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IRis - Bishop's University Institutional Repository

This guide is to help navigate IRis, BU's Institutional Repository

Discover IRis

IRis is a dedicated institutional repository designed to collect, preserve, and showcase the diverse academic and creative contributions produced by Bishop's University scholars. All items in IRis are open access, either immediately upon deposit or following a publisher-imposed embargo period.

By promoting open access, the Bishop's University repository ensures that these valuable resources are easily discoverable and accessible to a global audience, enhancing the visibility and impact of our community's scholarship.
 

We invite you to explore our collections and consider contributing your own work to enrich this growing digital collection.

To make the most of your experience, please read our recommendations on how to best search and navigate IRis.

What is an Institutional Repository?

An institutional repository (IR) is a digital platform managed by a university or research institution that collects, preserves, and disseminates the intellectual output of its academic community.

What Can Be Deposited in IRis?

IRis serves as a central hub for Bishop’s University’s intellectual contributions by hosting a diverse range of scholarly outputs. Graduate students are required to deposit their final work, and IRis also supports the dissemination of other academic materials produced within the university community.

Types of Content Accepted in IRis

  • Theses and dissertations
  • Articles (published, accepted, or preprints)
  • Books and book chapters
  • Research-creation projects
  • Conference papers, posters, and presentations
  • Research reports
  • Open Educational Resources (OERs)
  • Supplementary materials (e.g., appendices, multimedia files)

How IRis Supports Research at Bishop’s University

  • Open Access & Compliance: IRis makes research freely available to a global audience and helps researchers meet open access requirements from funding agencies such as the Tri-Agency and the Fonds de recherche du Québec (FRQ).
  • Self-Archiving & Copyright: Researchers can deposit various versions of their work. Authors retain copyright and grant IRis a non-exclusive license for dissemination and preservation.
  • Visibility & Impact: Deposited works are indexed and assigned persistent identifiers (like DOIs or Handles), improving discoverability and ensuring reliable citation.
  • Preservation: IRis provides a stable digital environment to ensure long-term access to research outputs.

IRis and the Scholaris Initiative

Scholaris is a national initiative jointly developed by the Canadian Association of Research Libraries (CARL), University of Toronto Libraries, and the Ontario Council of University Libraries (OCUL) to establish a shared institutional repository service for Canadian academic institutions. Scholaris provides technical and community infrastructure to strengthen the discovery, access, and preservation of scholarly outputs across the country. 

Bishop’s University is proud to be an early adopter of Scholaris. We actively participated in the pilot phase and helped shape the service model that will be offered to institutions nationwide. Our institutional repository, IRis, is built on the Scholaris infrastructure, meaning it’s not only aligned with national standards, but also part of a growing network of trusted repositories.

Importantly, all data and documents deposited in IRis are securely hosted and stored on Canadian servers managed by Scholars Portal, ensuring compliance with Canadian privacy and data protection standards.

By depositing your work in IRis, you benefit from:

  • A secure and sustainable platform supported by national organizations;
  • Compliance with open access policies from major funding agencies;
  • Enhanced visibility through standardized metadata and persistent identifiers;
  • A commitment to long-term preservation and discoverability.

IRis is more than a local repository: it’s part of a national movement toward open, accessible, and collaborative scholarship. We invite all Bishop’s academic staff to take part by depositing their work and contributing to this shared vision.