Esploro Glossary of Terms and Basic Concepts
This page gives a glossary of basic concepts and terms in Esploro. For a video describing the terminology and data model in Esploro see here. For a quick guide showing how to access the most common Esploro features and where to get more information on them, see here. For the basic Esploro workflows see here.
Esploro Glossary of Terms
The following table provides descriptions for some of the basic Esploro terms and concepts.
| Term | Description |
|---|---|
| Admin UI | The Esploro administrator user interface. |
| Asset | A research output from a researcher. The asset includes metadata about the asset, as well as either the digital files that comprise the output or links to the output. |
| Asset category | A conceptual category associated with a research asset See Research Asset Categories and Types. |
| Asset metadata | The information part of an asset that describes the research asset and contains its status and other information. |
| Asset Type | The specific type of research asset, such as Journal Article, Book Chapter, or Dataset. Asset types are grouped by asset category See Research Asset Categories and Types. |
| Contributor | Any person or organization, other than creators, who contributes to a research asset. |
| Creator | The owner and any other person who is considered the author or creator of the asset. |
| Deposit | A research asset before it is approved to be part of Esploro's repository (status Draft, Submitted, or Returned). |
| DOI | Digital Object Identifier, used to identify resources and the entities that register them. For registering DOIs see here. |
| ETD | Electronic Theses and Dissertations |
| External ETD | An ETD created in association with an institution or organization other than the local one. |
| External organization unit | A research organization unit that is external to the institution. |
| Funder | The organization that funds a grant. In Esploro, funders are selected from external research organizations. |
| Funder agency | A sub-unit of a funder. In Esploro, funders are selected from external research organizations. |
| Grant | Money or other funding provided by an organization to assist in creating an asset. |
| Handle | You can add persistent identifiers, called handles, to assets that allow them to be located in case the URL of the asset changes. For adding handle identifiers see here. |
| Investigator | A researcher who was awarded a grant. |
| Originating system ID | When importing assets, this is the ID of the asset from the originating system. |
| Owner | The researcher who deposits an asset, or for whom an administrator deposits an asset. |
| Publishing profile | A configuration that either immediately publishes a set of research assets, schedules a set of research assets to be published, or provides a means to publish a set of research assets on demand. |
| Relationship | A connection between two assets, such as one being a part of another. |
| Research organization unit | The specific area within an organization under which a researcher is submitting a research asset, or with which a researcher is affiliated. The unit may be associated with the researcher and/or the asset. An example of a research organization unit might be English Literature Department, a sub-unit of the Humanities faculty.
In Esploro, research organization units are configured as a tree structure. The top level is your institution, with sub-units and sub-units of sub-units as required, up to 6 levels. |
| Repository | An institution's collection of assets. |
| Research topic | The subject of the research asset, such as Biology or History. See Research Topics. For the Australia/New Zealand region, you can ask Ex Libris to enable ANZ research topics (Fields of Research and Socio-Economic Objectives) in place of the default topics. |
| Researcher | A person who creates or contributes to a research asset. In Esploro, an institution's researchers must also be users: an administrator adds the person as a user and then tags the person as a researcher, adding information relevant for their researcher role. Alternatively, an administrator can upload researchers in bulk, adding them as users and researchers simultaneously. |
| Researcher Proxy | A person (who may or may not be a researcher) who manages the assets of another person (who is a researcher). |
| Staff-mediated research deposit | A deposit submitted on behalf of a researcher by an administrator. |
| Subject | A research topic added by the user. |
Digital Object Identifier (DOI) Registration
For an introduction to DOIs, see the Overview in the DOI Handbook. For DOI integration see DOI Integration. For registering DOIs when working with research deposits see here.
For a video showing how to create a DOI see here.
Esploro can mint DOIs on behalf of your institution, acting as a go-between for you and a DOI registration agency. Currently, Esploro provides this service for institutions that work with DataCite and CrossRef. You must have an account with one of these sites. We are currently integrated with DataCite and CrossRef, and we provide all their required fields. See the DataCite and CrossRef schema pages for more details.
DOIs include two parts: a prefix representing your institution, assigned to you by the agency, and a suffix that uniquely identifies a resource.
After configuring the institution's DOI format, then, when adding assets / deposits to Esploro:
- You can add an already registered DOI to the asset. No information is exchanged between Esploro and the DOI registration agency, since the DOI is already registered.
- You can reserve DOIs and define and edit on which asset category / type to make a registration without staff assistance. Staff must enable this feature for researchers.
- You can ask Esploro to generate a DOI. The generated DOI is reserved for the asset, after which you can then ask Esploro to register the DOI with the registration agency, This process happens automatically and Esploro notifies you on success or failure.
Esploro interfaces directly with DOI registration agencies to register and update DOIs. A nightly job updates the DOI registration agencies with changes to your assets.
When you register a DOI and a dataset does not include a file or a link to content, a warning is displayed that the dataset does not have one and prompts you to cancel the registration.
Unapproved deposits cannot be registered (Register DOI) until the approval process is complete.
Migrating DOIs to Esploro: As part of your migration to Esploro, any DOIs that you previously have registered with DOI registration agencies, but want to migrate to Esploro, will be handled in two stages:
- Assets with DOIs that are intended to be managed using Esploro are flagged (this is done in coordination with the Ex Libris implementation team). Migrating the DOIs (updating the DOI registration agencies to point to Esploro) occurs in the next step, which might occur at a later time.
- When configured to do so (see Configuring DOI Agencies), Esploro updates the DOI registration agencies with the migrated assets that were flagged in step 1 and removes the flags from the assets.
Adding Handle Identifiers
You can add persistent identifiers, called handles, to assets that allow them to be located in case the URL of the asset changes. These Handles resolve using CNRI’s Handle.Net system. Before you can add handles to assets, your institution must be registered in the Handle.Net registry from where it receives a unique prefix code to add to all of the institution's handles. A registered institution in Handle.Net is referred to as a Naming Authority. In addition, you must download and install the Handle.Net handles sever to use this integration
The handle identifier consists of the institution's prefix as well as a suffix which can consist of a fixed element for all the institutions handles and a sequential number, unique to that handle. For example, in the handle 10536/DRO/DU:30028653, 10536/DRO/ is the prefix, DU: is a fixed part of the suffix, and 30028653 is the sequential number unique to the handle.
Handles can be added manually to each asset or in bulk using a scheduled job. In either case, before you can add a handles to an asset, you must configure your Handle information in Esploro (Configuration > Repository > Integrations > Handle Server Integration). Indicate your institution's unique prefix, a fixed element of the suffix if desired, and the number with which to begin the sequential numbering.
For more information, see Configuring Handle Server Integration.
To automatically add a handle to an asset:
Run the Esploro register handles job. For more information, see Research Jobs Configuration. The job performs the following actions:
- Adds handles to approved assets that do not have a handle yet.
- Registers the handles on the Handle server.
- Removes handles from the Handle server for deleted assets.
To manually add a handle to an asset:
- Add a handle identifier to an asset from the Handle field in the Asset Details section when adding or editing assets. You can enter a handle identifier manually or select the Generate Handle PID button to add one automatically.
For more information on adding handle identifiers to assets, see the Asset Details section on the relevant Adding Staff-Mediated Research Deposits - Publication page.
- Export the handle identifiers to the Handle server. There are two options for this:
- Run the Export Esploro Handles job is a Publishing Profile (Repository > Publishing > Manage Publishing Profiles) and includes an option to schedule it in addition to running it manually. Esploro automatically collects all approved assets with handles in the Approved Handles for Export set. Run the job on this set to place the handle information and URL mapping on an FTP server from where the handle server can upload it.
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Esploro hosts a handle server for customers to use and register handles to without the need to export the handles information to a locally installed handle server for registration. When a unique identifier is created for an asset, it can be registered directly to the handle server without running a job. To register the handle, select Register Handle from the asset's row actions menu on the Research Assets list. To enable this feature, contact Ex Libris Customer Support.
For information on configuring the parameters of this job, see Export Esploro Handles.
Esploro User Roles
To view Esploro user roles, see User Roles - Descriptions and Accessible Components.
Research Asset Categories and Types
New assets added to Esploro are called deposits. After being approved they become Esploro assets. For information on adding and working with assets in Esploro see here.
A research asset may have one of the following categories.
| Category | Types | Description | Type Code |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conference |
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A paper, typically the realization of a research paper reporting original research findings. Use this label when the paper is not published in a proceeding. |
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A display poster, typically containing text with illustrative figures and/or tables, usually reporting research results or proposing hypotheses, submitted for acceptance to and/or presented at a conference, seminar, symposium, workshop or similar event. Use this label when the poster is not published in a proceeding. |
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A set of slides containing text, tables or figures, designed to communicate ideas or research results, for projection and viewing by an audience at a conference, symposium, seminar, lecture, workshop or other gatherings. |
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Program of a conference. |
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A display poster that is not presented at an official conference. |
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A presentation in a gathering that is not a formal conference. |
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| Conference |
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The art or practice of designing sequences of movements of physical bodies (or their depictions) in which motion or form or both are specified. |
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A dance performance. |
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Works related to covering and meeting the needs and demands, to create living spaces, using certain tools and especially, creativity. |
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A work intended for the stage. |
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Piece of writing from the writer's personal point of view. |
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A catalog of an exhibition in a museum or gallery or other venue. |
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Written stories about people and events that are not real - literature that tells stories which are imagined by the writer. |
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A story or event recorded by a camera as a set of moving images and shown in a theater or on television. |
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Musical composition can refer to an original piece of music, the structure of a musical piece, or the process of creating a new piece of music. |
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The act of performing music. |
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A written form of a musical composition. |
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Any media—from newspaper articles and blogs to music and podcasts—that are delivered digitally. From a website or email to mobile phones and streaming apps, any internet-related form of communication can be considered new media. |
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Document that attempts, in good faith, to convey information about the real world, rather than being grounded in imagination. |
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Creative work research that is not one of the specific list. |
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An output of painting which is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface. |
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Literature based on the interplay of words and rhythm. |
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A written version of a play or other dramatic composition. |
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An artistic form in which hard or plastic materials are worked into three-dimensional art objects. |
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The creation of the physical space in which the action of a performed event takes place. |
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A collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. |
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| Dataset |
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A collection of related facts and data encoded in a defined structure. |
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| ETD |
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A thesis written in the institution, reporting the research undertaken during a period of graduate study leading to a doctoral degree. |
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A thesis written in the institution, reporting a research project undertaken as part of a graduate course of education leading to a master's degree. |
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A thesis written in the institution, reporting a research project undertaken as part of an undergraduate course of education leading to a bachelor's degree. |
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| External ETD |
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A thesis written outside the institution, reporting the research undertaken during a period of graduate study leading to a doctoral degree. |
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A thesis written outside the institution, reporting a research project undertaken as part of a graduate course of education leading to a master's degree. |
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A thesis written outside the institution, reporting a research project undertaken as part of an undergraduate course of education leading to a bachelor's degree. |
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| Interactive Resource |
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A website containing a writer's or group of writers' own experiences, observations, opinions, etc. |
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A type of digital media, usually audio, that is available in a series of episodes or parts and is streamed or downloaded by the end user over the Internet. |
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An artificial environment which is experienced through sensory stimuli (such as sights and sounds) provided by a computer and in which one's actions partially determine what happens in the environment. |
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A presentation, lecture, workshop or seminar that is transmitted through the web using some type of video conferencing software. |
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A collection of related web pages containing text, images, videos and/or other digital assets that are addressed relative to a common Uniform Resource Locator (URL). A web site is hosted on at least one web server, accessible via a network such as the Internet or a private local area network. |
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| More |
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Defined as a representation normally to scale and on a flat medium, of a selection of material or abstract features on, or in relation to, the surface of the earth or of another celestial body. |
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An abstract, conceptual, graphical, mathematical or visualization model that represents empirical objects, phenomena, or physical processes. |
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Unclassifiable non-textual sources. |
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| Patent |
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Exclusive right granted for an invention, which is a product or a process that provides, a new way of doing something, or offers a new technical solution to a problem. |
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| Posted Content |
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The version of an article after peer-review but prior to publisher typesetting. |
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A preprint is a scientific manuscript without peer-review and has not yet been accepted by a journal, typically submitted to a public server/ repository by the author. |
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A working or discussion paper circulated publicly or among a group of peers. Certain disciplines, for example economics, issue working papers in series. |
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| Publication |
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A brief summary of a completed research, designed to give the reader a complete, yet concise, understanding of the research and findings. |
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Note, comment, or concise statement of the key ideas in a text or a portion of a text. |
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A list of the books and articles that have been used by someone when writing a particular book or article. |
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A non-serial publication that is complete in one volume or a designated finite number of volumes. |
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A defined chapter or section of a book, usually with a separate title or number. |
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A review of others' published work. |
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Conference proceedings is the official record of a conference meeting. It is a collection of documents which corresponds to the presentations given at the conference. It may include additional content. |
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An entry in a dictionary. |
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A collection of research papers on a certain topic or theme that were written by different authors and brought together in a single book by an editor. |
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An article presenting the opinion of the publisher, writer or editor. |
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An entry in an Encyclopedia. |
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An article, typically the realization of a research paper reporting original research findings, published in a journal issue. |
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An entire Issue of a journal. |
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A brief description of important new research, also known as “communication”. Can be in form of letter to editor. |
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Specific text that can be found in a magazine or newspaper. It can be a report, a profile of an important person, an opinion piece, a discussion of a topic or a personal essay. |
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An article in a newletter which is a a bulletin issued periodically to the members of an academic society, business, or organization. |
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Work consisting of a news item appearing in a general-interest newspaper or other general news periodical, containing information of current and timely interest in a field. |
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A report is a separately published record of research findings, research still in progress, policy developments and events, or other technical findings, usually bearing a report number and sometimes a grant number assigned by the funding agency. Also, an official record of the activities of a committee or corporate entity, the proceedings of a government body, or an investigation by an agency, whether published or private, usually archived or submitted to a higher authority, voluntarily or under mandate. In a more general sense, any formal account of facts or information related to a specific event or phenomenon, sometimes given at regular intervals. |
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Technical documentation refers to any type of documentation that describes handling, functionality and architecture of a technical product or a product under development or use. |
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Translations of books and articles that identify modifications to the original edition, such as a new or revised preface. |
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| Software |
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A computer program in source code (text) or compiled form. |
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A structured series of steps which can be executed to produce a final outcome, allowing users means to specify and enact their work in a more reproducible manner. |
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| Teaching and Learning |
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Any activity designed or deployed by the instructor to bring about, or create the conditions for learning. |
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A task assigned to students. |
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Stories that are used as a teaching tool to show the application of a theory or concept to real situations. |
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Questions, exercises and other material. |
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A teaching method used to communicate an idea with the aid of visuals such as flip charts, posters, power point, etc. |
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Cards with a limited amount of information on them, that usually related to a subject and/or a study topic. |
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Transcription of an oral presentation/talk intended to present information or teach people about a particular subject, for example by a university or college teacher. |
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A teaching manual is designed to provide instructors with rubrics, scaffolding, activities, and other supplemental material to help with the teaching process. |
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Any other object that can assist the process of teaching. |
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An outline of a lecture. |
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A test or quiz or bank of questions for a test or quiz. |
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A study guide is an aid, usually in the form of printed notes, designed to assist students with their learning. |
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An outline of the subjects in a course of study or teaching. |
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A book used as a standard work for the study of a particular subject. |
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A period of instruction given by a university or college tutor to an individual or very small group. |
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Research Asset Statuses
A research asset may have one of the following statuses.
| Status | Deposit | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Draft | Yes | Saved, but not yet submitted for approval. |
| Submitted | Yes | Submitted and waiting for approval. |
| Under Review | Yes | Assigned to an administrator for review and/or approval. |
| Returned | Yes | Returned to the submitter for corrections or clarifications. |
| Approved | No | Approved. No longer considered a deposit. |
| Imported | No | Imported from an import profile. |