Learn about copyright issues around writing and sharing your BSc, MSc or PhD thesis.

I found an image on the internet. Can I use it in my thesis?

In general, you can consider everything that has a creative aspect in it (e.g. a picture, a cartoon, a drawing, a photograph, an infographic, etc.) as copyright protected, even if this picture is freely available on the internet. If there is no applicable statutory limitation (exception to copyright law), you need to ask for permission from the copyright owner.

One of the statutory limitations is the right to cite. You may use small parts of the work without approval as long as you do this to illustrate a proposition, to defend an opinion, or to criticise or review another’s work. In other words, using the image without asking for permission is only allowed when using the image is necessary for the content of your work. If you want to use the image for decoration (e.g., on the front cover), you do need to ask permission from the copyright owner. 
 
Tip: find an image with an open licence (e.g. a Creative Commons Licence), that allows you to use it in your work without permission. Read more information on finding pictures with an open licence. 

Who owns the copyright on a BSc/MSc thesis?

The student owns copyright to their BSc/MSc thesis. The student who creates their BSc/MSc thesis (i.e., who writes the thesis and in that process makes the creative choices leading to the final wording of the thesis) owns the copyright on the work. This also applies to other student work products (essays, papers, reports, etc.). See the Student Charter for more information.
 
In some cases, a thesis is fully or partially created in the course of a commissioned study assignment or in the course of an internship. In that case, the student may agree upon an alternative ownership. If no agreement is made, the student owns the copyright on the thesis. For advice regarding such contractual arrangements, the student may contact the legal department of the science group where they study. 

Who owns copyright on research data related to a BSc/MSc thesis?

WUR students own the copyright of a dataset that they created during their BSc/MSc thesis project unless otherwise agreed (see Who owns the copyright on a BSc/MSc thesis?). However, ‘raw’ datasets (e.g., databases filled with factual measurement data) are not copyright protected.

In some cases, WUR or another organisation provide a dataset to the student. In this situation, the data could be/are owned by WUR and/or another organisation. If the data has restricted use (e.g. the data cannot be used by another university or shared with others), these restrictions should be stated in the thesis agreement and the agreement should be signed by the student.

WUR has developed policies about publishing and sharing data. Find out more information about sharing data guidelines.

Does WUR have a policy for publishing MSc theses?

WUR intends to make all master's theses that receive a final grade of 6 or higher publicly available. They should be placed in MSc thesis online. In some cases, WUR may not make a thesis publicly available even though it has a final grade of 6 or higher. If this occurs, the thesis assessment form should explain why the thesis is not publicly available and how long it should not be publicly available.

The thesis agreement or the thesis assessment form should state whether the thesis should or should not be made available Open Access in the WUR repository. WUR is currently revising its policy for publishing MSc theses.

Who owns the copyright on a PhD thesis?

When the PhD candidate is employed by Wageningen University (WU) or by Wageningen Research Foundation (WR), copyright on the thesis is vested in WU or WR. If the PhD candidate is not employed by WUR, and the copyright is not fully or partially transferred to their employer or to a third party, the PhD candidate owns the copyright on their thesis. If chapters in the PhD thesis are co-authored, all co-authors of those chapters own the copyright. If all authors are employed at WUR, the copyright of these chapters is vested in WUR; otherwise, there is joint ownership. 
 
In some cases, the PhD candidate is requested to transfer copyright to the commissioner of a PhD research project or to a publisher in the case of scientific publications. For advice regarding such contractual agreements, contact the legal department of the Science Group where the research is conducted.

Who owns copyright on research data related to a PhD thesis?

At first, check whether the research data is subject to copyright. Unstructured, ‘raw’ datasets (e.g., databases filled with factual measurement data) are not subject to ownership and therefore not protected by copyright. For further information, see Is your research data protected by copyright?

If your research data is protected by copyright, the same rules of ownership of the copyright apply as described in the question Who owns the copyright on a PhD thesis?

Who owns the copyright on a co-authored chapter of my PhD thesis?

In a co-authored chapter of your PhD thesis, it is mostly not possible to clearly separate who contributed what, so joint ownership of copyright applies. This means that all contributors share ownership of the copyright for the entire work. It depends on where these co-authors are employed, who owns the copyright. Read more information about this in the knowledge article Find out who owns copyright of (scholarly) output.

Upon publishing my PhD thesis, am I allowed to publish a chapter as a journal article?

If you submit manuscripts (chapters of your PhD thesis) to a journal after your thesis has been submitted and made publicly available through Wageningen University & Research PhD theses, explain to the publisher that the manuscript is based on thesis work. You can do this either in your submission e-mail or within the acknowledgement section of your article.

If you do not explain beforehand that the manuscript is based on thesis work, you may receive an email from the publisher stating that your manuscript cannot be accepted because of plagiarism. In this case, contact the publisher and explain your situation. If you need help, please contact your science group's legal advisors.

Another option is to place an embargo on your thesis before you submit it by emailing the Library to request this embargo. During the 1-year embargo, your thesis will not be available online and will not appear in plagiarism-detection software. You may also extend the embargo if required.

After publishing a journal article, may I include this article in my PhD thesis?

During the paper submission process, you may be asked to transfer your copyright to the publisher. If you must transfer all your rights, it is important to retain the right to publish this article as a chapter in your PhD thesis or the right to use this article in education. If you did not arrange this with the journal during the paper submission process, it will depend on the journal whether you may publish the article as a thesis chapter. Please check the publisher’s copyright statement or the contract you have signed to see if you may publish the paper in your thesis. In some cases, you may publish the paper’s post-print or pre-print version in your thesis. On the Open Policy Finder website, you can check if you may publish the paper in your PhD thesis.

Does WUR have a policy for publishing PhD theses?

According to the WUR Open Access policy, PhD theses need to be published in Open Access. However, a thesis can be embargoed for 1 year if the articles in the thesis are not yet published. If needed, the embargo can be extended. An embargo can also be applied for special interests, such as commercial interests, in the case of a patent application. If you would like to have an embargo on your thesis, please email the Library.

Note: You need to ask for an embargo. It is not automatically placed on your thesis. For more information, see this knowledge article on thesis submission.

Questions & support

Do you have questions about this service, or would you like personal support? Feel free to contact us. You can send an email to the Copyright Information Point.