1. OPUS at UTS

Managing Copyright

Use of OPUS Material

The works available via OPUS are protected by Australian Copyright legislation. All reproduction and reuse rights are controlled by the copyright owner of each work, which may be the author(s) or the publisher of the work.

Unless an item’s OPUS record indicates more permissive use and/or distribution conditions (via a Creative Commons licence, for example), users may print and save electronic copies of whole papers made available via OPUS for individual, non-commercial use only. Further distribution is not permitted and the text may not be published commercially or altered without permission of the copyright owner.

Works in OPUS are increasingly made available via one of the Creative Commons Licences, which may give users additional rights to share, use, and/or build upon a work. Where a Creative Commons licence is indicated in an item’s OPUS record, users should check the specific licence conditions to ensure legal use of the material.

In all cases, any use of quotations, excerpts, or paraphrasing from a work must be attributed and fully referenced.

OPUS Metadata Re-use

OPUS metadata can be harvested by third parties for purposes related to the discovery of the repository's contents.

The OPUS OAI-PMH endpoint is http://opus.lib.uts.edu.au/oai/.

UTS Theses and Copyright

Higher degree students are required to deposit a digital copy of their theses to the UTS Library in accordance with Student Rule 11.22. They retain copyright in their thesis when it is made available through OPUS. For more information, see Services for Researchers > Support for HDR Students.

UTS Authors, Copyright, and Publishing Agreements

It is important to check that the terms of a publishing agreement are compatible with deposit to an institutional repository (required by the UTS Open Access Policy), as well as any obligations you may have to ensure a version of your work is made open access within a specified timeframe, as required by the open access policies of the ARC and NHMRC, for example.

Where a publisher's standard agreement would prevent you from meeting UTS or funder obligations, it may be possible to modify the terms of the agreement by including an addendum, such as the SPARC Author Addendum, which modifies a publisher agreement to allow you to keep key rights to your work, including the right to deposit your work to an institutional repository.

If you require copyright advice about a publishing agreement, please contact the UTS Copyright Officer.

Copyright Concerns

OPUS is managed in accordance with Australian Copyright legislation and the UTS Intellectual Property Policy. All reasonable care is taken to avoid copyright infringements.

If you believe that a work should not currently be accessible via OPUS, please contact opus@uts.edu.au with the relevant details.

Resources and Additional Information

Key Policies

  • ARC Open Access Policy
    This policy requires that an open access copy of any publications arising from an ARC grant must be available via an institutional repository (e.g. OPUS) within 12 months of the publication date. The metadata for the publication must be available in an institutional repository within 3 months of publication. This applies to all ARC grants awarded after January 2013 and all publication formats, not just journal articles.
  • NMHRC Open Access Policy
    This policy requires that an open access copy of all peer reviewed journal articles and conference papers arising from NHMRC grants awarded from 20 September 2022, must be available immediately either via the publisher’s website or via an institutional repository (e.g. OPUS). Publications arising from grants awarded prior to 20 September 2022 must be available in open access no later than 12 months after the publication date. The metadata for the publication must be available in an institutional repository within 3 months of publication.
  • UTS Open Access Policy
    This policy requires all research outputs created by UTS staff and students to be deposited to OPUS, the UTS institutional repository, to facilitate wide dissemination and equitable access.

Further Information

  • Creative Commons Licences
    Learn about Creative Commons and the permissions granted by the six different Creative Commons licences.
  • Open Access
    Learn about the benefits of making your research open access.
  • SPARC Author Addendum
    Access and learn about the author addendum from the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition (SPARC), which can be used to modify a publisher’s agreement to allow authors to keep key rights to their works.