Published: April 4, 2023

CU Scholar, the institutional repository that provides free and worldwide access to the research and scholarship of the CU Boulder community, is now certified as one of the most reliable repositories in the world.

The certification known as CoreTrustSeal marks CU Scholar as a trustworthy digital repository where researchers and scholars can place their work in confidence that it will remain readable, discoverable, accessible and unaltered. Likewise, the global research community can use CU Scholar, which is open access, in the knowledge that the digital information contained there will not become corrupted or degrade over time.

“Reliable scholarship depends upon repositories that can be trusted to preserve digital assets for the long term,” said Thea Lindquist, executive director for Center for Research Data and Digital Scholarship, a collaboration between the University Libraries and Research Computing. “To be considered trustworthy, they must adhere to rigorous standards and established protocols. We are very proud that CU Scholar has met the requirements for CoreTrustSeal certification and believe it will enhance the research reputation of the university for many years to come.”

To receive the CoreTrustSeal certification, the repository demonstrated that it complied with16 requirements for best practices and reliability, based on evidence of organizational infrastructure, digital object management, and technology support. 

“CU Scholar serves the campus community and the global research community by making information freely accessible and discoverable on the open web. This CoreTrustSeal certification marks the international preservation community's acknowledgement of CU Scholar's sustainable practices and infrastructure,’’ said Robert H. McDonald, dean of the University Libraries and Senior Vice Provost of Online Education. “Attaining this certification recognizes that CU Scholar is among repositories at some of the top institutions worldwide working to ensure that our repository data remains available in perpetuity.”

CoreTrustSeal is an international community-based, non-governmental, and non-profit organization established under Dutch law to provide a framework for reliable data infrastructures and practices. 

For further information about CU Scholar and how to submit research and scholarly work, contact cuscholaradmin@colorado.edu