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Thesis / Dissertation Formatting Manual (2024)


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Copyright Page

The use of copyright notice is the prerogative of the copyright owner and does not require advance permission from, or registration with, the U.S. Copyright Office. The use of such notice is highly recommended, because it informs the public that the work is protected by copyright, identifies the copyright owner, and shows the year of first publication.

Generally speaking:

  • You should include a copyright statement for yourself for this manuscript.
  • You must list copyright holders ​if any portion of your manuscript has been previously published (by you or by another author). See the using previously published materials overview.
  • If a copyright statement is not being included, insert a blank page as a substitute. The UCI Libraries strongly recommends that you include a copyright statement.
  • Please read the Using Previously Published Material sections for more information.

The notice must contain the following three elements:

  1. The symbol © (the letter in a circle), or the word "Copyright"
  2. The year of publication (i.e., the year in which you are filing your manuscript)
  3. The name of the copyright owner (i.e., your name as it appears on the Title Page)

Example: © 2024 John Doe

Copyright Page example

Example: Thesis/dissertation author is the only copyright holder.

Here is an example Copyright Page if the thesis/dissertation author is the only copyright holder listed.

Example copyright page with "© 2020 Peter Myrmey Anteater" at the bottom of the page.

Example: Listing additional copyright holders.

If you need to list other copyright holders for other material included in your manuscript, those should be listed above your copyright for your graduate manuscript. Here is an example of a copyright page section with multiple copyrights listed:

Screenshot of dissertation copyright page formatting.

Portions of Chapter 2 © 2022 American Institute of Physics (AIP Publishing)
Chapter 3 © 2023 Josephine Bruin Publishing
Photographs in Chapter 4 © 2022 Cell Press
Chapter 5 © 2023 Scotty Highlander Publishing
All other materials © 2024 Peter Myrmey Anteater

In most cases, the copyright holder is either the publisher or the author of the work, not the journal in which a work was published. For more information, please see our FAQ on copyright.