Iranian Journal of Information Management 1735-8418 2 3 2016 08 22 Ownership Right to Student’s Theses or Dissertations in Terms of Intellectual Property Rights (Comparative Study) Ownership Right to Student’s Theses or Dissertations in Terms of Intellectual Property Rights (Comparative Study) 144 168 50819 FA Journal Article 2016 04 04 Theses and dissertations are the main output of graduate students in universities and research institutions. Although the core idea in the theses or dissertations belongs to students, guidance team and institutions can have important role in completing these ideas and publishing theses or dissertations. But there still is the problem which is remained unaddressed, who owns economic and moral rights of these publications: students, guidance team, or even relative institutions? Current study is aiming to investigate mentioned problem through a legal approach. As intellectual property right is an important infrastructure for collecting, organizing, and disseminating theses and dissertations, establishing this study looks inevitable. The main objective of this research is to comparative investigating legal basics of economic and moral rights in students' theses and dissertations in Iran and some developed countries (the USA and Canada). Qualitative approach is selected to answer research questions, so that researchers are trying to adopt document analysis methodology for obtaining defined objective. Since writing theses and dissertations is essential for completing a postgraduate degree in the most of educational systems, research population including laws, rules, and regulations related to copyright, in particular those concerning theses and dissertations in Iran, the USA, and Canada. Findings show policies regarding to copyright of theses and dissertations in the USA and Canada are addressed, but in Iran these policies are not clear. While university professors including supervisor and advisor may have impact on completing theses and dissertations, the owner of the final work is the student. Theses and dissertations are the main output of graduate students in universities and research institutions. Although the core idea in the theses or dissertations belongs to students, guidance team and institutions can have important role in completing these ideas and publishing theses or dissertations. But there still is the problem which is remained unaddressed, who owns economic and moral rights of these publications: students, guidance team, or even relative institutions? Current study is aiming to investigate mentioned problem through a legal approach. As intellectual property right is an important infrastructure for collecting, organizing, and disseminating theses and dissertations, establishing this study looks inevitable. The main objective of this research is to comparative investigating legal basics of economic and moral rights in students' theses and dissertations in Iran and some developed countries (the USA and Canada). Qualitative approach is selected to answer research questions, so that researchers are trying to adopt document analysis methodology for obtaining defined objective. Since writing theses and dissertations is essential for completing a postgraduate degree in the most of educational systems, research population including laws, rules, and regulations related to copyright, in particular those concerning theses and dissertations in Iran, the USA, and Canada. Findings show policies regarding to copyright of theses and dissertations in the USA and Canada are addressed, but in Iran these policies are not clear. While university professors including supervisor and advisor may have impact on completing theses and dissertations, the owner of the final work is the student.

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