Copyright for research

Copyright requires some degree of human authorship. Datasets of raw data tend not to attract copyright, while datasets that have been processed or compiled in some way may. For example, a spreadsheet of observations logged directly from a weather station would likely not be protected by copyright until that data had been cleaned or arranged in some way by an author.

Copyright durations can be broadly summarised as follows. However, there are numerous exceptions depending on the type of material and other factors, such as the publication date.

Material type	Copyright duration
Text, images and music compositions	Life of the author + 70 years
Sound and video recordings	Date made + 70 years
Government material	Date made + 50 years

In Australia, copyright has also expired for photographs made before 1955.

For specific copyright durations by material type, refer to the Attorney General’s Department's Duration of Copyright table.

Open Access materials are either in the public domain (e.g. copyright expired) or have been released under a Creative Commons or other open licence that permits some degree of use without purchase or permission.

Open access materials are preferred for use in research projects as they are generally:

• free to access and use
• flexible for use in research applications, such as text and data mining
• don’t require permission to include in a publication.

The University Library has commercial licences in place with over 120 vendors to provide staff and students with resources such as journals, eBooks, datasets, news and audio and video recordings.

While licence terms vary for each resource, they typically permit users to access (view) and copy (download) for research or study purposes, within limits. Some vendors also permit text and data mining (TDM) and use of material with artificial intelligence (AI) services. Select ‘Show Licence’ in the Library Collections Search entry to check the specific terms or contact Library Researcher Support for assistance.

Obtaining permission is perhaps the most reliable method of copyright clearance.

For research, permissions often need to be obtained from rightsholder(s) directly. The '©' copyright notice should identify the primary rightsholder, but if it's not clear, try the publisher or author first. Publishers often have a permissions and licensing contact point on their website.

While some rightsholders might require a more formal request, including full details of the intended use, the wording below should be sufficient for email requests in most circumstances.

ICIP protocols guide the use of Indigenous cultural material, with a particular emphasis on early and ongoing engagement and consent from the relevant communities. ICIP covers a range of items that may not be protected under copyright or other intellectual property frameworks.

The Research Authorship and Outputs Policy requires researchers to observe the AIATSIS Code of Ethics for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Research, including Indigenous knowledge and intellectual property arrangements.  ICIP considerations are also a requirement under Australian Research Council (ARC) and National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) open access policies.

If there is no licence applicable, the fair dealing for research or study exception permits copying of a reasonable portion of a work. The research or study can be personal or informal but does not extend to making research results public.

A reasonable portion is generally up to:

• 10% of the words or pages
• one chapter or article, or
• multiple articles from the same periodical (newspaper, magazine, journal) if they’re for the same study.

If copying more than a reasonable portion, or copying other types of materials such as an artistic work, sound recording, film or broadcast, the following fairness factors must be considered, in aggregate:

• purpose of the copying (e.g. research or study)
• the nature of the work
• commercial availability of the work
• effect of copying on the market for the work
• amount and substantiality of the part used.

Refer to the Australia Copyright Council's Research or Study Fact Sheet for more information on assessing the fairness factors.