This guide provides copyright and intellectual property advice tailored for researchers sharing their work. Discover why copyright affects everyone conducting research, why it matters and how it can impact your research.
Copyright is an intellectual property right which gives protection to the owner of the rights to an original work. This means that individuals who want to reproduce the original work of others may need to seek permission to do so. Copyright automatically exists when original expressions of ideas are recorded. Copyright covers the following types of work:
Copyright law is entangled with every stage of the research lifecycle; therefore, it is essential to understand copyright before starting out on your research journey. As you build your research project an awareness of the principles of copyright will help make the best creative use of existing resources as well as avoiding copyright infringement.
Research is a process of systematic investigation aimed at advancing knowledge and making an original contribution to a given academic field. Research outputs such as student theses’, journal articles and academic books are original expressions of their authors ideas and are, therefore, protected by copyright. Sharing those outputs with the wider academic community is essential to engage in scholarly debate and promote the success of the wider institution and individual researchers.
Publishing and disseminating research requires licensing agreements to be made between the researcher, publishers, funding agencies and other relevant parties. All research is built on existing knowledge, and a sound understanding of copyright law can help you to draw creatively on the work and ideas others. However, drawing on the work of others has implications when sharing your research with a wider audience and copyright knowledge is essential to avoid contravening licensing agreements.
As a researcher you will be practiced in correctly referencing your sources, to acknowledge the work of others and evidence how you have built your arguments. The principles and motivations for adhering to copyright legislation are similar – by doing so you are acknowledging the original work of others and paying due respect to the rights holder’s intellectual property and moral rights. Just as you wouldn’t submit a piece of academic work without referencing your sources, it is as important not to publish a piece of research which infringes copyright.
⚠ Infringing copyright also has potential legal ramifications and/or can have an impact on the reputation of individual researchers or the University as an institution.