Terms for Deposit

This document sets out the Terms under which items are deposited and held in the amber , including the rights and responsibilities of the depositor and LKS ASE who manage amber.

1. LKS ASE policy for NHS ambulance service staff depositing in amber

amber provides a route to open access for publication where one or more author(s) is a member of staff  of an NHS ambulance service.

2. Material to be deposited

1. Only Research Outputs connected to NHS ambulance services can be deposited in amber. Connected means research outputs authored by current or former NHS ambulance service staff member(s).
2. Those depositing research outputs must have the authority or permission to do so. Barring exceptional circumstances, the metadata about the research outputs will be made publicly available in line with the FAIR principles: Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable.  Wherever possible depositors will be asked to make their outputs publicly available, allowing for appropriate embargoes where applicable and necessary.

3. Responsibilities of depositors

1. Depositors must ensure that any research outputs submitted to amber were generated in accordance with the relevant codes of practice and ethics, and in accordance with policies of relevant research funders.
2. Depositors must ensure that, should the output(s) contain the personal data of any third party, the output(s) and its/their deposit and publication for the purpose of archiving in the public interest will not cause substantial distress or damage to that third party. Where content to be deposited contains personal data this constitutes a transfer of personal data between two data controllers and depositors must warrant and represent on an on-going basis that they have a legal basis to process and share that personal data.
3. Depositors are responsible for the content and the quality of submitted files, including ensuring that if the submission contains material for which the depositor does not hold copyright, and that exceeds fair dealing permitted by law, the depositor will have obtained permission of the copyright owner to grant LKS ASE the rights required to make the output available in amber, and that such third party-owned material is clearly identified and acknowledged within the text or content of the submission.
4. Depositors must be willing and able to grant LK ASE the right and licence to preserve and distribute their research outputs via amber. Members of the LKS ASE amber team may deposit on behalf of the depositor.  In this instance depositors will have previously agreed to the Terms of Deposit via email exchange.  A link to the deposited items will be sent to the depositor after the deposit is completed.
5. A licence may be attached to the research output; this will either be the licence associated with the output by the publisher, or a Creative Commons attribution licence.  LKS ASE reserves the right to select a licence for the work.
6. Where the research output relates to research that received external research funding, depositors must adhere to the funder’s expectations around open deposit of outputs. Funders should always be acknowledged by including the correct name of the funder in the metadata for the output.
7. Depositors are responsible for ensuring that submitted research outputs have an appropriate metadata description. The amber team may add metadata records on behalf of the depositor without seeking their express permission. Abstracts and links to journal articles or publishers’ websites may be included where relevant.
8. Complete publications will not normally be added without the depositor’s permission, unless the item is already openly available and the re-use rights allow LKS ASE to make a copy.
9. Where a research output authored by the depositor has one or more co-authors, or where the NHS ambulance staff member is not a main author but a contributor to the output, the depositor is responsible for obtaining agreement by the author or co-authors to deposit in amber.
10. Depositors have the right to request removal of the output from the repository after it is deposited, and/or changes to the metadata. LKS ASE reserves the right to decide how to respond to such requests.

4. LKS ASE’s rights and responsibilities

LKS ASE:

1. May make copies of the outputs (including the abstract(s)) available worldwide, in electronic format via any medium for the lifetime of amber, or as negotiated with the amber administrator, for the purpose of free access without charge.
2. May electronically store, translate, copy, or re-arrange the output(s) to ensure its/their future accessibility within the lifetime of amber,  that is, to ensure it can be read by computer systems in the future, unless notified by the depositor that specific restrictions apply
3. May incorporate metadata or documentation into public access catalogues for the output(s)
4. Shall not be under any obligation to take legal action on behalf of the Depositor or other rights holders in the event of breach of intellectual property rights or any other right in the material deposited
5. Shall not be under any obligation to reproduce, transmit, broadcast, or display the output(s) in the same format or software as that in which it was/they were originally created
6. May share usage statistics giving details of numbers of downloads and other statistics with NHS organisations and external stakeholders
7. May create a persistent identifier for the output in the form of a URI  from Handle.Net
8. Reserves the right not to accept material which does not directly relate to research related to NHS ambulance services, or for any other reason deemed reasonable
9. Reserves the right to remove outputs from amber without notice for technical, administrative or legal reasons. In such a case, metadata relating to the output may remain visible
10. While every care will be taken to preserve the output, LKS ASE  is not liable for loss or damage to the output(s) or associated data while it is stored within amber
11. Full text publications placed in amber are covered by copyright law and clear conditions of use are displayed on the page associated with each document.

5. Use of your items deposited in amber – end user access

1. Research outputs are made available in amber on terms agreed by you on deposit. End users may use an item only if they abide by the licence or other terms under which it has been released, e.g. the terms of a specific Creative Commons Licence.
2. Unless indicated otherwise, items made publicly available in amber are protected by copyright with all rights reserved.
3. To ensure licence compliance and good research practice, research outputs also need to be properly acknowledged, including citing their author(s) and full bibliographic details.

04 April 2025