Copyright and Open Educational Resources (OER)
Information on third-party copyright considerations for OER.
Open Educational Resources (OER) are learning, teaching and research materials in any format and medium that reside in the public domain or are under copyright that have been released under an open licence, that permit no-cost access, re-use, re-purpose, adaptation and redistribution by others (as stated in the UNESCO Recommendation on OER, 2019).
The University supports those who wish to create and share their own OER, and recognises creators of OER will often wish to reuse material that is under third-party copyright.
Our guide explains good practice for people who need to manage copyright for third-party content in openly licensed works such as a book, book chapter, open textbook, or website. Third-party content is material, such as images, infographics, tables, diagrams and quotations, that are not generated or owned by the creator of a work, which creators seek to use within their work.
The guide is an adaptation of the UKRI guidance on managing copyright, which we have tailored specifically to help with third-party copyright questions and open publications.
Managing third-party content and copyright is an important part of the publishing process.
It is essential that you lawfully use any third-party material in your work, and that you correctly attribute the original creators and copyright holder in line with requirements in copyright law and with any licences that apply to the material.
The guide includes:
- how to identify third-party content and manage it
- how to attribute third-party content
- options for using content without clearing rights
- how to seek permission from copyright holders