Copyright issues when submitting your thesis to DR-NTU
The NTU Open Access Mandate requires all NTU staff members to submit the digital full-text papers of journal articles and conference papers they have written and published to DR-NTU, the Institutional Repository of the University. NTU higher degree research theses from students would also be published on DR-NTU.
Do I retain my copyright to my thesis when I submit it to DR-NTU?
According to the NTU IP Policy:
‘A Student shall own the copyright in his or her thesis subject to any grant or agreement with external parties. The Student shall grant to the University a royalty-free permission to use, publish, reproduce or distribute the thesis worldwide, in whole or in part and in whatever form, electronic or otherwise.’
Therefore the student still retains the copyright to his/her thesis after submission.
Am I infringing copyright when I submit my accepted manuscript or full-text journal article to DR-NTU?
You are advised to check the website Sherpa Romeo to ensure that the publisher of your article allows self-archiving of the paper in PDF. Sherpa Romeo is a site that lists publisher’s information on self-archiving rights. When in doubt or when information is not available, always submit the accepted version to DR-NTU.
What agreement do I need to sign upon submission to DR-NTU?
During submission of your work to DR-NTU, you would be prompted to sign a distribution agreement for your work to be reproduced and distributed for free online access viewing by the public for educational, research and scientific non-profit use via the DR-NTU. Your consent once given is irrevocable.
What if I have used 3rd party copyrighted material in my thesis to be submitted?
If you have included material from other people’s work in your thesis or article, before it can be made available online to the world, you will need to obtain the copyright owner’s permission. Under Singapore Copyright Act, there are provisions for “fair dealing for research or study” that may apply to your use of other’s copyright material in producing your thesis for examination purposes. However, these provisions do not apply to the University when it makes your thesis available to the world on the web.
How do I obtain permission to use 3rd party copyrighted material in my thesis?
If you are a higher degree student and wish to seek permission from the copyright owner to reuse copyrighted material in your thesis, you can contact us for suggestions on how to write a permission request to the copyright owner. Alternatively you can view this page on requesting permission.
Declaration of non-unauthorised third party copyrighted material
Upon submission of any work to DR-NTU, the submitter would need to declare that his/her work is original and does not contain any unauthorised third party copyrighted material.