Publication & Intellectual Property Policy

1. Definitions

• “Project Output” means the Participant’s project materials, including text, figures, slides, code, datasets, models or other agreed outputs.
• “Programme Publication” means an OPEN STAGE-branded research/project publication or series prepared through the Programme, including publication through Amazon KDP or another selected channel.
• “External Publication” means a journal article, conference abstract, poster, preprint, book chapter or other output submitted to a third-party venue.
• “Background IP” means intellectual property owned or controlled by a party before the Programme or developed independently of the Participant’s Project Output.

2. Ownership of the Participant’s work

Subject to third-party rights and Background IP, the Participant remains the copyright owner of original copyrightable material they create in the Project Output.

By submitting an Output for Programme Publication, the Participant grants EUC a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free licence for the duration of applicable copyright to reproduce, format, edit for style, publish, distribute, archive, display and communicate the approved Output as part of the OPEN STAGE series and related programme materials, with attribution to the Participant. This licence does not transfer ownership of copyright to EUC.

3. EUC platforms, code and Background IP

EUC, its partners and third parties retain ownership of their Background IP, including platforms, software, datasets, templates, trademarks, confidential know-how and pre-existing materials. For example, where a project uses MedEduSynth or another EUC platform, the platform and pre-existing code remain with their existing rights holder.

Any contribution intended to be integrated into an EUC platform must be governed by a specific written contribution or licence arrangement if the standard non-exclusive publication licence is not sufficient.

4. Authorship and attribution

The Participant is normally the primary author of the Project Output. A Tutor or other contributor is listed as co-author only where they have made a substantial intellectual contribution to the conception/design, analysis/interpretation or drafting/revision of the work and accept accountability for their contribution. ICMJE authorship principles may be used as a reference where suitable, although OPEN STAGE outputs are not necessarily biomedical journal articles.

Routine supervision, administration, funding, proofreading or access to facilities alone does not automatically create co-authorship. Author order and contributor roles should be agreed in writing before publication.

5. Publication pathway and quality gate

1. Participant prepares a structured draft.
2. Tutor reviews the scientific/technical logic and evidence.
3. Sources, claims, permissions and data provenance are checked.
4. The Output undergoes internal quality review and copy-editing.
5. Required corrections are completed.
6. EUC confirms whether the Output is approved for Programme Publication.
7. Approved Output is prepared for the selected publication channel.

Internal review is not external peer review. The Programme must not describe an internally reviewed OPEN STAGE output as “peer-reviewed” unless it has independently completed a genuine peer-review process at an external venue.

6. No guaranteed publication

“Publish” describes the Programme’s intended pathway toward a visible Project Output, not an unconditional publication guarantee. An Output that does not meet quality, integrity, legal, confidentiality or rights-clearance requirements may be withheld from publication. Successful completion of other programme requirements may still result in a final presentation and Certificate of Completion. No refund is due solely because an Output does not pass the publication quality gate, subject to mandatory consumer law.

7. Research integrity

• all material claims must be supportable and sources must be verifiable
• fabrication, falsification and plagiarism are prohibited
• references must be checked against the original source before submission
• data must by default be synthetic, public, properly licensed or anonymised; projects requiring identifiable personal/clinical data or regulated research must have the necessary approvals before use
• conflicts of interest and material funding/support must be disclosed
• third-party figures, tables, datasets, software and text may be used only with a compatible licence, statutory exception or permission

8. Use of artificial intelligence

AI tools may be used responsibly for activities such as brainstorming, literature discovery, language improvement, code assistance, structured data processing or image/figure support, subject to project rules. AI must not be used to fabricate data, results, quotations or references.

The Participant remains responsible for accuracy, originality, rights clearance and citation verification. Substantive AI use must be disclosed in an “AI disclosure” section of the Project Output, including the tool and purpose at an appropriate level of detail.

If Amazon KDP is used, OPEN STAGE will follow KDP’s distinction between AI-generated and AI-assisted content and will make any disclosure required by KDP at the time of publication. As of September 2026, KDP requires disclosure of AI-generated text, images or translations, while AI-assisted content does not require the same disclosure.

9. Confidential and partner information

Confidential information belonging to EUC, a partner, a client or another participant must not be included in any public Output unless the relevant rights holder has given written permission. A project may be re-scoped, anonymised, delayed or withheld from publication to protect legitimate confidentiality obligations.

10. External publications

Participants may develop their work for submission to a conference, preprint server or journal, subject to rights, confidentiality and authorship rules. The OPEN STAGE programme and material contributors should be acknowledged appropriately. EUC does not guarantee acceptance, peer review, indexing or payment of external publication fees unless separately agreed in writing.

11. Corrections, errata and withdrawal

If a material error is identified after Programme Publication, EUC may publish a correction or erratum. Serious integrity, rights or confidentiality problems may justify withdrawal. EUC will normally consult the Participant and relevant Tutor before action, except where urgent removal is necessary to reduce legal, safety or privacy risk.

12. Name, image and promotional use

Authorship requires publication of the Participant’s name as part of the approved Project Output. Use of photographs, video or likeness from a Porto Week for marketing is separate and requires a distinct, revocable consent where required. Refusing promotional-image consent does not prevent programme participation.

13. Third-party rights warranty

The Participant must take reasonable care to ensure that material they submit does not unlawfully infringe copyright, database rights, trademarks, privacy, confidentiality or other third-party rights. This obligation does not displace EUC’s own responsibility to conduct appropriate publication checks.

Legal framework referenced

Portuguese Código do Direito de Autor e dos Direitos Conexos, applicable data-protection and confidentiality rules, and the content requirements of the selected publication platform. For Amazon KDP, the current KDP Content Guidelines apply at the publication date.