Information for the copyright holder
Theses and dissertations which have completed the degree awarding process are deposited in RCSI Library by the relevant School or by the author. These copies are the archival record for the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland and are preserved and made available for use by researchers and scholars. Theses and dissertations may be stored and made available by the Library in a number of different formats:
(i) printed and bound copies shelved in the library
(ii) digital originals housed in RCSI’s institutional repository of electronic publications
(iii) printed originals scanned and digitized for both preservation and access purposes.
Access to certain theses may be restricted by embargo for specified time periods but ultimately all theses and dissertations deposited in the Library will be available for consultation and may be digitized for both preservation and access purposes. Depositing a print copy in a library effectively means the thesis remains unpublished. Digitizing a thesis and making it available via an internet repository however is effectively publishing the work.
The author of a work holds the copyright to a work and the property rights include the right to control the duplication, distribution, performance, display, and publication of the work. This applies to theses, dissertations, and other works that are submitted to fulfill degree requirements. However when a copy of a student's thesis or dissertation is deposited in a designated Library, the provisions of the Irish Copyright Act 2000 (and amendments) apply. The principle provisions of the 2000 Act are:
(i) Fair dealing (s.50-52) allows use and limited reproduction of theses by individuals for research and private study.
(ii) Education exemptions (s.53-58) allow use and limited reproduction of theses for teaching purposes.
(iii) Library exemptions (s.59-70) allow libraries to lend or make available theses and to copy complete theses for preservation purposes.
The deposit of theses in the Library does not change their copyright status but it does enable RCSI Library to provide consultation access and permitted use under those provisions above unless:
(i) the author imposes further restrictions in a copyright statement bound in the work.
(ii) any material in a thesis (charts, diagrams, photographs etc) where the copyright is held by anybody other than the author of the thesis must be copyright cleared by the author of the thesis before the work can be made available on the internet.
The author’s copyright in the work is not infringed by the permitted uses under Irish legislation and the author is free to pursue any copyright infringements occurring outside these exemptions. Users accessing theses in print or digital agree to the attached declaration.