Frequently asked questions on dissertations and copyright


What copyright issues are there for me and my publisher?
The principle applied here is that Leiden University takes care that during the implementation of Open Access Leiden its scientists are not put in a compromising position towards their publisher(s). On the other hand it must be said that publishers allow much more (self) archiving than you would usually suspect

Regarding the author's copyright in relation to the copyright of the publisher(s) there are different answers.

Overview list
SHERPA (Securing a Hybrid Environment for Research Preservation and Access) has made an overview list of about a hundred important publishers and their policy regarding copyright and self-archiving.
However SHERPA points out a reservation concerning this list:

"These summaries are for the publishers default policies and changes or exceptions can often be negotiated by authors. All information is correct to the best of our knowledge but should not be relied upon for legal advice."

Transfer of copyright up to and including 1997
Because publishers did not start claiming copyright for anything other than paper till 1997, all publications up to and including 1997 can be included in the IR without any problems. For extra information on this topic you can consult the SURF study by Wilma Mossink (pdf -  only available in Dutch).

Transfer of copyright after 1997 
For the period after 1997 the copyright can have been claimed by your publishers. However it depends on if whether you have actually transferred (in writing) your copyright to your publisher or whether you have given him an exclusive licence. Even in this case the policy of the publisher can still be broader than would be expected and he could for example give you permission to include the authors' versions in the IR.

The copyright situation can mean that when an article is published in a scientific magazine, the version of this article on a homepage (personal/faculty/university) has to be made inaccessible -possibly temporarily- for readers who are not from the University. The article does not have to be removed from the repository; blocking the access for outsiders will suffice. 

At present
Using the Copyright Information Office of Leiden University and through other means we would draw your attention to the rights that you have as author. We offer you an overview of which transfers of which rights in which situation are of significance to the author.


SURF has a explanatory site titled: Copyright in higher education with many useful answers and explanations.
I want/have an agreement that my dissertation can only be distributed on the web by the library after a certain amount of time. Can this be arranged?
Yes, there is a possibility to put an embargo on your dissertation (see form VI). This means that your disseration is not accessible until after the embargo has expired. The period of an embargo can vary from two months up to a period of several years in some cases. An embargo can also be applied to parts (or chapters) of your dissertation.
I would like to submit my dissertation, but I would also like to publish through a publisher. Is this possible?
Certainly, basically submitting your dissertation to the repository has nothing to do with a publication trail. You should arrange with your publisher that you are entitled to submit your dissertation and make it accessible in the repository of Leiden University and the National Dissertation Site.
I have already published (articles from) my dissertation through a publisher, but I would also like to submit my dissertation for Open Access publishing. How can I do this?
This depends on the type of licence you and your publisher have signed. In most cases you will have kept the right to submit your article / dissertation in an institutional repository or most publishers will grant you this right. In these cases you will have no problem submitting your dissertation. Note that some publishers can object to submitting a publisher's pdf. A new pdf will then have to be made. If your licence does not mention submitting your publication to an institutional repository, you may be able to find information about their Open Access policy on the publisher's website. Finally, you can write to the publisher to request permission to submit your publication to the repository. Most publishers are obliging in these cases. An up to date overview of publishers and their policies regarding copyright and online archiving in institutional repositories can be found on SHERPA publisher copyright policies & self-archiving.
I have been explicitly prohibited from making my dissertation available to the general public. Do I still have to submit my dissertation despite this?
Yes, we collect all the dissertations of Leiden University. This increases the durability and visibility of your work. Dissertations which are under embargo are archived, for long time storage, but are not full-text accessible. The abstract and bibliographic information are made available. In most cases you can arrange with the publisher that the full-text dissertation can be made available after a certain amount of time. Embargoes are managed through the form VI.
Can I use the PDF from the repository on my own website?
Yes, you do not need the consent of the library to do so. It is easier though, to put the url of your dissertation on your own website instead of the pdf. This url is permanent and will therefore remain unaltered.