Copyright and Fair Use: Theses and Dissertations
Copyright for Theses and Dissertations
For many graduate students, the thesis or dissertation is one of their first publications. Having an understanding of basic copyright issues before beginning your thesis or dissertation can help you avoid additional work in the future.
A checklist for authors and some Frequently Asked Questions can be found below.
If you have any questions or need assistance, please email cds@rice.edu.
Copyright Checklist for Theses and Dissertations
Below, is a checklist of activities to conduct before and during the writing of your thesis or dissertation. If you have any questions or need assistance, please contact Fondren Library Publishing Services using this webform or email cds@rice.edu.
- Familiarize yourself with the basics of U.S. copyright law, including the public domain and fair use.
- Educopia created a useful guide about copyright issues specifically related to theses and dissertations.
- Read Rice’s Copyright Policy, which includes information specific to graduate students.
- If you are in the middle of your graduate study and plan to publish some of your research, be sure to select a publisher that will permit use of your previously-published work in your thesis or dissertation. Read carefully the terms of any past or future publication agreements.
- Be sure to acknowledge that the work was published in an earlier form and provide citation information.
- As you write your thesis or dissertation, identify all the other works you cite, reference, or borrow from. This may include long quotations and full reproductions of text, images, graphs, and other copyrightable material. It may be helpful to create a spreadsheet to track this process. As you finish each chapter, conduct a systematic review of all material that may be included in the final publication. For each use, consider:
- Are any materials in the public domain? Works in the public domain have no copyright restrictions on use (it is, however, best practice to provide attribution/citation).
- Do any of the materials have Creative Commons licenses? Check that your use meets the license terms of use.
- Does fair use apply to any of your uses?
- Do you have permission from a copyright owner to use material? Columbia University Libraries developed a useful resource for seeking permission.
- Are you including any materials created by you, but previously published? Check your publishing agreements to ensure that you have permission to use your work in your thesis or dissertation.
Derived from ProQuest and Kenneth D. Crews’ “Copyright Information for Dissertation Authors” licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
Frequently Asked Questions
Below, are questions related to copyright and theses/dissertations that Fondren Library staff frequently receive. They are updated as additional questions are received and as policies/guidelines change. Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies also maintains a Candidacy and Defense FAQ.
Q: Who owns the copyright in my thesis or dissertation?
You do! You are the owner of the copyright in your work from the moment it is fixed in a tangible form, including computer memory. You continue to own that copyright until you transfer it to another party. A transfer of copyright must be in writing. [from The Graduate School, Duke University]
Q: Why are Rice theses and dissertations made available online? Will this hurt my chances for future publication?
For many years, universities have required that dissertations be shared publicly, since the ultimate objective of doctoral training is to produce scholars who can make public contributions to knowledge. In the pre-Web era, dissertations were typically held by the PhD student’s home library as well as microfilmed and made available through UMI. In the Web era, most universities have moved to online systems, which are easier to manage, involve less hassle (you don’t have to worry about binding your dissertation), and allow students to have a deeper impact on knowledge. While the first book in the humanities is typically based on the author’s dissertation, it involves substantial revision, so many publishers regard it as being an entirely different object. Some students have found that having their dissertations available online raises their scholarly profile and even helps them to find a publisher. For more information, see Cirasella, J., & Thistlethwaite, P. (2017). Open access and the graduate author: A dissertation anxiety manual. In K. L. Smith & K. A.Dickson (Eds.), Open access and the future of scholarly communication: Implementation(pp. 203-224). Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.
Q: Why is my dissertation available in the public domain?
This is a common misconception. You retain copyright over your thesis or dissertation. It is publicly available but not in the public domain.
Q: How do I copyright my thesis?
Copyright protection automatically exists from the time the work is created in fixed form. There is no requirement that the work be published or registered to obtain protection under copyright law.
However, you may wish to register your copyright with the U.S. Copyright Office at the Library of Congress. Copyright registration is not a condition to copyright protection but may be useful if you have a claim of infringement of your copyright. Registration may be made at any time within the life of the copyright, but there are advantages to filing for registration within three months of publication. For more information on registration, see the U.S. Copyright Office. [from The Graduate School, UNC]
Q: Can I use copyrighted images or graphs in my dissertation?
A number of factors should be considered when determining if copyrighted material like images and graphs can be used in your work. Please see this guide’s fair use section or contact cds@rice.edu. For additional information about using images in publications, please see the library’s guide to Finding and Using Images in Publications.
Q: What if I want to patent the research in my thesis?
You may need to request that publication of your work be delayed until after patent review. If you require a delay on the publishing of your thesis, you may make this request directly through thesis.rice.edu when submitting your documents.
Q: Who should I contact with questions about depositing theses and dissertations?
Contact Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies: graduate@rice.edu