E-thesis deposit - Intellectual property rights

Thesis rights introduction

Copyright in theses is normally held by the author, unless rights have been transferred to others e.g. project sponsors or collaborators. This and excepted situations are described in the University Statutes and Ordinances for Intellectual Property Rights, Regulation 14. If rights to a thesis are held by others than the author it is the author's responsibility to ensure that the required permissions are obtained.

3rd party copyright materials

Print theses deposited with the University Library are legally seen as unpublished manuscripts. However when we put them on the web as we do with DSpace@Cambridge they are in fact legally published. For examination purposes this is of no concern, however if the author wishes to deposit the thesis online this changes. For example, if the thesis contains content created by others (e.g. tables, citations etc.) it is important that the use is in accordance with UK copyright legislation (copy of the legislation, advice and guidance on copyright available from the government’s Intellectual Property Office).

The DSpace team will consult selected theses deposited to verify 3rd party copyright and may contact the author to verify that rights are well managed in cases where a thesis contains material where copyright clearly is owned by others. We also provide training regarding rights management if this is of interest.

A guidance note entitled Permissions for use of quotations, extracts or excerpts from others’ works in your dissertation to be published in DSpace@Cambridge should be consulted before submitting your thesis to DSpace@Cambridge. A sample permissions letter has also be created in order to simplify the permission seeking process. If you have consulted the guidance note and are still uncertain about what permissions are required, please contact the DSpace@Cambridge team for further assistance.

DSpace@Cambridge deposit agreement

When submitting your e-thesis to DSpace@Cambridge, you have to confirm that you agree with the DSpace@Cambridge deposit conditions as outlined in the DSpace@Cambridge e-thesis deposit agreement. If DSpace@Cambridge team members or other University staff members are submitting the thesis on your behalf then a deposit agreement needs to be signed by the author. Further details are available on the DSpace@Cambridge e-theses agreements page.

Plagiarism

One concern expressed in relation to publishing theses online regards plagiarism. This is an important issue, and it is difficult to hinder this effectively. However by making theses openly available the chances of discovering plagiarism increases (e.g. it is possible to find text snippets in Google), this would in particular be the case if it is used with plagiarism detection tools like Turnitin. Further advice on how to avoid plagiarism can be found at the University web page for Graduate students.

Restricting access to e-theses

It is possible to restrict access to theses for a period of time. Situations where this can be appropriate are when project sponsors require this, the thesis contains sensitive information or if the student is negotiating commercial publishing of his or her thesis. For further details, please contact the DSpace@Cambridge team.

E-theses usage

As with any other item deposited in DSpace@Cambridge, theses deposited can be used within the limits of current copyright legislation. For further information about what is allowed please consult the DSpace@Cambridge Use policy and the End-user terms of use.

Notice and takedown policy

DSpace@Cambridge has a Notice and takedown policy.