Author rights and responsibilities

As an author there are certain requirements and rights you need to be aware of when publishing.

Research policies

There are a number of internal and external policies that govern your responsibilities as a researcher. Policies you must be aware of include:

• Research Authorship – ACU policy that helps define how authors are credited for their work.
• Research Publication Policy – ACU policy that outlines your responsibilities regarding how you manage your research publications.
• Australian Code for the Responsible Conduct of Research – NHMRC policy designed to help you understand principles for ethical research and your responsibilities as a researcher.
• Open Access for ACU Research – ACU Policy that supports depositing an Open Access version of your research into Research Bank.

If you are writing your Higher Degree by Research Thesis, policies you may also need to know are:

• Higher Degree Research Regulations – provides information on the entire candidature process.
• Guidelines on the Preparation and Presentation of a Research or Professional Doctoral Thesis for Examination – provides information on how to prepare your thesis for examination and submission.

Copyright

When publishing your work you are subject to a different copyright standard than what is required when submitting writing for academic credit.

If you plan to publish a work, you need to be aware of:

• permissions you may need to seek – is your research project bound by requirements of Research Funding Bodies, publishers or ACU?
• agreements you have made when accessing data and information.
• co-authors and the creator rights they will hold.

If your work has been accepted by a publisher, you may be asked to sign an agreement which could include handing over your rights to the work to the publisher.

Check the fine print before signing any agreement. Where possible, you can try to negotiate to have more control over your own work for other publications.

Managing your copyright

• An Introduction to Copyright Resources for Authors, by SPARC, helps authors manage their rights when publishing and includes the SPARC Author’s Addendum (PDF, 113KB) to help preserve your rights when going to publication.
• The Scholar's Copyright Addendum Engine will help you generate a PDF form that you can attach to a journal publisher's copyright agreement to ensure that you retain certain rights.

For further information, visit Copyright for researchers or contact the University Copyright Officer.

Creative Commons

Creative Commons is a licensing system that allows creators to share their work on more flexible terms.

Licensing your work as Creative Commons is an option when you publish.

License your work as Creative Commons

• Use the Creative Commons License Chooser to learn more about Creative Commons and decide which license is the best choice for your work.
• There are six basic licences you can choose from, which give users certain rights to use, share, attribute or distribute your work.

Offering your work under a Creative Commons licence does not mean giving up your copyright. It allows others to make use of your material, but only under certain conditions.

Depositing your research

Reporting your research activities is an integral part of the research process, and this includes depositing your research.

Research Bank, ACU's institutional repository, is the best place to deposit your work.

Publishing contracts

When you sign a contract with a publisher, request a clause that grants explicit permission to deposit a copy of your research in ACU's institutional repository Research Bank.

Complying with research mandates

• If your research has been funded by bodies such as the NHMRC and ARC your research outputs must be deposited into an open access institutional repository within 12 months of publication.
• Submit the author accepted manuscript or final published copy to Research Bank.
• Visit funding mandates for more information.

Contact us

Email our Research Engagement team for further support.