Publication
A thesis does not constitute a published work for the purposes of establishing priority or validating the names of new taxa of organisms.
Copyright
Every thesis is protected by copyright at every stage in its development. Each thesis available here is copyright by its author, effective the year in which it was presented, regardless of whether a declaration of copyright is present in the thesis. Each author retains all rights not explicitly set forth below.
Permitted use
- A thesis may be read on-line, downloaded, or printed, for use by individuals.
- A thesis may be excerpted for review, criticism, or education as provided by the doctrine of Fair Use.
- A thesis may be distributed complete and unaltered, in electronic form or paper, by libraries or individuals, for the purposes permitted here.
Examples of prohibited use
- No thesis may be sold or offered for sale, in whole or in part, in any format, except by, or under license from, its author.
- No thesis may be presented, in whole or part, as the work of anyone other than its author (plagiarism).
Restrictions on use of data
- From a commercial standpoint, the data contained within each thesis are proprietary, and commercial use without written permission is prohibited.
- Republication of the data except in the context of publication of a scientific study is forbidden.
- With the sole exception of reanalysis for the purpose of support or refutation of published studies, all use of the data constitutes collaborative work with the author of the data. Permission should be secured from the author, or if the author cannot be located, the major professor, before undertaking any analysis.