Symplectic Elements to Eprints connector in practice

At the moment, the EPrints connector for University of Leeds is configured to handle two different deposit scenarios:

A. Straightforward deposit
1. The author (or their ‘proxy’ depositor) adds a file to a publication entry in Symplectic Elements using the Full Text tab
2. The author (or their ‘proxy’ depositor) applies a deposit licence to record using the Full Text tab
3. The record appears in the EPrints Review area where it is processed by staff (metadata check, copyright check)
4. All being well, the metadata and file are made openly available (metadata only if we can’t clear copyright or a copyright permission is pending)

B. Deposit without licence
Depositors may not be happy to click the deposit licence straight away – they may want the Library to check the copyright status of the item first.
1. The author (or their ‘proxy’ depositor) adds a file to a publication entry in Symplectic Elements using the Full Text tab
2. The record appears in the EPrints Manage Deposits area where it is processed by staff (metadata check, copyright check)
3. Once the record has been processed and copyright clarified, the depositor is sent the URL of the relevant page in Symplectic Elements to apply the licence and/or asked to deposit a different version of the file in question e.g. the Accepted Version.
4. The record moves from EPrints Manage Deposits to EPrints Review once the licence is applied. The EPrint is then made live by library staff (with open full text if possible, if not, as metadata only)

Most deposits so far have followed one of these two scenarios.

However, we also have unexpected variations in depositor behaviour.

C. Metadata only
In theory, metadata only records do not feed from Symplectic Elements to EPrints (in our configuration). In practice, some depositors unexpectedly applied the deposit licence using the Symplectic Elements ‘Full Text’ tab even though they hadn’t uploaded a file. At the EPrints end, we get a metadata only record and scratch our heads wondering where the full text is. It’s a perfectly reasonable behaviour by the depositors. We’re not sure whether they’re just testing out the system or assuming that if they click the licence library staff will somehow get and disseminate the relevant file for them. Further investigation is required.

D. Files uploaded and deleted
1. The author (or their ‘proxy’ depositor) adds a file to a publication entry in Symplectic Elements using the Full Text tab
2. The author (or their ‘proxy’ depositor) then deletes the file in Symplectic Elements using the Full Text tab!
By this point, whether or not the licence has been applied, the record and attached files have already been sent to EPrints. In this case, we have a clue to what has happened because the attached file is ‘soft’ deleted in EPrints – i.e. it’s still attached the EPrint record but has the description ‘deleted’ and is not publicly visible. We are aware of one depositor who realised he’d uploaded the ‘wrong’ file – hence the deletion. However, a number of records show this pattern – are authors regularly uploading the wrong file or is there another reason for the behaviour? For example, are they put off by the deposit licence? Do they feel they need to delete their uploaded files for copyright/version reasons when they notice the publication policy information (from RoMEO) in Symplectic Elements? Further investigation needed.

We will keep monitoring behaviour and seek further feedback from depositors. On balance we should probably make it much more difficult to delete files from Symplectic Elements – or at least make it very clear to depositors that the record is transferred to the repository the moment they upload a file in Symplectic Elements.

Any views or comments on our workflows or on user behaviour would be most welcome.