Technical requirements for copyright protection of electronic theses and dissertations in INSTD: A grounded theory study

This study aims to determine the technical requirements for copyright protection of theses and dissertations for proposing a model for applying in Iran’s National System for Theses and Dissertations (INSTD).

This study used a mixed research methodology. The grounded theory was used in the qualitative phase, and a researcher-made checklist was applied in the quantitative phase for surveying the status of the INSTD. Research population included INSTD as well as six information specialists and copyright experts. Data were analysed by using open, axial and selective coding.

Based on data extracted from the completed checklists, some technical requirements had been provided in the system. The technical requirements that interviewees pointed out included the following two main classes: technical components and technical-software infrastructures, explored in the phase of the grounded theory. The individual categories included access control, copy control, technical-software challenges, protecting standards, hypertext transfer protocol secure, certificate authority, documentation of thesis and dissertation information, the use of digital object identifiers, copy detection systems, thesis and dissertation integrated systems, digital rights management systems and electronic copyright management systems.

Considering the subject of this study, only the technical aspect was investigated, and other aspects were not included. In addition, electronic theses and dissertation (ETD) providers were not well aware of copyright issues.

Using the technical requirements with high security is effective in the INSTD to gain the trust of the authors and encourage them to deposit their ETDs.

The increased use of the system encourages the authors to be more innovative in conducting their research.

Considering the continued violation of copyright in electronic databases, applying technical requirements for copyright protection and regulating users’ access to the information of theses and dissertations are needed in the INSTD.