Copyright and Thesis in Africa

Abstract

The paper gives the background to the development of electronic theses and dissertations (ETDs) in Africa and mentions the advantages of ETDs. To gain an overview of copyright information provided to students and staff, the websites of every one of the institutions that participated in the Database of African Theses and Dissertations (DATAD) pilot project were examined. The objective was to establish whether the institutional copyright policy was available online, and if so, whether there were policies on using materials in publications such as theses and dissertations. None of these institutions had any copyright information on their website.

Of the seven South African universities that have ETD websites, only one had copyright information on its websites. However, the site did not provide information on the copyright needs of postgraduate students.

The paper commends the efforts of the Association of African Universities (AAU) in producing the “DATAD Guide to Copyright and Intellectual Property Management.” It suggests that the Guide should part of a comprehensive web site that should be developed to guide postgraduate students and supervisors on intellectual property rights (IPR) issues in particular as well as other issues. It also suggests that it is important for an institution to let its constituency fully understand the intricacies of the copyright law of the country, and that academic libraries should educate postgraduate students on basic copyright information such as ownership, rights, duration, protection, registration, fair use, permissions, etc. Online tutorials could be used in this regard.