The Institute of Development Studies (IDS) holds the copyright for all IDS publications. They are subject to UK copyright law.

IDS is keen to ensure that the research carried out by its staff reaches as wide an audience as possible and is used for discussion, teaching and research. Non-commercial dissemination is, therefore, freely authorised with the requirement that the source is cited in full. Many of our documents are already downloadable in pdf format and we have an ongoing conversion programme. The British Library of Development Studies, based at IDS, has a document delivery service.

There are a number of ground rules, based on guidelines from the Publishers Association of the UK, that we follow. The essence of these is set out below.

Paper publications - what you can copy without seeking permission

Anyone is permitted to copy part of a paper publication, where part of is defined as: one article from a journal issue, one chapter of a book or 10 per cent of other works.

The purpose of the copying must be for research, teaching or private study by an individual, for reporting current events, or for criticism or review. There must be no commercial purpose, whether direct or indirect.

Making one copy of part of an article is permitted. Multiple copying always requires permission.

Electronic publications - what you can download without seeking permission

Where IDS indicates on a publication that it is downloadable free of charge, it is also giving permission for a complete copy to be downloaded.

However, as with paper copies, the purpose of the copying must be for research, teaching or private study by an individual, for reporting current events, or for criticism or review. There must be no commercial purpose, whether direct or indirect.

Downloading one copy is permitted. Downloading multiple copies always requires permission.

Holding an electronic copy of a document (i.e. saving a pdf file onto your own computer) with the intention of sending it on to other users, or of copying it again in the future, is not permitted.

Seeking permission to make or download multiple copies

Where a teaching institution or individual wishes to make multiple copies for their own teaching purposes, they should contact IDS (details below) to establish what fees will be charged. We have a per page charge multiplied by the number of copies required, and a per thousand word charge.

Since the main aim of IDS is to disseminate our research, we are always willing to negotiate lower fees where there is a genuine need to do so.

Using electronic copies on another websites

We ask other organisations and media to create links to our PDFs, rather than storing our PDFs on their own systems. This helps us to track the use of our publications, providing vital information for our publications programme.

If downloading of PDFs is required for purposes of coursework teaching please contact us so that we can also monitor this usage.

Contact details

All permissions queries should be addressed to:

Gary Edwards
Publications Office
Institute of Development Studies
At the University of Sussex
Brighton BN1 9RE