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Copyright for creators

When creating work for commercial use or publication, you may need to obtain permission to use content from books, journals and other copyrighted works if you are using more than a reasonable portion. Many publishers request you seek permission via online forms.

For online content, check the terms and conditions of the website to determine whether you can use it. If the terms and conditions are unclear, you will need to obtain written permission from the copyright owner. 

When seeking permission: 

  • always ensure that permission from the copyright owner is in writing
  • specify how you intend to use the content (e.g. non-commercial use and inclusion in UniSQ’s institutional repository). If you are licensing your work under a Creative Commons licence, the type of licence must be specified 
  • retain a copy of the received permission – keep a checklist and start a log of all the copyrighted content you have used in your work
  • comply with any conditions requested by the copyright owner. For example, some publishers want to be attributed in a certain way. Ensure their conditions are met
  • always acknowledge the source of the content.

How you wish to publish your research impacts on the level of copyright permissions that you request. On gaining permission, you are required to fulfil the terms and conditions placed on the item. At a minimum you should:

  • credit the work to the original author and the source of the material used (e.g. reference in a footnote, endnote or in-text reference)
  • unless otherwise agreed, state whether you have altered the work from what the author originally produced
  • unless otherwise agreed, not do anything which could damage the author’s honour or reputation
  • not do anything with the copyright material which goes beyond the scope of the permission you have obtained from the copyright owner.

If you wish to publish an item as open access, be sure to check the publisher’s approach to open access and self-archiving. They may allow self-archiving, otherwise you will need to request clearance to self-archive. It is better to check the policy before submitting an article for peer review. 

Look at the journal's website for links called 'Notes to contributors' or 'Information for authors', or see an example of what to look for (PDF 137KB). The information could also be in the publishing contract; read carefully before signing.

You may wish to use Creative Commons to share your work. Where UniSQ owns the copyright in the work, content will need to be licensed by the UniSQ Legal Office. You will then be able to share your open access resource on many different open access sharing platforms.

If you wish to include a third party item and publish it under a Creative Commons licence, you will need to seek the permission of the copyright owner to do so.

Staff may also wish to contribute content to the eLearning Objects Repository. 

Contact us

Copyright Services
copyright@unisq.edu.au