free publishing
for academics

Quoting from other works

Correct citation of any (also altered) passages which are adopted literally or adapted from other works is important. As a rule, short quoting from other works is permitted if your work requires to do so, e.g. in order to allocate a statement, and if the correct source is cited.

Adoptions of large text passages, figures, tables, etc. from other works are prohibited for copyright reasons. This also applies to any text appendices. If there is any doubt, the respective parts of the manuscript must be removed.

University & Copyright

According to the general legal conception, the author of a final work (diploma thesis, master thesis, state examination paper, dissertation or any other university thesis) upon completion becomes the sole owner of the copyright and the right of non-commercial or commercial exploitation of their work.

The university or college is a scientific educational institution and eventually an examination office. It is thus entitled to a right of use regarding the contents of such papers within the framework of its own scientific research and education (including publication). The university/college however, does not have the right of publication, dissemination, duplication or commercial exploitation without the author’s approval. Some universities have the author transfer such non-exclusive rights to them. In such cases, there is no conflict with the VDM General Terms & Conditions. The transfer of non-exclusive rights to the university/college is thus no problem.
If the author has written their work within the framework of a research project or while being employed by the university, marketing of the respective work is generally only possible with the approval of the university.
Works written while working for companies or other organisations and containing in-house data or confidential information can only be published with the approval of the respective company/organisation.