Researcher Support Library Services: PEARL
(Plymouth Electronic Archive and Research Library) is Plymouth University's open access repository of full text research outputs, including research theses. PEARL showcases the University's research and aims to increase the visibility and impact of research, enhancing the reputation of both researchers and the University. PEARL supports open access to research, enabling you to share your outputs with other researchers and the general public.
Showcasing research and generating impact
PEARL is the University's Open Access Research Repository showcasing UoP research, meeting funder policies and accumulates over 20,000 downloads a month! PEARL can showcase articles, conference proceedings, posters, datasets, PhD theses. The Library can provide advice on how to create a portfolio or collection within PEARL e.g. a group of outputs connected to a grant funded project plus advice on depositing non-traditional outputs such as creative works - contact your Information Specialist to find out more.
How is my research discovered through PEARL?
PEARL is harvested by major search engines, other repositories and aggregator services like the British Library's EThOS (for PhD theses), Primo (University of Plymouth Library Search) and Google Scholar for increased visibility and impact of your research.
The Open Access movement has seen several OA finder tools develop in recent years connecting readers to Green Open Access content (repository Accepted Manuscript versions of published work) if the published version is paywalled. Examples include:
- Unpaywall
- CORE
- Open Access Button
- Endnote Click (a Clarivate/Web of Science product, formerly Kopernio)
These tools can be added as browser extensions and will 'pop up' with links to Green Open Access content (e.g. PEARL content) when someone reaches a paywalled article on the publisher site.
Databases are increasingly discovering Green Open Access content too and abstract records in Web of Science now connect to PEARL.
University hosted journals
PEARL now hosts a number of journals set up by University of Plymouth academic staff. PEARL is also the home of the Plymouth Student Scientist, showcasing excellence in Undergraduate research since 2008. The Library can provide guidance on the process of initial journal set up and academic staff will organise the submission, peer-review and publication. Please contact your Information Specialist if you would like to find out more about setting up a journal on PEARL (including the proceedings of locally held conferences).
PEARL statistics
How to deposit your thesis
Deposit to Pearl (REF Open Access)
Depositing Datasets
Policies
- PEARL PoliciesSummary of PEARL policies, including file formats, copyright and take-down.
- University of Plymouth Open Access PolicyCompliance with this policy will satisfy funder mandates and REF submission requirements.
PEARL Deposit Agreements
- Deposit agreement (generic)For most research outputs. This is the agreement in place for submission of research outputs via Elements
- Deposit agreement for research thesesFor Post-Graduate Research students depositing their thesis into the Research Theses Collection
- Deposit agreement for conference papers and proceedingsFor external contributors whose papers are going to be deposited to a conference collection or included in conference proceedings.
- Deposit agreement for University of Plymouth journalsFor external contributors whose papers are going to be included in a Plymouth University journal and / or hosted in the 'Plymouth University Journals' collection.