Copyright for researchers

As a researcher, managing the copyright on sources you use will be important.

The Copyright Act 1968 will impact on researchers in a number of ways, it provides researchers with an ability to copy resources and also to own what they write. This page focuses on activities a researcher may undertake and how copyright law may impact on those activities.

If you are not sure what copyright law is, or what is protected by copyright, please visit the Copyright basics page for that background information.

Gathering research resources

In research it is usual to identify what has already been published in the field, or to gather information about your topic. When you choose to copy those resources and hold them locally (digital or print) then you undertake an activity allowed under copyright law.

The information you copied is known as third-party materials, as you did not write them yourself, and the copying is allowed under fair dealing rights.

Under fair dealing, you can copy reasonable portions of copyright material for the purposes of research. Visit the Fair dealing page for a detailed explanation of what is allowed under fair dealing.

If you wish to copy more than a reasonable portion, then you will need to check the copyright notice of the material and determine if you are able to do that. If the material is Creative Commons then it is possible to copy more than a reasonable portion of the material. If the material is in the public domain, then you will also be able to copy all of the material. If the material is ‘all rights reserved’ usually denoted by © [name of company] [year published], then you will need permission to copy more than the reasonable portion.

Obtaining grant funding

Congratulations if you have obtained a grant. Within the grant contract there will be a range of stipulations that you agree to when you sign the contract. One common stipulation in many grant contracts today is an intellectual property or copyright clause. These typically discuss how you will publish your findings, and include statements like “openly accessible”, “scholarly publications arising from the research it funds being made freely available and accessible”, or “must be published with the use of an open licence, which means publications can be used and shared widely”.

Please note these clauses as they will impact on how you publish your research findings.

Writing up your findings

For purposes of discussion, the word ‘writing’ is used here, but could include creating artistic material, music, film or any other type of material that copyright protects.

When writing up your findings you may use three types of materials:

A. Writings that you wrote yourself
B. Writings that you wish to quote or reference and did not write yourself (known as third-party materials)
C. Writings you prompted an AI to write for you

A. Writings that you wrote yourself

When you write your finding you will own copyright in this material and be afforded all the rights that come with copyright ownership. These rights include:

• Reproduce the material – photocopy, scan, download and save.
• Publish – make it available, put on the internet, print in a book, put on a cover of a magazine, install in a public place.
• Perform – sing, put on a public performance, act it out, recite.
• Communicate the material to public – send out to public, distribute the book either hardcopy or on internet.
• Make adaptations of the material – translate to different languages, turn it into something else like a book to a TV show.

B. Writings that you wish to quote or reference and did not write yourself (known as third-party materials)

When you include third-party material in your writing you have obligations regarding its identification. Some typical obligations include:

• Fair dealing – provide a reference or citation of where the material was sourced from.
• Creative Commons – follow the licence requirements but the “By” requirement requires a reference or citation of where the material was sourced from.
• Public domain – while it does not have any referencing requirements, it is traditional to still provide a reference or citation of where the material was sourced from.
• Permission – if you have obtained permission to use an ‘all rights reserved’ material, then follow the requirements set out in the permission, usually a minimum of a reference or citation of where the material was sourced from.

C. Writings you prompted an AI to write for you

As of September 2024, material created by an AI is considered in the public domain. It is usual to include a reference or citation of the AI used and the date the AI created the material.

Publishing your research

While publishing your research is an exciting time, this is where copyright impacts the most. Understanding copyright rights and obligations at this point is critical. Some critical factors that will impact on the choices you can make during the publishing process include:

• Is the material all your own? Or does it include third-party materials?
• If you have third-party materials, are they fair dealing? (Fair dealing does not include a right to publish, so permission will need to be sought).
• If you have permission, does that permission include the ‘right to publish’? (If not, then additional permission will be required).
• If you have grant funding, does it have stipulations regarding publishing?

While the options for publishing are too broad to be fully covered here, please seek assistance if you want to understand your individual publishing circumstances. Some considerations for your publishing journey.

• Traditionally publishing your research requires exchanging some of your copyright rights with the publisher for them to publish your research (right to publish – right to communicate). It is important to read your publishing agreement to see what rights you are exchanging in the contract. This may impact future activity with your research.
• Ensure you have all your permissions in written form, email, letters etc, as publishers usually like to cite the permissions before going ahead with a publishing agreement.
• Commercial publishers will have different policies regarding the inclusion of AI generated material.

ACU prefers where possible that its researchers consider open access publishing or publishing with a creative commons licence. Check if this is possible with your research. See Open Access for ACU Research Policy.

Seeking assistance

ACU has numerous areas that can provide personalised assistance regarding your publishing journey.

• Check out our publishing and promoting research toolkit
• Contact the Library
• Contact ACU Research and Enterprise