INFRASTRUCTURE USAGE POLICY OF CADD

A. Responsible Operating Body and Communication
The responsible operating body of CADD is designated as the Cyprus Libraries Consortium (CLC), under the supervision of the Cyprus Universities Rectors’ Conference (CURC) and with the responsibility of the Vice-Rector for Academic Affairs (VRAA) of the University of Cyprus.

B. Access and Use
CADD operates under Open Access terms. Access to the full text of Doctoral Theses will be provided according to the rules and regulations of each Institution and the relevant license granted by the intellectual property rights holder.

CADD may be linked with international repositories which, by activating the harvesting mechanism, will display CADD’s metadata, thus enhancing the visibility and internationalization of CADD’s content.

For public access to the content, the author of the thesis can choose between:

Open Access: Fully publicly available (metadata and full text).

Restricted Access: Full access to metadata and restricted access to the full text for a specific period due to, for example, patent filing applications, publication plans, or sensitive content.

Closed Access: Access is granted only at the metadata level, and the full text will remain closed with the possibility of granting access to it upon approval by the Intellectual Property Rights holder. In any case, the metadata (e.g., title, creator) of the thesis must be visible.

Access to the infrastructure varies according to the role of the users. 

Two main categories are distinguished:

1) Users (end users), who have access for searching and utilizing content

2) Responsible individuals for thesis management per Institution, who are responsible for communication and coordination of processes between their institution and CADD

3) Administrators, who have extended management rights of the infrastructure, such as regarding control, accuracy, completeness, and availability of entries.

Participation at the institutional level requires communication from the designated responsible individual of each Institution to the administrators of CADD for the correct and timely registration of information, either by the IA or for individual theses.

Each Institution assumes exclusive responsibility for the quality, accuracy, and compliance of the content and data submitted to CADD concerning national, European, and international legislation as well as the internal rules of each Institution and the terms of operation of CADD.

It is recommended that each Institution take measures, e.g., introducing a watermark, to ensure the integrity and prevent copying of the thesis content.

Any use of the CADD infrastructure or content for illegal purposes, as well as for commercial exploitation, is strictly prohibited, unless explicitly permitted by the usage licenses chosen by the intellectual property rights holder of each dissertation.

Plagiarism, unauthorized reproduction, modification, disposal, distribution, or republication of content, automated mass content downloading (data scraping) without prior permission, misleading use of content to attribute false authorship, and misleading scientific data constitute a violation of the terms of use of CADD content.

Every dissertation used in a research or other scientific work must be cited correctly and in accordance with academic standards. Explicit reference must be made to the name of the creator, the respective Institution that has made it available, as well as to CADD as a central source of access and information.

C. Copyright and Licenses
The copyright of the content entered into the infrastructure belongs to the creators or their rights holders. Authors retain their intellectual property rights, unless institutions apply different rules.

Rights holders fully retain control over their dissertations and have the ability to make them available under terms of their own choosing. They can select a Creative Commons license when submitting the dissertation to specify how their work may be used (e.g., Creative Commons CC BY, CC BY-NC, etc.).

Commercial use by third parties is prohibited unless explicitly permitted by the selected license.

In the event of using works or content by other individuals, users bear sole responsibility for legal use, with the obligation to clearly cite sources and adhere to the relevant terms of the license chosen by the rights holder and the legislation.

The CADD database is protected by the Copyright and Related Rights Law of 1976 (Law 59/1976), both by copyright and by the right of the database maker.

D. Security and Data Protection
Users of the infrastructure are obliged to comply with the applicable legislation for the protection of personal data referred to in CADD, ensuring transparency, confidentiality, and lawful processing of data. Institutions must inform supervisors and members of examination committees that their names will appear in CADD.

The use of the infrastructure must be carried out with care and responsibility to avoid violating the principles of secure personal data processing.

CADD is hosted on the infrastructure of the Cyprus University of Technology (CUT), which applies strict cybersecurity protocols and takes all necessary technical and organizational measures to protect data from unauthorized access, loss, or alteration.

E. Maintenance and Update
CADD will be regularly updated with new theses and maintained in an operational and secure condition. The goal is that with the completion of graduations of each Institution, CADD will also be updated.

Errors or incorrect entries can be reported through an available observation submission mechanism where they will be reviewed and corrected within a reasonable time frame by CADD administrators.

Obligations and Responsibilities of End Users (end users)
1. Proper use of the infrastructure
Users of the infrastructure must make proper and responsible use according to the purposes for which it is provided. Malicious, misleading, or unauthorized use, as well as use that may violate intellectual property rights, personal data, any other legislation, or the security of the infrastructure, is expressly prohibited.

2. Obligation to adhere to research ethics

Users must adhere to the rules of research ethics as defined by each university/research institution and the European Code of Conduct for Research Integrity. Citing sources, proper documentation of findings, and safeguarding academic integrity are essential elements of any research or academic activity. Any action contrary to academic integrity may result in sanctions and exclusion from the infrastructure.