Help
Using this publication server
Help for authors
Single elements of the application form
Legal aspects
Miscellaneous
Answers
- What is ePublications?
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ePublications is the publication server of TH Köln and can be used by all members of the university to publish their scientific documents. Students can publish their final theses, if applicable also student research projects or project work, online via ePublications. Students need the consent of their reviewer. The reviewer confirms the quality by signing the publication contract.
- I have some more questions - whom shall I contact?
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If you have specific questions about a publication, please contact our publication service of the university library:
TH Köln Hochschulbibliothek
Campus Deutz
Publikationsservice
Betzdorfer Str. 2
50678 Köln
publikationsservice@th-koeln.de - What does open access mean?
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Open access means publishing scientific literature and other materials electronically and making them freely accessible via the Internet. Further information on open access can be found here: Open Access an der TH Köln and open-access.network.
The TH Köln supports the principles of open access and emphasizes this by adopting its own open access declaration. The university therefore follows the recommendations of many science and research funding organizations.
- I have some more questions - whom shall I contact?
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TH Köln Hochschulbibliothek
Campus Deutz
Publikationsservice
Betzdorfer Str. 2
50678 Köln
publikationsservice@th-koeln.de - Documentation and technical support
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This document server is based on the repository software OPUS 4. OPUS is documented here: https://https://www.opus-repository.org.
- How do I search for documents in ePublications?
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For most queries in Cologne Open Science, the simple or advanced search by title or author is sufficient. You can narrow down your search by using the advanced search or by filtering the hit list, e.g. by document type. You can also display the search results in different ways (e.g. in ascending order by year of publication).
It is also advisable to search via the browsing function. You can select a specific filter and continue searching only the relevant documents.
With the simple search, several search terms are automatically linked with "and". For a more specific search, it can be helpful to combine or exclude several search terms by using the Boolean operators (AND, OR, NOT).
AND: All search terms entered must occur in the document (e.g. sight AND view).
OR: Only one of the search terms entered must occur in the document. This function extends the search range and is useful if different terms exist for a topic (e.g. sight OR view).
NOT: This function has an exclusionary effect and can be used to limit the number of hits: In documents in which one search term occurs, the other must not occur (e.g. sight NOT view).
Wildcards: If you are not sure how to spell a search term, for example a name, or if you want to extend your search, you can use * and ? as wildcards. It is not possible to use them at the beginning of a search term.
Phrase search: You can use double quotes (") with expressions to search for a particular phrase (e.g. "Japanese cherry blossom").
- Reading and printing documents
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To be able to read or print the documents, the free software Acrobat Reader is required.
- Quoting electronic documents
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To permanently address the publication, please quote the DOI (Digital Object Identifier) or the URN (Uniform Resource Name). These can be found in the frontdoor view of a publication in the metadata of the lower section.
For the date, please enter the last time the source was accessed by the person quoting it.Unfortunately, URNs currently can´t be called up directly with web browsers. To translate them into URLs, the Resolving Service of the German National Library is required. Therefore, prefix the actual URN with the abbreviation https:/nbn-resolving.org/ to access the document.
The same applies to calling up a DOI. Here, the abbreviation https://doi.org/ precedes the actual DOI.
Electronic publications can be quoted as follows:
Materne, Stefan: Annual Report 2021 of the Cologne Research Centre for Reinsurance. (Publikationen der Kölner Forschungsstelle Rückversicherung, 2/2022). Available online: http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:hbz:832-epub4-19786 or https://doi.org/10.57683/EPUB-1978 [accessed am 08.06.2022] - What are the advantages of open access publication via ePublications?
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Publications can be found easily and quickly via the internet. In addition, all documents are listed in the catalogues of the university library, the uNorth Rhine-Westphalia Union Catalogue, the German National Library as well as in academic search engines such as BASE and databases.
Open access publications are easier to find and are therefore potentially more frequently quoted more frequently than publications published in print. All electronic publications on ePublications receive a Uniform Resource Name (URN) at the German National Library. Under this address, every publication is permanently accessible and thus also quotable. TH Köln University Libraryln ensures long-term preservation of the documents as PDF files at the German National Library. Currently, a period of at least five years is guaranteed.
Publishing via ePublications is free of charge. After the formal criteria have been checked by the university library and the publication contract has been submitted, the document is published online within a short period of time and can therefore be quoted immediately. Unlike with commercial publishers, with ePublications authors retain their second publication right. They only transfer the simple right of use to the university library for one-time publication via ePublications.
- How does the publishing process work?
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First fill out the publication contract and send it printed with your original signature to the publication service of the university library.
If you are a student, please send the original signed publication contract by mail to their supervisor with the request to forward it to us by internal mail.
Then click "Publish" on the start page. This will take you to the publication form.
At first you have to choose a document type. Directly below you can upload your file(s). Click "send". The actual form appears. Here, various data about your publication (so-called metadata) is requested, which is used to describe your work in catalogs and other bibliographic directories. Describe the document you want to upload using the categories and fields provided. Depending on the document type, some of these fields are mandatory and therefore have to be filled in. Please describe your document as clear as possible. Mandatory fields are for example:
- the document type (select from a list)
- the title of your publication and the language of the title
- the abstract of the document
- the publication date of your document (usually the day you submit it)
- the language of the document (select from a list)
- the license, under which you want to publish your document (select from a list)
If you are unsure what to enter in certain form fields, just move the cursor over a field and an explaining help text will be shown.
After you have finished the form, all data will be displayed once again for a check-up and you can choose between three options: you can correct the data if necessary, add your document to a collection or simply save it directly.
The data will then be checked by the staff at the university library. We will contact you if we have any queries. If all the information is complete, the document is finally released by us on the document server and is thus published.Note:
In order to publish your work cookies have to be enabled in your web browser. - What is metadata?
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Metadata can be defined as
- data describing one or more resources or
- data associated with an object and describing it
Basically metadata describes documents, objects or services and contains information about their content, structure or form. In more abstract terms, metadata is a description of data or "data about data". Bibliographic records and entries in library catalogs can be seen as a form of metadata.
The metadata on this document server is based on the Dublin Core Metedata Element Set (Dublin Core or DC for short), which consists of 15 basic elements. Dublin Core is the result of international efforts to reach a common consensus in describing electronic objects (in the broadest sense). The Library of Congress (LoC), the Online Cataloging Library Center (OCLC) and several national libraries are dealing with Dublin Core in many projects and are about to introduce it.
- How do I design a title page? What about my personal details?
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On the title page or in the title line, the title of the publication, the author and the year of publication should be mentioned. When publishing theses or dissertations, please also remember to remove any personal information on the title page, such as matriculation number or contact information, from the PDF before uploading. An uploaded PDF cannot be changed afterwards. Can a publication be deleted or modified?
- In which format are the documents published?
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Text documents are published in PDF format. Please use the following syntax for the file name if possible: Surname_Title.pdf (Ex: Mueller_Großbauprojekte_verstehen.pdf).
PDF/A was developed as an international standard especially for archiving documents. This ensures that the file can also be read on computers where the fonts used are not installed.
Conversion into a PDF/A document is nowadays possible directly from many text editing programs.To enable long-term archiving, it is not allowed to use any password and/or copy protection on the files.
There is no size limit for uploadable files. If your publication exceptionally requires a high resolution or if contractual requirements of a publisher require copy protection, please contact us in advance: Publication Service.
- Can a publication be deleted or modified?
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Documents published via ePublications cannot be subsequently edited or deleted. This guarantees the authenticity and long-term citability of the documents, which are comparable to printed publications. If a correction is necessary or desired, the changed document must be completely re-submitted. This corresponds to a new version or an edited version in the case of printed publications.
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As an author, you can generally choose whether you want to publish your documents via ePublications as a first publication (so-called "golden path") or as a second publication (so-called "green path") in the open access procedure. Further information on the publication paths can be found here.
By publishing via ePublications, the university library is only granted the simple right of use for publication on the Internet. On the part of the university library, this means that further publication with publishers, journals and other servers is possible.
In the case of a first publication via a publisher, it should be checked which rights of use and exploitation or blocking periods have been contractually agreed with the publisher. Then the way should be clear for a second publication via a university publication server such as Cologne Open Science. SHERPA/ROMEO provides an overview of publishers with information on the respective transfer of rights.
- What do I do if I have already published my publication with a publisher, am having it published, or plan to do so?
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This does not necessarily conflict with publication on our document server. The library explicitly points out that the observance of copyright is an obligation of the authors.
In any case, please check whether your contract permits publication on our document server! You can do this, for example, with the help of SHERPA/ROMEO.
With the first publication via ePublications, the author only transfers to the university library the simple right to publish on the internet, so that a second publication via a publisher is therefore possible at any time.
- Which copyright regulations apply to me and my publication?
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The copyrights of a publication always remain with the authors. They only transfer to the university library the simple right of use for one-time publication via ePublications and thus retain their right for second publication. In return, you grant the university library the right to store the documents, to make them publicly accessible electronically worldwide and, if necessary, to convert them into other data formats or to make copies. You can also additionally transfer this right to others, i.e. you also publish your work elsewhere.
The library explicitly points out that compliance with copyright and usage rights is the responsibility of the authors. The authors assure the university library in the publication contract that they have observed the copyright and do not violate the rights of third parties (e.g. when using illustrations).
- What license can I use to protect my work?
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All documents published on ePublications are open access documents and are licensed with CC licences. AAs an author, you can decide which of the CC licenses should apply to your document and thus which terms of use should apply to your work. To help you decide, you can find a detailed explanation here.
- Download Publication contract