository Editorial Team – as part of the responsibilities handled by the University Library Dissertations Department.
Data protection is an important concern to us. For this reason we would like to inform you about when and for what uses we process personal data, which data we process for what reasons, who gets access to your data and what your rights are in the context of data processing.
In Refubium, electronic documents originating from and developed for Freie Universität Berlin are collected, accessed and indexed. For that, Freie Universität members can register their documents and research data in Refubium. These will be made publicly accessible by library staff.
When uploading, viewing or downloading documents, personal data are generated which are processed in different ways.
The following privacy policy refers exclusively to the use of Refubium.
1. Responsible Body in Terms of the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR):
The University Library of Freie Universität Berlins
represented by Thorsten Meyer, Director
Garystr. 39, 14195 Berlin
Tel: (030) 838 54224
2. Purpose and Legal Basis of the Processing
Your personal data are processed for the purpose of the use of of the institutional repository Refubium. Data processing depends on what features of the website you use and to what extent you use it.
The legal basis for the processing of your personal data is sentence 1b) of Article 6(1) of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) since this is necessary for the provision to use the functionalities of the website and for the conclusion and fulfilment of publication agreements. Furthermore, the processing of personal data which are included in works made available to the public is legitimized by sentence 1c) of Article 6(1) GDPR and Article 17(1) of the Data Protection Act of Berlin (Berliner Datenschutzgesetz, BlnDSG).
The data will be deleted automatically 2 years after the end of the validity period when no transaction data are saved any more. An advance manual deletion is possible upon request. However, this does not apply for students of Freie Universität Berlin or of Charité since their data are transmitted electronically.
Concerning the following points the Data Protection Regulations of FU Berlin apply
2. Rights of Individuals (FU data protection)
3. Changes to this privacy policy (FU data protection)
4. Contact / Data Protection Officers