A significant volume of computer code and software is generated across NTU research projects. Under the NTU Intellectual Property Policy, NTU owns all rights, title, and interest in the code and software developed by staff members and students, except in cases such as sponsored research, multi-institutional collaborations, or industry partnerships where different terms may apply.
Researchers are encouraged to first assess their code and software for potential commercial value. If commercial potential is identified, a Technology Disclosure (TD) should be submitted to NTUitive. For code and software with commercial value submitted via TD, NTUitive recommends the use of its Dual License template. This license permits free use for research and non-commercial purposes, while commercial use requires a commercial license issued by NTU.
In most cases, code and software are preferably retained under copyright, as this provides automatic protection and greater flexibility in licensing. However, where codes and software exhibit strong commercial potential and support reasonably broad claims, NTU may consider pursuing patent protection to secure additional rights and exclusivity.
The code and software developed by NTU researchers contribute to academic dissemination and research reproducibility. In support of open science, NTU encourages researchers to make such code and software openly accessible. This ensures that research outputs can be reused, verified, and built upon by the wider academic community. This guide is provided to assist researchers with open-source licensing for code and software developed for academic purposes.
Research software includes source code files, algorithms, scripts, computational workflows and executables that were created during the research process or for a research purpose. Reference.
How is Research Software and Code different from Data?
Software is a tool that performs tasks; data represents facts or observations.
Software reflects subjective choices and may evolve with new methods; data is static evidence once collected.
Software is executable; data is not.
Software depends on other software to run eg. compilers and editors; data does not depend on other data.
Software changes more frequently and typically has a shorter lifecycle than data. Reference.
Please contact NTU Research Data Management if you have any questions on licensing research software and code or suggestions for this LibGuide.
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