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Copyright

This guide is designed to provide basic copyright information for graduate, postdoctoral, and faculty researchers and instructors at The Ohio State University.

Review your publishing agreement

Authors should be aware that they may be relinquishing their copyright, in whole or in part, as part of the terms of their publishing agreement. In some cases, this can impact an author’s ability to reuse or adapt the published work for educational or later research endeavors.

General best practices:

  • READ your agreement. Only sign a publishing agreement after you read and understand the terms.
  • KNOW your rights. U.S. Copyright Law provides authors with a bundle of rights. Authors may retain or transfer those rights to others.
  • ASK for the rights your need and the rights that you want. Identify the rights you need now and rights you may wish to retain for the future. Consider how you may want others to be able to use your work. Negotiate changes with your publisher, using an addendum if necessary.
  • SAVE a copy of your agreement. Retain a copy of the final agreement and all communications with your publisher.

Common publishing terms

It is important to read your publishing agreement to understand all terms that may impact ownership and use of your work. While terms can vary from publication to publication, here are some common terms found in agreements:

  • Copyright transfer – an assignment, exclusive license, or other conveyance of copyright ownership. Publishing agreements may call for an author to transfer some or all of their rights to the publisher.
  • Manuscript versions. Publishers may distinguish between different versions of a manuscript, with certain permissible uses tied to a particular version of the manuscript.
    • Preprint – the original submitted version of the manuscript
    • Accepted Manuscript/Postprint – the version of the article that has been through the peer review process, incorporating reviewer comments.
    • Publisher's PDF/Publisher version – the final version of record of the manuscript. This version includes the publisher’s typeset.
  • Embargo – the period of time in which the author may not make the work publicly available. Embargo periods may correspond to particular versions of a manuscript.

Copyright and your Thesis or Dissertation

There are several important copyright considerations to keep in mind regarding your thesis or dissertation. This guide introduces the key concepts and includes links to help you learn more. It is highly recommended that you read the following guide as soon as possible during your research and writing process:

 

Read: Copyright in Your Thesis or Dissertation  

 

Managing your rights

  • As a student, you own the copyright in your thesis or dissertation.
  • Your thesis or dissertation will be made publicly available online through the OhioLINK ETD Center. Contact the Graduate School for more information on requesting an embargo or delay on the electronic dissemination of your work.  
  • How do you want others to be able to use your work?
    • All rights reserved (include a copyright notice on the cover page) vs.
    • Some rights reserved (apply a Creative Commons license or other terms of use).

 

Including text, graphs, images, and other content in your final document

  • When using another's copyright protected content in your thesis or dissertation, consider if your use may qualify as a fair use or seek permission from the copyright owner. 
  • Are you incorporating your own previously published research? Because publishing agreements may call for a transfer of rights, it's important to review your earlier publishing agreement to make sure you have the ability to incorporate your published work in your final document.

What is fair use? Fair use is a limitation on the copyright holder's exclusive rights. A fair use of a work is not an infringement. You can evaluate whether fair use may apply to your situation through the analysis and application of the four fair use factors.

  1. the purpose and character of the use, including whether the use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes;
  2. the nature of the copyrighted work;
  3. the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; and
  4. the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.

Is my use a fair use? You may be able to rely on fair use when reproducing copyrighted material in your thesis or dissertation, but you cannot assume that all such uses are automatically fair use. You must conduct a fair use analysis for each individual use of copyrighted material in your thesis or dissertation. 

Use the following resources to learn about fair use and conducting a fair use analysis: 

What is NOT fair use? Fair use depends on a fact-specific evaluation of all four factors. There is no single criterion that automatically determines whether or not a particular use is fair use. However, some criteria that may weaken your argument for fair use of copyrighted material in your thesis or dissertation are:

  • Using material for purely decorative or entertainment purposes. Ensure that you are using any third party copyrighted material to support the scholarship in your manuscript.
  • Using more material than you actually need in order to accomplish your purpose. For example, reproducing a large portion of a musical composition when providing excerpts of a few measures would sufficiently illustrate the point you are trying to make.
  • Having a detrimental impact on the market for the original work. Remember that your thesis or dissertation will be published online, and any third party copyrighted material that you include in your manuscript will also be openly available online. This means that if you upload an entire musical composition, people who might otherwise have purchased the composition could acquire it for free by downloading it, which could constitute a detrimental effect on the market for that composition. 

You may choose to address weaknesses in your fair use argument by making changes to your use, such as using a smaller amount of the copyrighted material. You may also choose to seek permission for your use of the material, to reference the material without reproducing it, or to seek an alternative to the material you originally considered using. 

Permission from the copyright owner to reproduce third party material in your thesis or dissertation may be required if the work:

  1. Is not in the public domain, or
  2. Is not covered by an existing license (such as Creative Commons), or
  3. Your use is not covered by an exception such as fair use.

The permissions process can take a significant amount of time. Do not wait until the last minute! Consider whether you will need permission to reproduce the material(s) you want to use in your manuscript, and give yourself sufficient time to locate and contact the copyright owner(s).


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