Copyright and Intellectual Property: Copyright for Academics and Researchers

As an academic you may want to photocopy or download material for teaching purposes, and for course packs, e.g. book chapters, journal articles, information or images from the web.

• You can copy work in any medium so long as it's solely to illustrate a point and the use can be considered fair dealing.
• Non-commercial research and private study - this allows students and researchers to make limited copies of all types of copyright works for non-commercial research or private study
• Criticism, review and reporting current event

Fair dealing is a legal term that refers to whether use is fair or infringes copyright.

• reasonable*
• appropriate
• necessary
• Use must not affect market opportunities or cause the creator to lose out financially.

It is generally accepted that 5% is a reasonable amount. For images it is suggested that a low resolution of the image is used.

Fair use for teaching and research

Fair use allows reproduction and other uses of copyrighted works – without requiring permission from the copyright owner – under certain conditions. In many cases, you can use copyrighted materials for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship or research. 

As a researcher you may want to photocopy, scan, or download information from books, journals and web resources to support your research. You may also want to include this material in your thesis or when publishing your research. This material will almost certainly be covered by copyright law and so there are limits to what you can legally copy and reuse.

The work you produce and publish will also be protected by copyright:

• A PhD student usually owns copyright in their research with exceptions on projects that are sponsored, or funded by an external organization.
• Copyright for work created during the course of employment would usually be owned by the employer, but the University waives this right over research outputs. In the case of collaborative research, either with other academic institutions or with commercial partners, the copyright may be jointly held.

What happens to copyright when I publish my research?

Publishing means to make research accessible to the public. In an academic context, this has traditionally meant publishing journal articles or books via an established, often commercial publisher. Publication then depends on the author agreeing to a contract that customarily, among other terms, transfers their copyright to the publisher.

Being compliant is important when you conduct or publish your research.

There are a number of ways that you can use content without infringing copyright. The below checklist will introduce you to the main ways to stay compliant and will help you decide what is lawfully permissive. 

Has copyright expired?

Is the work available under an open licence?

Is there a statutory exception that permits your use?

If using a library online resource, does the resource license allow your use?

Should you seek permission from the rights owner?

Still in doubt?

Contact your Research Support Librarian at bnair@rcsi-mub.com