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The metadata form

The Describe section is where you tell the repository about your work. Good metadata is what makes an item findable and correctly cited, so it's worth a few careful minutes.

Required fields are marked

Fields with a marker (usually *) must be filled in before you can deposit. The form won't let you finish until they're complete.

The Describe step of the submission form, showing the Author, Title, and Date of Issue fields

The main fields

Field What to put in it
Title The full title of the work, capitalised normally.
Author(s) One entry per author, typed as Family name, Given names (e.g. Warsame, Faduma Cabdi). If the author has an ORCID iD, pick them from the list that appears (see ORCID below). Click Add more for each extra author and keep them in the right order.
Date issued The year (and month/day if known) the work was completed or published.
Type What the item is — Thesis, Article, Report, and so on.
Supervisor Theses only — appears once Type is Thesis. The supervisor's name, typed and picked the same way as an author. Optional; add co-supervisors with Add more.
Language The language of the work (e.g. English). Set this explicitly.
Subject / Keywords A few terms readers might search for. Add several.
Abstract A short summary. Paste the work's own abstract if it has one.

The full field list

The fields you'll see on the Doctoral Dissertations form are: Author, Title, Other Titles, Date of Issue, Publisher, Citation, Series/Report No., Identifiers (ISSN/ISBN/etc.), Type, Supervisor (theses only), Language on the first page; Subject Keywords, Abstract, Sponsors, and Description on the second. Fill in everything you can — richer metadata makes the work easier to find and cite.

ORCID gives every researcher a permanent iD, so their work is credited to them even when names are spelled differently. The Author and Supervisor fields look people up in the ORCID registry as you type.

  1. Type the name as Family name, Given names, e.g. Abubakar, Abdirahman.
  2. Wait a moment (about 2–3 seconds): a list of matching ORCID records appears, each with the person's ORCID iD and first and last names.
  3. Pick the right person. Check the iD, because many people share a name. If you don't know it, ask the author, or look them up on orcid.org.
  4. If nobody matches, just keep what you typed. A name without an ORCID is accepted.

Offices and units: never pick a person

When the author is an office or unit (e.g. Amoud University, ICT Unit), type the name and leave it as typed. Don't choose an ORCID entry, even if a similar person appears in the list.

Why it matters

When the item is approved, the ORCID iDs you picked travel with its DOI to Crossref. The work then shows up correctly against each author's ORCID record.

Postgraduate submissions: an extra step

If you're depositing into a collection under the School of Postgraduate Studies & Research, the form adds a short extra Describe step:

  • Contributing faculty (required) — select The School of Postgraduate Studies and Research. The School's individual faculties are still being finalised, so everyone picks the School for now.
  • Programme (optional) — write the programme you're studying (e.g. MSc Public Health, PhD Shari'ah). Leave it blank if you're a lecturer depositing your own work.

The Postgraduate step with the Contributing faculty dropdown and Programme field

Published elsewhere? Record the existing DOI

If the work already has a DOI from a publisher, the repository reuses it rather than minting a new one. In the Identifiers field, choose DOI from the type dropdown and paste the DOI value (e.g. 10.1109/5.771073).

The Identifiers field with DOI chosen and a DOI value entered

Enter the bare DOI, not a web link

Type only the DOI itself — 10.1109/5.771073 — starting with 10.. Do not paste the full web address (https://doi.org/10.1109/5.771073) or the old dx.doi.org form. The repository builds the link for you from the bare DOI; a URL in this field will not be recognised correctly.

Recording it here means no duplicate DOI is created when the item is approved. If you're not sure, just mention the DOI to your reviewer and they'll add it. See DOIs & ARKs explained.

Some Amoud classification is added by the RIC

A few extra fields aren't on the deposit form — college / school, version (Submitted / Accepted / Published), and SDG alignment. The RIC adds these when they review the item (or they're set during a bulk import), so you don't need to. To keep a file closed until a date, set that yourself on the file — see Embargo & access conditions.

Next steps