The ADT guidelines on copyright, access restrictions and implication for later commercial publication were prepared by: Alex Byrne, UTS; Tony Cargnelutti & Kerrie Talmacs, UNSW (January 2004)
Please Note: These notes are intended as guidelines only for institutions and individuals participating in the ADT Program. Copyright and other access issues are determined by the local institution. Recently, a number of Australian universities have mandated, or are in the process of mandating, digital thesis submissions to the ADT Program. Formal institutional specific digital submission requirements will be formulated as a consequence, including copyright, plagiarism and other access restriction guidelines.
Doctoral theses are expected to make an original contribution to scholarship and should ideally be available to other researchers and subject to contestation. Programs such as ADT enhance this availability.
The experience in all academic libraries is that very few hard copy theses are ever consulted and fewer still consulted frequently. The ADT experience on the other hand is that digital theses are consulted frequently and from over 100 countries – some have led to jobs or research projects. There is thus the possibility of major benefits to the graduates.
In universities well advanced in their use of the ADT students do appreciate the benefits of the program and are very happy to post their theses after acceptance.
Quote: "..I thought you'd be happy to know that a guy from the US has actually read my thesis, via the ADT, and is also trying to use the modelling program that I wrote during my PhD. So I guess the ADT really is working, in terms of getting UNSW theses to a wider readership…"
Dr. Matt Boreland
UNSW, Centre for Photovoltaic Engineering
Toyota Technological Institute
Semiconductor Laboratory
Extended or permanent restrictions on access to theses are incompatible with the principle of making contributions to scholarship available to other researchers. There are some circumstances in which parts of theses must be permanently restricted, e.g. sacred, secret, commercial-in-confidence and national security content. Protocols are usually provided to enable essential access with appropriate safeguards (e.g. consultation with authorized authorities). In some circumstances (such as retention of priority for patent applications), restriction for a period of up to three years may be necessary.
It is best practice to place sections that need to be restricted in an appendix wherever possible so that access to the main argument and findings may be preserved while protecting confidential data.
Restriction of access to theses in whole or part is supported by the ADT software but this feature should only be used in conformity with existing policies on restriction as have long been applied to printed theses.
See end of this document for examples of restriction options.
Provision of access to theses via the ADT or similar systems does not constitute prior publication in a scholarly sense but could have a priority in relation to patents. However, there may be specific findings that would be better reported first in journal articles. A temporary restriction would enable such publication while preserving the principle of scholarly access.
There is some evidence, e.g. surveys by Association of Learned and professional Society Publisher (UK) and Project ROMEO, that more and more publishers have accepted self-archiving. ALPSP found that just under half permitted self-archiving of preprints (more common with large publishers), more than half (55%) permitted self-archiving of the published version.
This is similar to the ROMEO results. see: Project Romeo
Other related links from: NDLTD Copyright Issues
Although the surveys relate to articles that may be derived from theses, there should be no problems for the theses themselves. However, in the case of key findings that the author may wish to keep confidential, ADT allows for restricted access for a sufficient period to enable publication.
For the small number of theses that might be turned into books, there is again no problem since
(a) they are highly unlikely to be published in the original
form without significant revision
(b) the digital thesis could be embargoed for a period if
necessary
If theses contain content subject to copyright held by others - publishers, individuals, institutions, commercial concerns - then it is up to the individual to seek clearance or permission. If permission is not obtainable, or if theses are formally restricted for reasons of patents, etc...a simple flexible mechanism is available to cope with this. - see examples:
Examples of restriction options: