Research

Researchers need to understand how copyright affects the creation, use, sharing and publication of materials. This includes the management of author and institutional rights and intellectual property, following any licensing considerations for third-party content, and following protocols for Indigenous Cultural and Intellectual Property (ICIP). Copyright also applies to publishing agreements and research data, which influence how research outputs can be shared and reused.

Researchers should aim to:

• Know their rights and responsibilities under the Copyright Act 1968 when creating, using, and publishing materials.
• Manage copyright prior to entering into publishing agreements - understand what rights are retained by authors or transferred to the publisher, and any implications for reuse.
• Understand what open access publishing options are available.
• Check third-party content before using it in publications:
  • Obtain permission if required.
  • Respect Creative Commons licence conditions.
  • Consider fair dealing exceptions.
  • Follow ICIP protocols where relevant.
• Comply with funding body requirements for open access publishing (e.g., ARC, NHMRC).
• Understand research data and copyright implications:
  • Researchers should familiarise themselves with copyright and licensing considerations when working with and licensing data. See the Australian Research Data Commons' (ARDC) 'Research Data Rights Management Guide'
  • Observe Indigenous Data Governance and Sovereignty principles. See the Lowitja Institute's 'Indigenous Data Governance and Sovereignty (PDF, 1.4MB)' and the Global Indigenous Data Alliance's Overview of the CARE Principles for Indigenous Data Governance for further information.
  • Check licensing, contractual and ethical obligations when reusing secondary datasets or software.