Frequently asked questions

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Legal advice

Using library materials

Researchers may use library materials in the same way as students, see Copyright for students.

As research is a collaborative activity you may wish to share papers downloaded from Imperial’s e-journals with colleagues. The safest way to do this is to provide your colleague with a link to a paper so they can access it using their own account. If a project member is not a member of Imperial, sharing open access articles from a repository can help with access issues.

If you choose to share full-text copies, it is your responsibility to ensure that they are stored in a secure area of the Imperial network that is only accessible to Imperial staff working on your project. To share copies with researchers outside Imperial would be in breach of our licences.

Study and research