Copyright and your thesis

Researchers own copyright in their thesis. Under copyright, researchers have certain rights in their thesis such as:

  • reproduction rights.
  • publishing rights.
  • communication rights, such as making the thesis available online.

As authors, researchers also have moral rights over their theses.

In some cases, research agreements or publishing agreements may affect the rights of a researcher's work, such as determining if a thesis can be made available on open access or if a thesis is connected to an embargo period.

Making a thesis available on open access

Before making a thesis available on open access, check that there are no legal or contractual qualifiers connected to the planned Open Access material release. Below are some possible examples:

  • The clearance of any third-party material rights when they are included in the thesis.
  • Any agreements/contracts, involving pre-published works.
  • Any pending patent applications.
  • The terms of research or funding agreements.
  • The inclusion of any politically or legally sensitive information.

Dealing with copyright material created by other people

Seek permission from the copyright owner before including third-party copyright material in a thesis, unless there is a licence, agreement or exception that allows the inclusion of the third-party works in the thesis. Permission does not need to be sought if:

  • Copyright in the work has expired.
  • An insubstantial portion is included, for example, quotes from a book or journal article. Be careful if using quotes or excerpts from short works such as songs, poems or pieces of music as small portions are less likely to be considered insubstantial.
  • An express license allows the inclusion of the work, in the thesis, e.g. a contract, website conditions.
  • Creative Commons material, copyright owner has explicitly waived copyright, etc.
  • Use is covered under fair dealing provisions.

Particular care should be taken if the thesis includes music, sound recordings or films as clearing the rights for this material can be difficult.

If unable to clear the rights for third party copyright material, it may be possible to publish a redacted version of the thesis 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.

Make sure that all third-party copyright material is acknowledged in theses, include full bibliographic citations.

Seeking permission to use copyright material

It is important to start the process of obtaining permission, as soon as possible when seeking permission to clear the rights to use third-party copyright material. Obtaining permission is an often lengthy and complex process. Sometimes a licensing fee may have to be paid, as it may not be possible to obtain permission.

All permission requests must be in writing. Keep copies of all permission documents as records of what permissions have been obtained. These records are considered legal documents and need to be kept for the copyright length of the thesis or as long as the thesis remains in open access. The University may request access to these permission documents.

Theses may need to be embargoed or published in redacted versions, where the third -party material has been removed while permission is being obtained or because permission cannot be obtained.

Refer to the Requesting permission from a copyright owner to reproduce material page for information on how to seek permission to use third-party copyright material.

Listing third party copyright material

The preparation of graduate research theses' rules requires the listing of all third-party copyright material included in theses and whether permissions from the copyright owners has been obtained. These permissions will be included in any open access version of theses. Third-party copyright 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 a thesis, please use the template for listing third party copyright material (DOCX 13.5 KB).