Copyright and Plagiarism Guidelines

This page covers the WaterWiki policies and guidelines for copying other material. Since the site was launched in 2009, we have been encouraging new users to reuse, rework and adapt existing material. If this is the case with any of your contributions, you should be aware of our terms and conditions.

Copying your own material

This section covers all material that you, yourself, have written. If you are contributing an original article to the WaterWiki that has not yet been published (or one in which you hold the copyright) you are free to add it to the WaterWIki. However, when contributing any of your material to the website, you should take note of our Creative Commons "Attribution-Share Alike" Licence.

As part of our efforts to distribute information to the global water community, all material published on this site is covered by a Creative Commons "Attribution-Share Alike" Licence. This means that any material, published on the site can be reused, revised and reworked by other users. Other users are free to:

copy, distribute and display any of the material
make derivative works

N.B you should be aware that if your work has been published, you may not hold the copyright for it. If this is the case, ‘Fair Use’ applies. Please adapt or rework the material for the purpose of the WaterWiki. If you are adapting work that has been published, you must credit the source in your reference.

Copying Material from other Websites

This section covers all material copied from other websites. If you would like to adapt, reuse or transfer any material from other websites, please take a note of the copyright ownership.

If the website that you are copying material from is part of the public domain or is covered by a Creative Commons "Attribution-Share Alike" Licence, you are free to reuse, rework or transfer the material to the WaterWiki. This is the case with many online resources such as Wikipedia and should be prominently marked on the website. Look out for any of the following logos or similar:

N.B this logo is not always published on the website. It might sometimes be written under ‘Terms and Conditions’ or in a footnote.

If the website is not covered by a Creative Commons "Attribution-Share Alike" Licence and is not in the public domain, you must seek permission from the copyright holder to use the material. In reusing material from external sites, you must always make full reference to them in your article. In other words, do not try to pass the work off as your own.

e.g.

Sanford Berg, “Privatization: What is the Role of a Regulator (if any) in a Privatization Transaction?” Body of Knowledge on Infrastructure Governance, May 2009. Available at: http://www.regulationbodyofknowledge.org/faq/ [Accessed on 01/10/2010]

Copying Figures and Images from Other Texts

This section covers the use of figures in your article. The ‘figure’ might be an image, a set of numbers, tables, photos etc. If you have taken the figure from another text, please take note of the copyright ownership.

If the figure is from a website covered by a Creative Commons "Attribution-Share Alike" Licence, you can reuse the figure for your article on the WaterWiki. If you are doing this, please make full reference to the source in your article.

If the figure is from another text, or a website that is not covered by a Creative Commons "Attribution-Share Alike" Licence and that is not part of the public domain, you will need to ask for permission from the copyright holder before using their material.

However, if you adapt or redraw the material, you do not need to seek permission to use the figure (Fair Use rules apply.). You must still include a full reference to the source of the material in your article.

e.g.

Table: Quantitative UV doses for inactivation of pure cultures of bacteria, viruses and protzoa in water, adapted from Hijnen

W.A.M. Hijnen, E.F. Beerendonk and G.J. Medema, Inactivation Credit of UV Radiation for Viruses, Bacteria and Protozoan (oo)cysts in Water: A Review, Wat Res, 40, 2006, pp. 3-22.

If you have had to seek permission to use material in your article you will need to note what kind of rights have been granted. If they have granted ‘limited rights’, you must flag this up at the end of your reference

e.g.

Fred F Hattermann and Zbigniew W Kundzewic, Water Framework Directive: Model supported Implementation A Water Manager's Guide, IWA Publishing; 2009,ISBN: 9781843392736 Used with permission not to be reproduced elsewhere

Referencing Material Copied from Other Texts

You must acknowledge any material that you have used from other websites, resources and texts in accordance with standard editorial practice. There is a section in the article titled References. In this section, please list any material that you have used.

e.g.

Ken Ashley, Don Mavinic, International Conference on Nutrient Recovery from Wastewater Streams Vancouver, IWA Publishing; 2009, ISBN: 978184339232

In your reference, please include the following: