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Faculty of Graduate Studies

Copyright and Authorship resources

  

Graduate students are encouraged to consult with their research supervisor and their Master's or Doctoral committee for guidance.

The resources on this webpage are intended as general guidelines for research students completing a PhD dissertation, Master's thesis or major research paper regarding Authorship and Copyright. All students are encouraged to review the CTL teaching and learning resources for academic intergrity as well as the Leddy Library information regarding avoiding plagiarism.

Including copyrighted material

Students wishing to include in their theses, major research papers, or dissertations a substantial part of any copyrighted material must receive written permission from the copyright holder. It is the student's responsibility to disclose any copyrighted material that has been included in the thesis, as well as to obtain Letters of permission from copyright holders, where applicable. 

Refer to the Graduate Studies Policy on Plagiarism for guidance about plagiarism and copyright issues.

If you are using copyrighted material your best protection against accusations of copyright violation is to seek permission. For guidance on 'fair dealing' and determining what may constitute 'substantial' part of copyrighted material:

Including your previously published work

Journal articles or other material that has been previously published by the student may be incorporated within a thesis, major paper, or dissertation, provided this material describes work done during the student’s graduate registration at the University of Windsor. Please note that publication or acceptance for publication of research results before the presentation of the thesis or dissertation does not supersede the University’s evaluation and judgment of the work during the examination process.

If the student wishes to use material which they authored AND which has already been published or submitted for publication, permission must be received from the copyright holder (e.g. journal) if copyright is not held by the author. This regulation applies whether the copyrighted material appears in the body of the thesis/ major paper/dissertation, or in an appendix.

If you are including your previously published article(s), you have likely already signed a "Copyright transfer agreement" with the journal/publisher that would determine how your work can be reused. The publisher, as the copyright holder, may outline the rights you have for different versions of the work as well as the purpose of the reuse. Refer to the Copyright transfer agreement you signed with the publisher to determine your rights, and if you are unsure contact the publisher to request clarification and/or permission as needed.

When requesting permission from the publisher/copyright holder, it is important to note that the University will include major paper, theses, and dissertations in the institutional repository Scholarship@UWindsor, and that theses and dissertations are also submitted to and included in ProQuest's ETD database. 

Students may use the Sample letter to request permission to use Copyrighted material.

For additional considerations review section titled "Additional resources" on this webpage.

The student is expected to be the principal author and have had a major role in the preparation and writing of any jointly-authored manuscripts that are incorporated in the major research paper, thesis, or dissertation.

Students wishing to include any co-authored material (published or unpublished) in their major paper, thesis, or dissertation must receive written permission from each co-author.

Material that has been previously published by the student may be used as part of a thesis, major paper, or dissertation, provided that this material describes work done during the student’s graduate registration at the University of Windsor. Refer to the Senate Policy on Authorship for guidance about authorship issues and attribution of co-authorship.

It is the student's responsibility to disclose any jointly authored material that has been included in the thesis, as well as to obtain permission from each co-author. Copies of such permissions may be included as an Appendix to the thesis, or may be uploaded separately as supplementary files when the thesis is uploaded as part of the post-defence Deposit.

At the time the Master's / Doctoral committee is proposed, students validate a "Non-Exclisive License to the University of Windsor" which authorizes the University to archive, reproduce, and distribute the thesis or dissertation. Similarly, upon completion of the final oral defense, students are required to validate a "Thesis / Dissertation Non-exclusive Licence", which authorizes Library and Archives Canada to perform similar actions, (as outlined under step #2 of 2 of the post-defence Deposit instructions). 

Commercial copyright and moral rights remains with the thesis/dissertation author. 

As outlined in the Faculty of Graduate Studies format requirements, a declaration to address authorship and copyright must be included in each PhD dissertation, Master's thesis and major paper. There are 2 declaration options:

Option 1: “Declaration of Originality” is used when the document includes no co-authored or previously published work. Refer to the format requirements for details,

Option 2: “Declaration of Co-Authorship/Previous Publication” must be used when the document includes any co-authored and/or previously published work. Refer to the format requirements for details and to review the language in the declaration template.

Letters of permission from co-author(s) or copyright holders (e.g. journals or other publishers) may be included as an Appendix within the thesis document, or uploaded as supplementary files when the thesis is deposited with graduate studies.

Students may use the Sample letter to request permission to use Copyrighted material.

Where manuscripts are co-authored by the student and others: 

  • The “Declaration of Co-Authorship/Previous Publication” must include an explicit statement as to who contributed to the work and to describe the nature and extent of their contribution.
  • The candidate’s original contributions should be indicated, justifying the work’s inclusion in the main body of the thesis, major paper, or dissertation.
  • Supervisors must attest to the accuracy of these statements at the oral defence. 

For details refer to the Faculty of Graduate Studies format requirements declaration instructions.