Copyright and publishing

Using copyright material in your publications


The University Library provides copyright support for the UWA community to help staff and students understand their copyright obligations and, in doing so, maximise the use of copyright material in the publications they produce.

The Library can assist with:

Advice regarding the use of copyright material for education and research

Assistance with locating copyright-compliant resources

Online support materials and FAQs

Copyright awareness and training workshops

For more information, or for assistance with a query, contact us.

Copyright and permissions

Protecting your copyright

In Australia, as soon as a work is produced in a material form (e.g. written down or filmed), it is automatically protected by copyright. You do not need to register your copyright, nor do you need to affix a copyright symbol (©), in order to benefit from copyright protection

It is advisable, however, to include a copyright statement on your work to notify others of the copyright owner and to advise of any reuse conditions. There is no set wording for a copyright statement; it can be as simple as the copyright symbol (a lower case ‘c’ in a circle) followed by the copyright owner’s name and the year the work was produced – for example, © John Smith 2022, or © University of Western Australia 2022.

For more information on protecting your copyright, see the Australian Copyright Council Protecting Your Copyright fact sheet.

Publishing agreements and the UWA Research Repository

Deciding where and how to publish is an important step in the research process. The University Library offers a regular program of workshops that provide guidance in relation to information and data discovery and management, copyright, publishing, and engagement with research outputs, including workshops on Open Access for Researchers, Authors Rights, and Where to Publish. More information is available in the Library Research Support Program guide.

The University supports the principle of Open Access by making publications freely available online within 12 months of publication through the UWA Research Repository. UWA authors are responsible for depositing copies of their publications in accordance with the UWA Research Integrity Policy.

More information on Open Access publishing options can be found in the Open Access Toolkit.

Publication agreements

Publishers will often request that you sign a publication agreement or contract in order to publish your research. Consider the following points before signing publication agreements.


Information on this page has been adapted with permission from Macquarie University and the University of Tasmania Copyright Toolkit for Researchers (licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike CC BY-NC-SA licence).

This information is provided as general information only and is not intended to be comprehensive.

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