Policies

If copyrighted material is included in your thesis, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner and provide evidence that such permission was obtained at the time that you submit your thesis to the College of Graduate Studies. Examples of copyrighted material may include any images that are not your own - tables, figures, graphs, photographs, maps - as well as extensive portions of text, such as the reproduction of journal articles. See the following link, Copyright Information, for further guidance.

If you are using materials or reproductions in your thesis or dissertation that are copyright protected, a statement from the copyright owner granting you permission to use the material must be submitted with the thesis or dissertation. Examples of copyrighted material may include any images that are not your own - tables, figures, graphs, photographs, maps - as well as extensive portions of text. The College of Graduate Studies will accept permission letters that were received by a student via email; however, the Sample Permission Letter For Use of Previously Copyrighted Material (pdf) provided by the publisher of your thesis or dissertation, ProQuest, is recommended. The permission letter must state that the copyright owner is aware that ProQuest may supply single copies upon request and may proceed under the contract on the publishing agreement that you select for your thesis or dissertation (e.g., embargoes). Permission may need to be sought from the author, publisher, or repository (i.e., museum or archive) depending on who owns the copyright.

All copyrighted material must include the correct citation within your thesis or dissertation (i.e., Reprinted with permission from..., Adapted from..., Modified from...) regardless of what other style guides require. The formatting of the citation will depend on the preferences of the copyright owner.

If your thesis or dissertation utilizes a number of copyrighted materials or if it contains a mixture of your own images and copyrighted images, it is recommended that you create a list, separate from your thesis or dissertation, that outlines the source of each image and whether or not permission is needed/included when submitting your thesis or dissertation to the College of Graduate Studies. If multiple permission letters are submitted, they must be labeled so that it is clear to which figure/image within the thesis or dissertation the permission corresponds.

If you do not submit evidence of permission by the submission deadline, the copyrighted material must be omitted from your thesis or dissertation.

In addition to supplying evidence of having received permission to reproduce copyrighted material you must also mail copies of the permission letters to ProQuest, once your thesis or dissertation has been published. Include with your correspondence your name, the title of your thesis or dissertation, the name of the university, and the ETD submission ID. Your submission ID will be sent to you in an email after you submit your thesis or dissertation using the ETD administrator. Keep the original permission letters for your records.

If the thesis or dissertation includes data obtained from human subjects (experiments, surveys, interviews, etc.), prior approval from the SJSU Human Subjects Institutional Review Board (IRB) must be determined and sought. See the Office of Research's IRB site for more information.

If the thesis or dissertation includes any experiments or other uses of animals, prior approval is needed from the SJSU Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC). Information concerning animal care is available on the Office of Research's IACUC site.

If you intend to do research with agents governed by the Institutional Biosafety Committee (involving hazardous biological agents, recombinant or synthetic nucleic acid molecules, materials derived from humans and nonhuman primates, toxins, select agents, or agents of dual use research concern), you must submit a Biological Use Authorization (BUA) application for IBC review and approval before initiating the research. See the Office of Research's IBC site.

Human subject research and/or animal care approval must be obtained from SJSU prior to the initiation of the research (i.e., before recruitment of subjects into the research and before any data are collected), regardless of whether the research is being conducted in conjunction with another institution and human subjects research or animal care approval has been sought there. Failure to obtain the necessary approval and submit the appropriate documentation will result in the rejection of the thesis or dissertation. Once the approval has been obtained, a copy of the permission letter should be included with the submission of the thesis or dissertation. While it is acceptable to include the IRB or IACUC approval letter as an appendix in the thesis or dissertation if this is a format required by the student’s department, the College of Graduate Studies recommends omitting any personal contact information (e.g., address, phone number), as the thesis or dissertation will be available to the public. Otherwise a copy of the IRB or IACUC letter must be submitted as a separate PDF attachment when the thesis/dissertation is submitted for review.