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FAQ: the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew Research Repository and the Shared Repository Service
1. What content is held in the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew’s repository?
The repository contains research outputs by Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew staff, such as journal articles, book chapters, conference papers, books, and research reports.
2. Is everything available to download?
Where a full text copy of the item is held, it is available to read and download for your own research.
Sometimes publisher licence restrictions do not allow us to hold the full file; in those cases, the ‘Official URL’ link usually leads to the full item.
3. What kind of research does the RBG, Kew do?
Loss of biodiversity, climate change, plant pests and diseases, human population growth, and the associated challenges of food security and human health, are causing unprecedented stress on human societies around the world. Plants and fungi hold the key to help solve these challenges through the fundamental life-giving processes they drive, the properties they contain, and the materials and food they provide.
Through increasing understanding of why plants and fungi matter, RBG, Kew unlocks their potential.
Our scientific research into plant resources such as coffee in Ethiopia or yams in Madagascar, diseases and pests such as fungal pathogens, and chemical traits and properties of plants and fungi used in traditional medicinal remedies, help to find solutions to the critical challenges we face. For more information about Kew’s scientific priorities and research programmes, visit www.kew.org/science.
4. Who can deposit content?
Items in the repository have at least one creator or contributor who is a member of RBG, Kew staff. RBG, Kew Honorary Research Associates, collaborative PhD students and PhD placement students also contribute their research items to the repository where appropriate. Some outputs are produced by RBG, Kew departments rather than individuals.
Material not produced by or in association with RBG, Kew is not eligible for inclusion.
5. Are RBG Kew’s major collections held in the repository?
No, the repository contains only research outputs. To explore Kew’s collections including digitised herbarium specimens, items from our Economic Botany Collection, or items from Kew’s archives, please browse our collections databases, found here: https://www.kew.org/science/collections-and-resources/data-and-digital/collections-catalogues
6. What is the 'relevance' order of search results?
When sorted by relevance, results are displayed according to an algorithm taking account of the frequency and position of the search terms within each item and across all content. Your search term might occur in the files as well or instead of the displayed metadata.
Note you can change the display order to show search results sorted by other means.
7. Can I re-use the items for my research?
Research outputs are made available in the Repository on terms agreed with the authors/depositors of the outputs. As a user you may use the items only if you abide by the licence or other terms under which it has been released, e.g., the terms of a specific Creative Commons Licence. Where no licence is displayed, unless indicated otherwise items made publicly available in the Repository are protected by copyright with all rights reserved.
Sometimes individual files have their own file-level licences, and these may be different for each file where there's more than one. Look for licence information at the record level and also at the file level. Licence information is only displayed where known.
7. How can I get in touch about an item in the RBG, Kew repository?
For enquiries on specific items in the RBG, Kew repository, please use the Contact form linked at the bottom of the repository.
If you are the owner of the copyright or related rights in any of the material in the RBG, Kew Research Repository and you believe that use of this material infringes your intellectual property or any other rights, or you believe that the material may be subject to a third party ownership or another legal claim, please contact us in writing using the Contact form.
To enquire about an item held in any of the other repositories, use the ‘Contact’ link at the bottom of that repository.
8. I can’t log into the Shared Repository Service or RBG, Kew Research Repository, please help!
Currently, all content in the Shared Repository Service is openly available and there is no login for public users. If a file you wish to view is embargoed, you must contact the relevant repository’s organisation to ask for access, please see below. Access is not guaranteed to any restricted item.
9. What is the Shared Repository Service?
The RBG, Kew repository is part of the Shared Repository Service, which brings together the research outputs of a number of UK-based cultural heritage organisations. The Shared Repository Service was originally intended for IROs (Independent Research Organisations), which are non-Higher Education organisations in receipt of public funding for their research. The Service has since grown to include cultural heritage organisations that produce research but are not classed as IROs.
The Shared Repository Service provides a window on the research produced by such organisations through a single point of access and discovery.
Each partner has its own repository which can be searched separately, but you can also explore the combined content of all partners by clicking on the ‘Shared Repository Homepage’ link at the top of each page. When a search is done at this level, results indicate the organisation responsible for that research.
10. What organisations are involved in the service and how is it managed?
Our current partners in the Shared Repository Service can be found on the main Shared Repository homepage. The British Library manages the Shared Service on behalf of all participating organisations.
11. What software does the Shared Repository Service use?
12. Can I access the Repository’s OAI-PMH endpoint?
You can find this at https://kew.iro.bl.uk/server/oai/
13. How can I find out more?