Undergraduate Student Authors

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As an undergraduate researcher you are empowered to publish and share original research, and it is important if you are working with a research team or professor to understand what your rights are as a student contributor to published research or creative works.

Student Rights and Responsibilities

If you plan on publishing in an open access journal (or traditional scholarly journal), it is important that you know your rights and responsibilities as a UW student researcher. Students have the following rights in open scholarship, research, publishing, and class environments:

  • Students have the right to contribute their ideas and labor to an open project, or not. Students have the right to choose whether or not that work will be openly available.
  • Students have the right to be credited for their work and scholarship in all circumstances.
  • Students have a right to choose how their work will be used. This includes assigning an appropriate Creative Commons Links to an external site. license or adding a statement to accompany their work. This resource provides an overview of different types of Creative Commons licenses. 
  • Students have the right to retain any copyrights they may hold in works they produce. ​

Students have the following responsibilities:

  • Students should learn about and understand the meanings and implications of making their work openly available.
  • Students should clearly indicate whether or not they want their work to be openly available.
  • Students should clearly indicate how they want their work to be used by others.

Adapted from UWB/CC Campus Library Open Student Work: Student Rights + Responsibilities

Check your knowledge!

Undergraduate student authors have the right to be credited for their work and scholarship in all circumstances.

Connecting with Your Advisor

If you plan on publishing your research, your academic and faculty advisors are a good source of support during the entire process. Here are some helpful resources on how to get started.