Submitting Your Work to Digital Collections

If the work you are submitting reuses the work of others, you will need to indicate how your reuse is permitted under U.S. Copyright Law when you fill out the submission form. For example:

• Creative Commons: If a work is under a Creative Commons license, you can reuse it without contacting the author. Visit the Creative Commons website for more info and a license generator.
• Fair Use: Reusing a work might be allowed under fair use. Conduct a fair use assessment and consider using a Fair Use Checklist.
• Public Domain: Works in the public domain can be used freely without permission.
• By Permission: For works not under Creative Commons or fair use, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

For more details, see the Copyright Exemptions section in our Copyright Guide. Contact the Library Copyright Team for any questions.

For more information about how to provide proper attribution to the work of others, see the Do You Need to Add Copyright and License Info to Your File? section of the guide.

List Your Co-Authors:

If you didn’t write the work on your own, make sure to include the names of everyone who helped write it. Any person or persons who have contributed to the research, design, analysis, and final delivery of the work, and whose name should appear in the work's citation, are regarded as co-authors. When listing co-authors, be ready to include:

• First and last name
• Affiliation (Oregon Health and Science University, OHSU & VA Portland Health Care System, etc.)
• ORCiD iD (optional)

Give Credit to Individual or Organizational Contributors:
This section is for people or organizations who contributed to the work (I.e.,academic advisors, committee members, or editors) but whose names will not appear in the citation. When listing contributors, include the following when applicable:

• First and last names or name of organization
• Affiliation  (Oregon Health and Science University, OHSU & VA Portland Health Care System, etc.)
• ORCiD iD (optional)
• Role (e.g., Principal Investigator, Collaborator, Mentor)

Understand Who Qualifies as an Author:

Organizational Authors:

If a work is created as part of your regular job duties (referred to as a "work-for-hire"), you should list the organization as the author. Use an organizational author in the following situations:

• The work is created by OHSU employees during their normal job duties
• The work is a group effort (e.g., a committee or working group)

And for your submission, please do the following:

• List OHSU as the author
• Acknowledge departments in the OHSU Department, Center, or Institute field
• Acknowledge individuals in the Individual or organizational contributor(s) field

In order to respect intellectual property rights and to protect you legally, work that includes materials from other creators must be properly credited. To ensure proper attribution and reuse rights, include copyright and licensing details directly within your file. This way, anyone with access to the file (including the OHSU Library) can identify the owner and understand reuse permissions, even if metadata or accompanying documents are lost. While this information will appear in your OHSU Digital Collections record, metadata may occasionally be missed or lost during system migrations.

Attribution Guidelines:

• Reusing Materials: Always give credit when using others’ work (like images or figures).
• Copyrighted Materials: Even if materials are used under a Creative Commons license, permission, or fair use, you still need to provide attribution.
• Public Domain: Attribution is not required for public domain works, but it’s good practice to credit the original creator.

What to Include in an Attribution:

• Title of the work
• Author’s name
• Source of the work
• Permissions Statement
• Links to the source, author, and permission details (if applicable)

Types of Attribution to Consider:

• Creative Commons Attribution: See Creative Commons guidelines for more information.
• Permission-based Attribution:
  • For works used with permission: "Used with permission from [author/creator]."
  • For fair use: "Use of this work falls under fair use."
  • For public domain works (not CC0): "This work is in the public domain."
• Public Domain Tools: Utilize Creative Commons tools like CC0 and Public Domain Mark for public domain identification.

For more information on how to properly indicate that your use of others' work is allowed under U.S. Copyright Law when completing the submission form, refer to the guide section How do I Credit Others' Work?

Helpful Resources: