5. Copyright, licensing and publication in a journal-style thesis

5.1 Responsibility for copyright

You must ensure that all copyright considerations are met but advice can be sought from the Library (see Copyright: a Practical Guide for Researchers). In addition to standard considerations for inclusion of copyright material in the thesis (eg images, text), additional considerations are likely to apply in a journal-style thesis.

All theses deposited by PGRs after examination will be available to the general public, in full, for consultation and for reproduction (as permitted in copyright law), unless approval is obtained for embargo or redaction (see section 13 of the Policy on Research Degrees). Theses will be made openly accessible through White Rose eTheses Online with the option to apply a licence which permits reuse under certain restrictions (eg Creative Commons); this must be taken into account when considering copyright and obtaining necessary permissions from co-authors or publishers.

5.2 Co-authored papers

If a paper in your thesis has more than one author (rights-holder), you must ensure that you have obtained permission from all co-authors (noting that where there are multiple authors this may be limited to the key contributing/corresponding authors) to incorporate the paper into the thesis and this permission should be noted at the start of the paper. You should also ensure that co-authors are aware of the access requirements (see 3. Data Access Statements).

5.3 Published papers 

If a paper in your thesis has been published, you are likely to need permission from your publisher to incorporate it into the thesis and this permission should be noted at the start of the paper.

A publisher may impose conditions on which version of the paper can be included in the thesis, eg whether you should include the author’s accepted manuscript (post-peer-review but before journal formatting) or the final published version (journal-formatted version or version of record). An author's accepted version is the preferred option - see 6. Presentation for more information.

If the paper has been published ‘open access’ under the terms of a licence which permits reuse (eg Creative Commons) then you may not be required to obtain further permissions, as long as the terms of reuse are followed and the source of the final published version has been acknowledged.

5.4 Pending papers

If a paper in your thesis has been submitted or accepted for publication, you should inform the publisher that the paper will be included in your thesis and available for public consultation via White Rose eTheses Online. The publisher may give permission for the paper to be used without restrictions, or may impose conditions on which version of the paper can be included or ask for the thesis to be embargoed (ie not available publicly) until after the paper has been published (or longer if the paper is behind a paywall). You should follow the University guidance on thesis embargos if necessary. 

5.5 Submission of papers post thesis-deposit

If a paper in the thesis is sent to a journal after the thesis has been deposited you must ensure that the journal editors are aware that the work has been included in their thesis and is available in White Rose eTheses Online. It may be appropriate to reference the e-thesis in the paper.

If you wish to submit any element of your thesis for publication but you are aware that you will not be able to do this pre-thesis deposit, you should check that the publisher in question does not consider availability in an e-repository as prior publication, and, if necessary, follow the University guidance on thesis embargos.