Attribution and copyright

Seek advice from the University Copyright Officer if there is any concern about reusing materials in an open textbook. All WSU textbooks are published using Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Sharealike 4.0 licence. Check the restrictions on any Creative Commons material that you reproduce in the textbook.

Record the permissions, CC licence, source, and owner of all materials that are used in the text.

Download this Copyright register template [.xls 11KB].

Using images in the text

Enter the image’s information with the image as you upload it. This can be edited after uploading in Media > Library on the textbook’s dashboard.

Complete these fields.

• Enter alt-text that describes the images for screen readers. Alt-text should be less than 100 words for all informative images. For images that are only decorative, leave the alt-text blank.
• Enter a short description that describes the image. e.g. Marketing textbook and laptop.
• Record the creator of the image.
• For images where the copyright is owned by Western Sydney University, record Western Sydney University as the author and the homepage URL as the Author URL.
• For a WSU staff member, including the university phtographer, provide the name and link to the permalink record in the staff directory.
• Choose the licence under which the image is used. If the image is covered by copyright, choose All rights reserved. 
• For images that are published under Creative Commons or have no licence, reflect this in the licence. For more information about Creative Commons licences and mixing licences, refer to the Copyright and Creative Commons chapter.
• If the image has been adapted and the licence allows, record the adapted by and staff directory link for the person who adapted it.

The full attribution will appear at the end of the chapter before the references.

Images where copyright is owned by Western Sydney University

Record the title of the photo, the owner of the copyright and the licence when the image is uploaded. If this step is overlooked, the image information can be entered after uploading using the Media > Library.

The attribution will appear at the end of the chapter like this:

• Marketing textbook © Sally Tsoutsas is licensed under a CC BY-NC-SA (Attribution NonCommercial ShareAlike) license

Using your own images

It is recommended that you take your own photos where possible to avoid violating copyright or seeking permissions.

Record the title of the photo, the owner of the copyright and the licence when the image is uploaded. If this step is overlooked, the image information can be entered after uploading using the Media > Library.

You can use your own image and retain the copyright,

The attribution will appear at the end of the chapter like this:

• Popcorn image © Karen Sheehy is licensed under an All Rights Reserved license

Or use your own image and make it available using a Creative Commons Licence.

The attribution will appear at the end of the chapter like this:

• Vegetable picture © Karen Sheehy is licensed under a CC BY-NC-SA (Attribution NonCommercial ShareAlike) license

Images provided under Creative Commons licence

Record the title of the photo, the owner of the copyright and the licence when the image is uploaded. If this step is overlooked, the image information can be entered after uploading using the Media > Library.

The attribution will appear at the end of the chapter like this:

• Secondary Sources created by Shonn M. Haren is licensed under a CC BY (Attribution) license

Attribution for Creative Commons licensed material – Articles, books, and online sources

When using large portions of text from Creative Commons sources, clearly indicate to the reader which material has been copied by providing attribution statements at the start of the chapter or section.

Provide a footnote a the end of the statement.

Open Textbook example

Appearance in-text:

The following material is derived from Huang and Rust² and is used under a CC BY-NC-SA Creative Commons (Attribution ShareAlike 4.0) Licence.

Footnote appearance:

Enter this text between the footnote tags.

MH Huang & RT Rust, ‘A strategic framework for artificial intelligence in marketing’, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 2020, 49(1): 30-50, doi: 10.1007/s11747-020-00749-9 ↵

Website example

Appearance in-text:

The following material is derived from Kwantlen Polytechnic University³ and is provided under a CC BY-NC-SA Creative Commons (Attribution ShareAlike 4.0) Licence.

Footnote appearance:

Enter this text between the footnote tags.

Kwantlen Polytechnic University, Three column note taking, 2018.

Attribution for embedded Youtube videos

Embed a link to a video. Pressbooks will create a preview that makes it appear as if the video is within the textbook. Because you are embedding a link to a video rather than downloading the content to br provided only within the textbook, it is sufficient to only footnote the video. Full details of the creator, title, URL and publishing date will then be available in the footnotes section.

Record the name of the creator of the video and the year of production.

Provide a footnote and include the video’s information in this order:

1. author or authoring organisation’s name
2. title in italics
3. publisher
4. publishing date

Pressbooks for Academic Publishing 2016 ^[1]