Library and Learning Services
Leicester Research Archive
The Leicester Research Archive (LRA) is the University of Leicester's institutional repository of research. We use it to collect and curate the University's scholarly publications and research data, and enable the preservation and discovery of our open access collections. LRA is managed by the Library's Research Services team.
Together, the Internal Research Information System (IRIS) and the Leicester Research Archive (LRA) are the means by which staff manage their publication records and make those publications, and other outputs, open and accessible to an external audience. Most outputs should be deposited to the LRA via IRIS, but there are some exceptions (see how to deposit your work below).
The LRA contains over 33,000 full-text items including journal articles, conference papers, book chapters, monographs, data, theses, audio-visual material and reports. Items hosted in LRA are well-indexed by major search engines, including Google and Google Scholar. The aims and objectives of the Leicester Research Archive are:
- To increase the visibility, usage and impact of Leicester’s research outputs
- To ensure the long-term storage, preservation and access to Leicester’s research at an institutional level
- To empower Leicester researchers and research students to showcase their research outputs, helping to raise their national and international profile
- To attract increased funding to Leicester’s institutes, schools and researchers.
Learn more about our LRA policies. If you have any questions, please email openaccess@leicester.ac.uk.
IRIS
IRIS is the University's Current Research Information System (CRIS) enabling staff to record research activities and manage the metadata for all research outputs. IRIS is used for a range of internal reporting purposes, including preparations for the Research Excellence Framework. IRIS is managed by the Research Enterprise Division (RED) and they provide guides on how to use the system (log-in required).
How to deposit your work
Depositing research publications (via IRIS)
All research publications should be deposited via IRIS (log-in required), the University's internal Current Research Information System. Please login to IRIS using your University of Leicester credentials and follow the instructions to add a new publication, or claim an existing one if your co-authors have already created a record. If you need help using IRIS, please email: irissupport@leicester.ac.uk.
If you don’t have access to LRA (e.g. if you are a research student) please speak with your supervisor, or email us openaccess@leicester.ac.uk and a member of the team will add the publication for you.
All publications will have a handle, which can be used for citing and sharing.
Depositing a thesis
If you are completing a research degree, the final version of your thesis should be submitted via MyPGR (log-in required). After the award has been processed, the Research Services team will make the digital copy of the thesis available via LRA. New academic staff do not need to create a record of their thesis in IRIS, as a copy should be available via your awarding institution.
All theses will get a DOI for citing and sharing. You can view the thesis collection on the LRA. For general enquiries about the thesis collection, please email ethesis@leicester.ac.uk.
Embargos
If you think you need an embargo on your thesis, you should complete a ‘Thesis Embargo’ request within MyPGR. You should do this at the same time as submitting the thesis for examination. Further advice is available on the Doctoral College pages.
Masters or undergraduate dissertations
We do not collect either digital or hard copies of master's or undergraduate dissertations. All enquires about past master's or undergraduate dissertations should be directed to the school or department.
Depositing data
Data outputs (including datasets, figures, media and software) should be deposited via the Figshare interface. Data outputs will get a DOI for citing and sharing. For more details on how to deposit data, and a pre-deposit checklist, please refer to our guide (log-in required).
If you have questions about depositing data, please email researchdata@leicester.ac.uk.
Reports and grey literature
We collect and make available reports, review protocols, department-published books and other grey literature produced by University of Leicester staff and research students. We strongly recommend using the LRA for these kinds of publications, rather than relying on department or personal webpages.
We can provide DOIs and ISBNs for reports, books and other one-off publications. Learn more about open publishing at Leicester.