What are the benefits of using Manara?
Manara offers a permanent home for your research outputs, whether it is a preprint, a published open access article, a dataset, or other non-traditional academic output. The main benefits are:
- Your research outputs will be digitally preserved by Qatar National Library.
- You can make your research citable by requesting a digital object identifier (DOI) for every deposited item.
- You can increase your research impact by making all types of research outputs open access.
- You can make your research more transparent and reproducible by depositing data and computational methods (software) that support your publications.
- You can fulfill your funder or grant agency requirements for depositing your research outputs in a trusted repository.
- You can track the usage metrics of your research outputs.
- You can make your research outputs FAIR.
How can I deposit research outputs in Manara?
You will need to register for an account using this link. Once you have your account credentials, you will need to log in to Manara to continue the process of depositing your item(s). You can use the guide here (will be available soon), which describes all steps required for a deposit. Please read the terms and conditions before depositing to Manara.
How long is the user registration process?
Once we receive your registration request, the Library will usually need up to three working days to provide you with your login credentials. In some cases, we may get back to you for additional information to verify your eligibility to use the service.
How can I make my research outputs open access on Manara?
Open access refers to free and instant, unrestricted, online access to research outputs. Open access removes barriers to accessing research and ensures that your work reaches the widest possible audience, which increases the number of readers and citations, and improves reproducibility and re-use of content.
When you deposit your research outputs in Manara, you can choose one of many open licenses pre-defined there, including Creative Commons Licenses. For more details on how to select the best license, please check the User Guide (will be available soon).
How discoverable is the material deposited in Manara?
Manara is powered by Figshare, which strives to make your openly licensed material discoverable by leveraging keywords and other metadata submitted as part of the submission process. Deposits made open on Manara will be indexed by Google and should appear in due time in Google searches, Google Scholar and Google Dataset. For more information on the discoverability of your research, click here.
Is content deposited to Manara indexed by Google Scholar?
Yes, content deposited to Manara may be indexed by Google Scholar, but there are some conditions involved. Manara is built on the Figshare platform, which follows Google's guidelines to ensure certain types of research outputs—such as posters, journal contributions, conference papers, presentations, chapters, reports, monographs, theses, books, and preprints—are eligible for indexing by Google Scholar. Figshare implements necessary meta tags, provides direct PDF links, and offers sitemaps to facilitate this indexing (see https://help.figshare.com/article/is-figshare-content-indexed-by-google-scholar).
However, while Figshare follows these guidelines, Manara administrators do not have direct control over the indexing process by Google Scholar. They monitor general indexing through Google Search Console and maintain contact with Figshare's technical support if any issues arise with indexing. In case of concerns regarding specific content not appearing in Google Scholar, users should contact the Manara helpdesk for assistance.
Who can deposit research outputs in Manara?
Any researcher affiliated with a Qatar-based research institution may register and deposit materials to Manara.
How much does it cost to deposit material in Manara?
Currently, there is no cost for individual users who want to deposit their research outputs. Manara is also open for deposits of any research outputs from projects funded by Qatar National Research Fund.
What type of research outputs can I deposit in Manara?
We expect that most users will deposit research publications or datasets, but you may also choose to deposit the following items: preprints, journal and conference contributions, figures, books, book chapters, posters, presentations, theses, software code, media files or any other creative works.
We expect that only the final version of works, datasets, etc. will be deposited. Manara is not designed to be a storage platform for working or temporary files generated during research projects.
What size/amount of materials can I deposit in Manara?
The default storage limit for new user accounts is 20 gigabytes per user. We may increase the limit upon individual request. The technical system limitation is 500 files per single deposited item. We strongly recommend compressing files into a ZIP archive before submission if the number of files is more than 50.
How do I prepare my dataset for submission?
To make sure that the dataset is ready for submission and will meet Manara quality requirements, we strongly recommend following the Manara Research Outputs Quality Guidelines.
What happens after I submit my dataset?
Your submitted material will not be published immediately. Once you upload your files and submit the materials and metadata, you will receive an email confirmation that the files have been received by the Manara curation team. The curation team will review your submission according to the Manara Research Outputs Quality Guidelines and either make the materials public or ask you to make any necessary modifications or additions to your submission.
Submissions may have an additional review step depending on the declared research funding agency, which will review the data before deciding to make it public or not.
Is there a scholarly review process for the submissions?
Generally, there is no scholarly review of the content or any peer review process. The Manara curation team will only review your submission according to the Manara Research Outputs Quality Guidelines, which do not cover any discipline-specific validation.
We expect depositors to follow the Terms and Conditions of Manara, in particular:
- to submit research outputs that the depositors have the necessary rights to publish on Manara;
- not to submit research outputs that contain sensitive, restricted, or legally protected data;
- to fulfill any obligations or review processes required by their institutions or funding bodies that have supported the research behind the deposited research outputs.
An additional evaluation process of the intellectual property in the deposited materials will be in place for research outputs funded by Qatar National Research Fund (QNRF).
Is Manara a research publishing platform?
Manara is a repository allowing researchers to make their research outputs available online. It's not a research publishing platform in a traditional sense.
How long will it take to see my research outputs online after submission?
The duration of the review process depends on several factors, such as the type of submission, the number of uploaded files, and the overall complexity of the submission. The overall timeframe can also be impacted by institutional or grant funding agencies' submission deadlines.
However, we aim to provide the initial feedback on the submission within five working days from the submission.
Will the deposit receive a digital object identifier (DOI)?
Every deposit intended for public access and which has not received a DOI through another online platform may receive a DOI from Manara upon request. For example, when depositing a previously unpublished dataset or a research poster, you can request a DOI from Manara. But if you are depositing an open access paper already published in a journal and have received a DOI from there, you shouldn't request a second DOI from Manara as it will negatively impact the citation tracking.
Can I edit or delete my deposit after it has been made public?
Manara supports version control of all publicly available data. Editing an item that was already made available online will create a new version of it. In exceptional cases, you can also request the deletion of an item by contacting the Manara Team. For details, please check the User Guide (will be available soon).
Can I embargo my deposit or completely restrict public access to it?
We recommend that deposits are made public to increase their dissemination and to benefit readers. However, if needed, you may choose one of the following options:
- An embargo on files - the metadata record will be made available online to the public immediately, and the files in the submission will be automatically made public at a date specified at the time of submission.
- Fully restricted items - both the metadata record and the files in the submission will be preserved in Manara but will not be made publicly available online in any way.
At any point you may request to make any embargoed or fully restricted items publicly available.