FAQ

A: What are the main differences between PIRA and PolyU IR?

The PolyU Institutional Repository (PolyU IR) began in 2009, was developed to collect, make available, showcase, preserve and enhance the discovery of research and scholarly output created by the PolyU community. All materials in PolyU IR are open access with accessible full-text files.

The PolyU Institutional Research Archive (PIRA) is an expansion of the PolyU IR. PIRA aims to provide a comprehensive index of PolyU’s research outputs, and not limited to open access materials. PIRA also manages research entities other than publications. Researcher profiles have been set up for current faculty members to showcase the publications, research interests, activities and academic achievement of PolyU scholars and researchers.

A: What data is included in the PIRA?

Staff Details: Data for our Researcher Profiles are sourced from departmental pages and the PolyU Experts Directory.

Research Outputs: Data presented on Researcher Profiles is mainly sourced from PolyU Research Output System (ROS) from Research Office. Other sources include Web of Science, Scopus, PubMed Central etc.

Organizational Details: All the faculties, schools and departments in PIRA are based on the University’s organizational hierarchy.

Patents: Data is received from PolyU’s Innovation and Technology Development Office.

Theses: Theses of Master of Philosophy and Doctoral Degrees awarded by the Hong Kong Polytechnic University are provided by Research Office

A: What type of materials in the Research Output System will be included in the PIRA?

Scholarly works in the following categories that are reported to the Research Output System (ROS) will automatically be loaded into the PIRA:

  • Scholarly books, monographs and chapters
  • Journal publications
  • Conference papers
  • Creative and literary works

While all metadata of these scholarly works will be made public, only resources that are suitable for open access will have the full text added by PIRA staff. PolyU academic and research staff are encouraged to send their final manuscript for these items via ROS page, or email their articles to the PIRA staff at library.ira@polyu.edu.hk.

A: How do I get my work into the PIRA?

There are four ways in which PolyU academic and research staff, research degree students, and academic equivalent staff can submit and deposit their scholarly outputs into the PIRA:

A: Information about me in PIRA is incorrect. What can I do about it?

If you see anything in your profile that needs to be updated, please click “Update your profile” and provide us with your up-to-date information. A significant amount of the research output data in PIRA is automatically imported from ROS, so any inaccuracies in data should be corrected at the raw source data. If you have any questions about profiles or experience any problems, please contact us at library.ira@polyu.edu.hk.

A: What is “Author identifier” in my profile?

A unique author identifier is a tool that attempts to establish unique identity for individual researchers and helps to track their associated publications. Using an author identifier enables you to control your profile and overcomes issues associated with variations of name spellings or institutions. Below are the author identifiers that collected in PIRA:

ORCID - ORCID (Open Researcher and Contributor Identifier) is a registry of unique identifiers for researchers and scholars. It helps to promote the discoverability of publications across multiple platforms and establishes a unique presence for researchers regardless of name variants or affiliation history. For more information see What is ORCID?

Scopus Author ID - is automatically assigned by matching variations of an author’s name to locate and verify a particular author’s research output in the Scopus citation database.

ResearcherID - researchers can register for a unique researcher ID number which is developed by Thomson Reuters and used in Web of Science. Researchers can update their profile information, build their publication list, and select to make their profile public or private.

Google Scholar Citations - researchers can create a profile easily. It provides a way for authors to keep track of citations to their articles, obtain up to date citation metrics and graph. Make your profile public, so that it appears in Google Scholar results when people search for your name.

A: What are the benefits of depositing my work in the PIRA?

Have your research work indexed and archived in the PIRA to enjoy the following benefits

  • Make your research and teaching activities known
  • Make your research more visible and discoverable through Google, Google Scholar and other search engines
  • Your work is permanently archived for you
  • Increase the chance of new contacts, promote research partnerships and facilitate knowledge transfer