Scholarly Commons Digital Repository Hits 1 Million Downloads

Embry-Riddle’s Scholarly Commons, which launched in 2013 and has been highlighted in the industry as a resource for educational institutions, government agencies and businesses, is an open-access digital repository of work produced primarily by the faculty, students and staff of Embry-Riddle’s Daytona Beach, Fla., Prescott, Ariz., and Worldwide campuses.

While the majority of the readers are from the United States, there are also many from the United Kingdom, India, France, China, Germany and Canada, to name a few.

“In both undergraduate and graduate courses, Scholarly Commons is being used to provide a direct connection for students to find current research, incorporate research into class assignments, and  publish their works,” said Dr. Christopher D. Grant, vice provost of Academic Support.

Dr. Aaron Glassman, chair of the Department of Technology Management for the Worldwide Campus, said Scholarly Commons has allowed the department to have a central repository to showcase its research.

“This has increased readership and even resulted in some additional collaboration opportunities with others who have read our work,” Dr. Glassman said.

Scholarly Commons showcases about 14,500 works from dissertations and journal articles to student research, art exhibits, photographs, bibliographies and more. For example, nine out of the top 10 journal articles downloaded from Scholarly Commons are from Embry-Riddle’s Journal of Aviation/Aerospace Education & Research.

“It’s clear that Scholarly Commons enhances the ability of the JAAER to promote new research as well as previously published articles. The platform is appealing to our authors as well as those conducting aviation research,” said Dr. Daniel Friedenzohn, associate dean in the College of Aviation and editor of the Journal of Aviation/Aerospace Education and Research.

Another of the most read items is the annual Airline Quality Rating Report for various years dating back to 1991.

Other journals include Beyond: Undergraduate Research Journal; International Bulletin of Political Psychology; International Journal of Aviation, Aeronautics, and Aerospace; Journal of Digital Forensics, Security and Law; and McNair Scholars Research Journal as well as annual conference proceedings from The Space Congress dating back to 1963.

Magazines that were added last year include Embry-Riddle’s alumni magazine Lift; ResearchER; and the Annual Report on Philanthropy, along with back issues. In August, Embry-Riddle also added the Language as a Human Factor (LHUFT) in Aviation Resource Center and the Language as a Human Factor in Aviation Safety Bibliography, composed of references to  articles, books, reports, dissertations and theses on a variety of topics pertaining to language as a human factor in aerospace.

If readers want to explore Embry-Riddle’s history, there are also issues of Embry-Riddle’s archived newsletter, Fly Paper, dating back to World War II. Readers can browse editions of Embry-Riddle’s former yearbook, The Phoenix; issues of the Daytona Beach Campus student newspaper, The Avion, dating back to 1969; and other newsletters.

The Embry-Riddle University Archives featured on Scholarly Commons also includes oral history interviews with alumni, staff, faculty, administrators and community supporters who have helped shape Embry-Riddle history.

“Through this wider platform, we are now able to spotlight specific collections much more effectively,” said University Archivist Kevin Montgomery.

While Scholarly Commons never anticipated a date for hitting the million mark, Dr. Anne Marie Casey, dean of Scholarly Communication and the Hunt Library, is looking forward to reaching 2 million even more quickly.