Terms of Use

These terms govern your use of NADRE — the National Academic Digital Repository, operated by EthERNet. By creating an account or depositing anything in the repository, you agree to them.

1. The service

NADRE publishes research outputs — articles, datasets, software, theses and other digital objects — assigns each a permanent identifier, and makes the metadata openly available for discovery and reuse. EthERNet provides the service in good faith and free of charge. It is not a commercial product and carries no warranty of uninterrupted availability.

2. Accounts

  • You must be at least [MINIMUM AGE] to hold an account.
  • You must give accurate registration details and keep your email address current. Deposit notifications are sent to that address.
  • You are responsible for everything done under your account, including activity by anyone to whom you give access. Keep your credentials secret and tell us promptly if you think they have been compromised.
  • One person or project may hold one account. Bulk or automated account creation is not permitted.
  • We may suspend or close an account that breaches these terms, that infringes the rights of others, or that we are required to act on by law or by a competent authority. Where we can, we will tell you why and give you a chance to respond.

3. Acceptable use

You must not use the repository to:

  • deposit material you do not have the right to deposit;
  • infringe copyright, database rights, confidentiality, privacy, or any other right of another person;
  • deposit malware, or content that is unlawful, defamatory, or that promotes hatred or violence;
  • misrepresent your identity or your affiliation;
  • attempt to gain unauthorised access to the repository or to other users' data, including by scraping, automated enumeration, or bypassing access controls;
  • interfere with the operation of the service, including by deliberate denial-of-service, or by using an access level to obtain material you are not entitled to see;
  • harass or impersonate others.

We enforce these rules through technical measures — rate limiting, per-record access control and moderation — and, where necessary, by suspending accounts and withdrawing records.

4. Deposited content: your rights and your promise

You must hold the rights needed to deposit. By depositing, you warrant that:

  • you are the author or rights-holder, or you have the authority of the person who is;
  • you have permission from any co-author, supervisor or funder whose consent is required;
  • the deposit does not breach a confidentiality obligation, an employment agreement, or a third party's rights;
  • the material is accurate and is not plagiarised, and it does not infringe the rights of others.

You keep all rights in what you deposit unless you choose a licence. We claim no ownership over your content.

5. Licences

Each record carries its own licence, chosen by you at deposit. The licence is displayed with the record and governs how others may reuse the material. Common choices are Creative Commons licences and Open Data Commons licences; you can also choose to make a record available without a stated licence, in which case no permissions are granted and the material is all rights reserved.

Be aware that a no-licence deposit gives others no permission to reuse the material, and a restrictive licence may reduce re-use. We do not give legal advice on licence choice; if you are unsure, ask your library or research support office.

6. Metadata and the scholarly record

The metadata describing a record — creators, title, abstract, date, licence, identifier — is made openly available for indexing and reuse as soon as the record is published, even where the files themselves are restricted. This is how discovery services such as OpenAIRE, DataCite and the EOSC interoperability layer are able to find your work, and we ask that you expect it.

We will correct erroneous metadata on request. A published metadata record is treated as part of the permanent scholarly record and is not deleted on request. If a record must be removed, see section 7.

7. Withdrawal and removal

You may withdraw a record you own at any time. Withdrawal leaves the metadata in place, clearly marked as withdrawn, and stops serving the files. This preserves the scholarly record — including that a persistent identifier once existed — while making the content unavailable.

We may remove a record that breaches section 3, that infringes the rights of others, or that we are legally required to remove. Where we can, we will contact you first and explain why.

8. Availability and third-party services

Files are mirrored and backed up, and we work to keep the service continuously available, but we may suspend it for maintenance or in an emergency. Persistent identifiers resolve to a landing page, so a withdrawn record still points somewhere meaningful.

The service relies on third parties for email delivery and for external identity providers. Their availability is outside our control.

9. Disclaimer

The repository is provided as is, without warranties of any kind, whether express or implied, including fitness for a particular purpose, non-infringement, and uninterrupted availability. Deposited material is not peer reviewed, and its presence in the repository is not a statement of its quality, correctness, or endorsement by EthERNet.

10. Limitation of liability

To the fullest extent permitted by law, EthERNet is not liable for loss of data, loss of profit, or any indirect or consequential loss arising from your use of the repository. Nothing in these terms excludes liability that cannot lawfully be excluded, including for death or personal injury caused by negligence, or for fraud.

11. Indemnity

You agree to indemnify EthERNet against claims arising from your deposit breaching section 4, to the extent permitted by law.

12. Intellectual property

[CONFIRM WHETHER ETHERNET CLAIMS OR DISCLAIMS ANY RIGHTS IN THE REPOSITORY SOFTWARE, LOGO AND "NADRE" NAME, AND WHETHER THIRD-PARTY LICENCES — INCLUDING INVENIO AND INVENIORDM — REQUIRE ATTRIBUTION OR NOTICE IN A DEPLOYED INSTANCE.]

13. Governing law

These terms are governed by the laws of [JURISDICTION, e.g. the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia], and the courts of [JURISDICTION] have exclusive jurisdiction. Mandatory consumer protections that apply to you under the law of your country of residence are unaffected.

14. Changes to these terms

We may update these terms. Material changes will be announced on this page and, where the change affects you significantly, by email to registered users. Continuing to use the repository after a change means you accept it. If you do not accept it, you may close your account and withdraw your records.

15. Contact

Questions about these terms: [SUPPORT EMAIL]
Postal address: [REGISTERED ADDRESS]