Skip to content

ResearchWorks Withdrawal Policy

ResearchWorks is intended to provide persistent access to deposited material. Under limited circumstances, however, it may be necessary to remove material from the Repository. Any request for removal should be directed to ResearchWorks Administration and include the reasons for withdrawal. ResearchWorks Administrators may contact the requester for additional information. The decision to withdraw or not rests solely with ResearchWorks Administration.

Administrative Withdrawal

ResearchWorks Administration may terminate or suspend access to and use of the Repository for any reason, including for violation of any ResearchWorks Policy or other conduct that Administrators believe to be unlawful or harmful to others. Content not considered to fall under the scope of the Repository will be removed; see the ResearchWorks Collections Policy for more information.
Most triggers for withdrawal would involve discovery of an intellectual property violation or a personal- or cultural-privacy breach. A withdrawal request in this context may be initiated by the depositor, a member of the UW community, or an external entity. If a withdrawal is requested due to an alleged intellectual property or privacy violation, ResearchWorks Administration will notify the depositor and immediately block access to the item. ResearchWorks Administration is not responsible for resolving intellectual property or other ownership disputes. If it can be demonstrated that intellectual property rights were not violated, access to the item will be reinstated.

ResearchWorks Administration reserves the right to periodically reappraise materials deposited into the Repository.  If the materials are determined to no longer fall within the scope of ResearchWorks’s mission, they may be considered for deaccession. Any deaccessioning withdrawal will be carried out in a transparent and well-documented fashion, and in collaboration with the original depositor if feasible.

Contributor Withdrawal

Withdrawal is considered an exceptional action which must be requested and fully justified by the original contributor(s), as it is directly contrary to ResearchWorks’s goal of supporting the forthcoming UW Policy on Open Access. If the submission is based upon work that has been sponsored or supported by an agency or organization other than the University, the author(s) must fulfill any obligations required by the contract or agreement with the agency or organization before requesting withdrawal of deposit from ResearchWorks. Individual users may not remove items directly.

Items may not be withdrawn because the depositor or author is moving to another institution. The depositor has the right to give additional copies to other institutions under the non-exclusive agreement.

Persistence

Since any item that has existed within ResearchWorks may have been cited via its persistent URL, the Repositories will always supply a “tombstone” citation in place of the item. When a withdrawn item is requested, the original metadata along with a withdrawal statement will appear in place of the object.