Copyright and research
Copyright and research
Copyright and research
There are many ways that copyright can affect your research. From using third-party copyright material in your thesis or dissertation to evaluating your author agreements with publishers, understanding how copyright plays a role is a valuable skill to have at different stages of your research.
☜Use the side menu to navigate through the copyright and research topics.
Publishing
There are many things to consider before choosing your publishing outlet. The copyright website is here to help you understand publishing agreements, licensing options and how to retain rights as an author. However, there are many other resources across the University that can assist you in making informed publishing decisions.
Publishing checklist
Before you publish, make sure you have considered:
- Authorship management
- Third-party copyright clearance
- Finding the right publication outlet
- Funder requirements (Open Access mandates)
- Sharing associated research outputs where possible (e.g data, code or software)
- Indigenous cultural and intellectual property rights
- Commercial and IP considerations
- The terms of the publishing agreement
- Licensing options to encourage reuse
Understanding publishing agreements
Overview
Authors and publishers will generally have a publishing agreement (sometimes referred to as an author or licence agreement) in place when a work is published. As the copyright holder, it is important that you are aware of the publishing agreements that are available, and which will best suit your current and future dissemination needs. This may influence where and with whom you decide to publish or help you to understand what further rights to negotiate with your chosen publisher.
Publishing agreements vary between publishers and will also vary depending on whether the work is being published as a book, book chapter, journal article, conference paper, or other type of research output. Your decision to publish your research behind a paywall or Open Access will also have an impact on the terms of the agreement and the final licence for the work.
A publishing agreement will generally cover information such as:
- When the work will be published
- The format the work will be published in (print or online or both)
- How many print copies will be made available
- If the author is entitled to any royalties, how they will be shared between the author and publisher, when they will be paid etc.
The agreement will also address how copyright in the work will be managed.
Within a publishing agreement, authors are generally asked to warrant that:
- They created the work and therefore they own copyright
- If they have included third party copyright material (i.e. created by someone else), the author has the necessary permission from the copyright owner to include that material
- That the work contains no libelous or unlawful statements, does not infringe upon the rights or privacy of others, or contain material or instructions that might cause harm or injury.
There are a number of ways in which copyright can be dealt with under an agreement, some of which are more common in certain disciplines or types of published works than others. Speak with peers, colleagues, your research office and your school librarian for further information on discipline-specific publishing agreements.
Negotiating author rights
As the author and creator of a work, you are entitled to negotiate certain rights with a publisher. This may include:
- Rights to deposit an Open Access copy of the work in an institutional repository (with or without an embargo period)
- Exemptions for teaching and educational purposes
- The right to reuse your figures, images, and tables in future publications.
Funder requirements can be useful to negotiate changes in your publishing agreement. For example, if your published work was funded by a research grant associated with the Australian Research Council (ARC) or the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) then an open access copy of the work must be made available to read within 12 months of publication. Flagging this requirement as early as possible, will put you in a better position to ensure your publishing agreement aligns with funder policies.
You may not always be successful in negotiating changes to your publishing agreement but there is certainly nothing to lose by starting these conversations with your publisher. For an insight into the negotiation of author rights, read more in this interview with Associate Professor Alysia Blackham from Melbourne Law School.
The Authors Alliance website offers many resources on publication contracts and rights reversion, including the Open Access ebook “Understanding and negotiating book publication contracts”.
Author assigns copyright to the publisher (copyright transfer agreement)
It is common for authors to assign copyright in journal articles to the journal or publisher. Whereas, generally, when publishing a book, the author will grant the publisher a licence. In signing a copyright transfer agreement, the author grants all their rights as author and copyright holder to the publisher. This means that the author may need to seek permission from the publisher if they wish to, for example:
- Deposit an Open Access version into an institutional repository
- Make the published work available on their own website
- Share the published work with colleagues
- Use the published work in their teaching.
In some cases, the publisher may grant some rights back to the author that will allow them to do certain actions such as those described above. Assignment of copyright is generally permanent unless the agreement indicates otherwise.
If the author assigns copyright to the publisher; the publisher can also, at their discretion, enter into agreements with other parties to use the work. For example, the publisher could licence your material so that it can be included in a subscription database or arrange for a translation to be made.
Author grants publisher an exclusive licence
The author gives the publisher certain rights over their material for the term of the agreement. These rights are granted only to this publisher and might include the right to publish, communicate, and distribute the published work online and to sublicence. How long the agreement lasts can vary, some agreements can be indefinite or perpetual. If the licence includes the right to sublicence, the publisher can grant the rights given to them to a third party, for example to allow another publisher to publish the work in another territory. While the agreement is in place, the author cannot grant the same rights to anyone else.
Author grants publisher a non-exclusive licence
Similar to granting an exclusive licence to the publisher, an author can also grant the same non-exclusive rights to another publisher or party. Signing a non-exclusive licence allows you to keep the rights to licence your work with other publishers. However, there may be qualifiers to this, such as confirming that the publisher has the right to first publication of the work.
Publishing under a Creative Commons licence
If the publisher intends to publish the work under an open licence, typically a Creative Commons licence, then the work will be made freely available for further distribution under the terms of the licence. The publisher will likely ask for first publication rights, this may be under a non-exclusive or exclusive publishing agreement. If you are publishing under a more restrictive CC licence such as CC BY-NC-ND, your publisher may request that the remaining rights be exclusively signed over to them. In rare cases, publishers may also ask for a transfer of copyright to the publisher. To understand more about Creative Commons licences, see our page selecting a licence for your work.
There is no publishing agreement
Some publishers do not use publishing agreements, in which case, they only have the right to publish the work for the purpose it was submitted. For example, if an author submits an article to a particular journal and there is no agreement in place, the publisher can only publish the article in the issue for which it was submitted. They would not be able to re-publish the article in an annual collection of popular articles without the permission of the author.
Related topics
More information
Selecting a licence for your work
Overview
Creative Commons (CC) licences allow authors to nominate how they would like people to be able to use and reuse their work. Applying a CC licence to your work signals to others how you, the copyright owner, would like to be attributed if your work is reused. If you are publishing Open Access, the publisher will likely release your work under one of these licences.
More information can be found at Creative Commons Australia.
This page provides information on common CC licences used in academia. There are other open licences beyond Creative Commons that may be more appropriate for your work, such as open source licences (for software) or traditional knowledge labels (for works containing Indigenous knowledge).
Creative Commons licences
The below table provides information on what each licence means for the author and/or copyright holder, and a generic sample text that can be included in a publication.
If you are applying the licence information to your own work, we suggest including the sample text below at the beginning of the work so that the rights being licenced are immediately clear to all. It is also useful to include a licence statement in the information on the landing page where your output is hosted if this is possible.
To find out which licence you would like to allocate to a work visit the Creative Commons licence chooser.
Licence | What this means for the author/copyright holder | Sample text for the inclusion in publication |
---|---|---|
(CC BY) | This licence allows others to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon your work, even commercially, as long as they credit you for the original creation. This is the most accommodating of licences offered. Recommended for maximum dissemination and use of licenced materials. | This [insert item type] is licenced under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third-party material in this [insert item type] are included under the Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. |
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) | This licence allows others to remix, adapt, and build upon your work even for commercial purposes, as long as they credit you and licence their new creations under the identical terms. This licence is often compared to “copyleft” free and open source software licences. All new works based on yours will carry the same licence, so any derivatives will also allow commercial use. This is the licence used by Wikipedia, and is recommended for materials that would benefit from incorporating content from Wikipedia and similarly licenced projects. | This [insert item type] is licenced under a Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 4.0 International Licence, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. If you remix, transform, or build upon the material, you must distribute your contributions under a CC BY-SA licence. The images or other third-party material in this [insert item type] are included under the Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. |
Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives (CC BY-ND) | This licence allows others to reuse the work for any purpose, including commercially; however, it cannot be shared with others in adapted form, and credit must be provided to you. | This [insert item type] is licenced under a Creative Commons Attribution NoDerivatives 4.0 International Licence, which permits use, sharing, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source and provide a link to the Creative Commons licence. If you make any changes to the work, you are not permitted to distribute the modified material. The images or other third-party material in this [insert item type] are included under the Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. |
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial
(CC BY-NC) | This licence allows others to remix, adapt, and build upon your work non-commercially, and although their new works must also acknowledge you and be a non-commercial activity, they don’t have to licence their derivative works on the same terms. | This [insert item type] is licenced under a Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial 4.0 International Licence, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. Under this licence, you may not use the material for any commercial purposes. The images or other third-party material in this [insert item type] are included under the Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. |
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike (CC BY-NC-SA) | This licence allows others to remix, adapt, and build upon your work non-commercially, as long as they credit you and licence their new creations under the identical terms. | This [insert item type] is licenced under a Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial ShareAlike 4.0 International Licence, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. Under this licence, you may not use the material for any commercial purposes. If you remix, transform, or build upon the material, you must distribute your contributions under a CC BY-NC-SA licence. The images or other third-party material in this [insert item type] are included under the Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. |
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives (CC BY-NC-ND) | This licence is the most restrictive of these six main licences, only allowing others to download your works and share them with others as long as they credit you. Importantly the sharing of the work cannot be done as part of a commercial activity. They also cannot share any adaptations they have made to your work. | This [insert item type] is licenced under a Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial NoDerivatives 4.0 International Licence, which permits use, sharing, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source and provide a link to the Creative Commons licence. Under this licence, you may not use the material for any commercial purposes. If you make any changes to the work, you are not permitted to distribute the modified material. The images or other third-party material in this [insert item type] are included under the Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. |
Licences and contracts
Within the copyright context, many different licences are used for a variety of purposes and/or circumstances. A licence is generally granted by a copyright owner (or on their behalf) giving a user or a group of users some or all rights to use copyright material for certain purposes. The conditions of the licence override the standard provisions of copyright legislation and users must always adhere to the stated conditions of the licence. Some of the different types of licences include:
Statutory licences (for educational purposes)
These are licences that are provided within the Copyright Act for use by certain groups for certain purposes. The most relevant for the University are the statutory licences for educational purposes. These are set up under Section 113P of the Act, and allow the University to copy and communicate copyright material for educational purposes.
Music licence
This is a licence between the Universities and the Music Collecting Societies of Australia that allows limited use of recorded music for educational purposes. For more information see the music licence.
Licensed databases
The University Library subscribes to a vast array of online information, such as databases and electronic journals. Each of these subscriptions is underpinned by a licence or a contract between the University and the database provider. The licence or contract will outline how the database can be used and by whom. Conditions of the licence for individual databases vary considerably. If you intend to use information from a licensed Library database for any purpose other than your own research or study, please contact the Copyright Office for advice.
Terms and conditions of use
Many websites, media items (CDs, DVDs, podcasts, software etc.) and printed publications contain a copyright statement or disclaimer and/or 'Terms and Conditions' statement which provide details of the permitted uses of the material. These terms and conditions should be strictly adhered to.
Creative Commons
Creative Commons is a way to licence your copyright material to allow people to use that material in certain ways without having to seek permission. The licences allow the public to use material free of charge under the varying levels of restrictions that are outlined in the six standardised licences. Flickr.com - the popular photo sharing website - is an example of a web service using Creative Commons licences. If you are planning to use such a licence make sure that you read as much information as possible to fully understand both pros and cons.
General waiver
Sometimes a copyright owner waives copyright by saying, for example, that their material may be freely used for any purposes, or for non-profit purposes only, etc.
Commissioning works
If you are commissioning or contracting someone to create a work for you, it is recommended that you have the creator sign a licence transferring some or all of their rights to you. Otherwise, the creator of a commissioned work owns all the rights in the work even thought you may have paid for it. The person commissioning the work may have an implied licence unless the contract/licence assigns copyright to someone else. The contract/licence may also specify when and how the work will be used. For information contact the Copyright Office or the Legal and Risk team.
For more information see Australian Copyright Council Information Sheet G024 Assigning & Licensing Rights.
Copyright and your thesis
You own copyright in your thesis. Under copyright, you will have certain rights in your thesis such as:
- Reproducing your thesis
- Publishing your thesis or making it available to the public
- Communicating your thesis, for example making it available online.
As an author, you also have moral rights over your thesis.
In some cases, you may have signed a research agreement or publish agreement that may affect what rights you retain in your work. If so, you may need to take this into consideration, when determining if you can make your thesis available on open access or if it needs to be embargoed.
Making your thesis available on open access
In making your thesis available on open access, you will need to check that:
- You have cleared the rights to use any copyright material created by other people included in your thesis
- If you have previously published your thesis or have included previously published materials in your thesis (thesis by publication), in part or in full, make sure that any publishing or author agreements you have signed allow you to make your thesis available on open access
- there are other reasons why making your thesis available on open access might not be suitable or permitted, such as a pending patent application, the terms of a research or funding agreement, politically or legally sensitive information.
Dealing with copyright material created by other people
If your thesis includes copyright material created by other people, often called third party copyright material; you may need to seek permission from the copyright owner to use their work unless the Copyright Act allows you to use the work without their permission. You do not need to seek permission if:
- Copyright in the work has expired.
- You are including an insubstantial portion, for example, quotes from a book or journal article. Be careful if using quotes or excerpts from a short work such as a song, poem or piece of music as small portions are less likely to be considered insubstantial.
- You have an express license to use the work, e.g. a contract, website conditions, Creative Commons material, copyright owner has explicitly waived copyright, etc.
- Your use is covered under fair dealing provisions.
Particular care should be taken if your thesis includes music, sound recordings or films as clearing the rights for this material can be difficult.
If you are not able to clear the rights for third party copyright material, you may be able to make a redacted version of your thesis available on open access. A redacted version is one with any uncleared copyright material removed. For more information see the section on redacted version of your thesis.
You should also make sure that you acknowledge all third party copyright material in your thesis with a full bibliographic citation.
Seeking permission to using copyright material
If you decide to seek permission to clear the rights to use third-party copyright material, it is important that you start the process of obtaining permission as soon as possible as obtaining permission is an often lengthy and complex process. In some cases, it may not be possible to obtain permission or you may be asked to pay a licensing fee.
All permission requests must be in writing. You will need to keep copies of all permission documents as records of what permissions have been obtained. These records are considered legal documents and should be retained for as long as your thesis is protected by copyright or it remains on open access. If requested by the University, you may be required to provide copies of the permission documents.
If you are not able to obtain permission for copyright material in your thesis, or you need time to obtain permission, you will need to embargo your thesis or redact the third party copyright material. Further information on how to seek permission to use third-party copyright material can be found here.
Listing third party copyright material
Whether choosing open access or seeking an embargo, the preparation of graduate research theses rules require you to list all third party copyright material included in your thesis and whether you have gained permission from the copyright owners to make this material publicly available as part of your thesis. This includes:
- Any images
- Audio-visual material, including sound recordings – both musical and non-musical – or films.
When creating the list of third party copyright material included in your thesis, please use the template for listing third party copyright material (DOCX 13.5 KB).
Conferences and public lectures
Presenting at a conference
If you are giving a presentation at a conference and it includes copyright material created by other people, you will need to make sure that you secure the rights to use it. There are limited provisions in the Copyright Act that allow copyright material to be used at conferences. You can include a brief quote or short extract of text; see insubstantial portions. You can also include material if you are critiquing or reviewing it; see fair dealing for criticism or review.
You can also try and source material that is "copyright friendly". For example, Flickr has a wide range of photos licensed under Creative Commons, as does Google Images. See our guides:
In most other situations, you will need to get permission from the copyright owner.
If you intend to publish or make your conference presentation available online, you will need to make sure that any permission covers that as well.
The conference organisers may also wish to record your presentation, stream it or make it available online. You have the right to give or deny consent, and control how the recording is used. These are known as performers' rights. It is recommended that if your presentation is recorded that the conference organisers provide a written explanation of how the recording will be used. Ideally, they will have a formal agreement for you to sign, but some of the smaller conferences may not use agreements or consent forms. Again, if you give your consent for your presentation to be recorded, you will need to make sure you have the rights to include any copyright material in your presentation in the recording.
Organising a conference
If the University is hosting a conference, it is important that steps are taken to make sure that the conference is copyright compliant.
If you wish to record the conference presentations, you will need to get consent from the presenters. The University's audio/video/photograph release and IP licence form can be used. The consent deed also allows the recording to be made available online.
If you intend to film or photograph participants or presenters, you will need to get their consent. As above, the audio/video/photograph release and IP licence form covers both filming and photographing. If you are just taking photographs, then you can use the photo release consent deed. For more information see photographing or filming people.
If conference presenters have included copyright material created by other people in their presentation, they will need to make sure that they have the necessary rights to use that material. There are limited provisions in the Copyright Act that will allow material to be used at the conference and permission is generally required from the copyright owner.
If you intend to publish the conference presentations or make them available online, you will need to get permission from the presenters. Please contact the Copyright Office for more information.
The University has a music licence that allows music to be performed at conferences and other events hosted by the University. For more information see the music licence.
If an external conference has hired a University venue for their conference and the University is not actually hosting the conference but is simply providing the venue, it is the responsibility of the conference organisers to ensure that they comply with copyright.
Protecting your work
In Australia, copyright material is subject to copyright as soon as it is created. While the author or creator does not have to do anything to gain copyright, it is advisable to make copyright ownership and any reuse conditions clear to others. Below is a list of ways that can assist you in ensuring that others both know you are the copyright owner of a work, and know how and if they can reuse your work within the guidelines you set out.
Include a copyright statement on your work
A copyright statement is usually the copyright symbol - a lower case c in a circle, the name of the copyright owner (who may or may not be the author) and the year the work was created, e.g. © J. Smith 2010 or © University of Melbourne 2022.
By including a copyright statement, you alert people to the fact that your work is subject to copyright and there may be restrictions in how they reuse it.
The University owns Intellectual Property (IP) created by staff in the course of, or incidental to, employment with the University, except copyright in Scholarly Works. For further details see the University’s Intellectual Property policy.
Provide a full bibliographic citation
By providing a full bibliographic citation you are assisting people in both knowing they should cite your work and providing them with the information to do so. Citing work isn’t just for published, peer reviewed research, it can be applicable to websites, blogs, images, and many other types of outputs. Check the University of Melbourne citation style guide to find a style that suits you and your work before adding it.
Include the work in a repository
By submitting your work to a repository you are creating a formal record of the version of the work and you as the owner. You can include metadata associated with the work and assign a Creative Commons licence to the work so people know how they can reuse it. Many repositories also generate a full bibliographic citation (as discussed above) based on the information you provide.
Such repositories include:
- Melbourne.Figshare
- OpenScienceFramework
- ArXiv
- Humanities Commons.
Include instructions on how to contact the copyright owner to seek reuse permission
By providing an email address or contact details people will be more inclined to contact you to ask permission.
Consider further impact and outreach potential for your copyright
The copyright you created might be translated into further impact in society, culture, environment, policy and other areas. To consider further pathways to create impact from your work, consider who could benefit from this work and how they might use it. This will help you understand how your work might be translated. If you would like to seek support exploring how this could be achieved, then the Business Development and Innovation team can provide advice for your journey and might advise to disclose your IP.
Copyright infringement
If your copyright is infringed, you have the right to take action against the individual or organisation responsible. You do need to make sure that their use is actually an infringement as there are provisions in the Copyright Act that allow people to use copyright material without needing permission.
If the University of Melbourne is the copyright owner of your work, you can seek assistance with any alleged infringement through the Copyright Office.
If you are the copyright owner, you are within your rights to issue a takedown notice or contact independent legal advice.
If you have transferred your copyright to a publisher, then any infringement should be pursued by the publisher.