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Created by
Hirschmann Barbara, last updated by Fritschi Madeleine on Jul 07, 2026
3 minute read
In accordance with the Guidelines for the Financial Exploitation of Research Results at ETH Zurich (German), ETH Zurich is entitled to the exclusive exploitation rights of software created within the scope of an employment. It therefore specifies how software can be published.
How are software and programming code defined?
The Swiss Copyright Act (URG) protects works, i.e. intellectual creations of literature and art that have an individual character. The requirements for individual character of computer programs (software) are very low. They are therefore protected by copyright.
Consequently, every computer program necessarily requires a license for distribution to third parties (e.g. via Research Collection). This applies to all software, programming code and scripts.
What kind of software and programming code/scripts can be uploaded to the Research Collection?
Only software and scripts that fall under the exceptions for open source software of the Guidelines for the Financial Exploitation of Research Results at ETH Zurich (German) (Art 27) can be uploaded to the Research Collection. The following can be published:
- self-developed software with an open source license
- self-developed programming codes/scripts with an open source license
- programming codes/scripts from third parties with open source license: Please upload third-party program code/scripts to the Research Collection only if their use, integration, and publication comply with the applicable license terms and do not infringe any third-party rights. In particular, ensure license compatibility when combining open-source components. Clearly identify third-party code in your research data (e.g., in the README, including the source and license information). For further information, see OSS Policies and Best Practices.
Software that is not published as source code or exploited under a commercial license cannot be published in the Research Collection. For licensing of commercial software, ETH members must contact ETH transfer.
How are software and programming code/scripts licensed?
Software and programming code/scripts created during an ETH employment and published (e.g. in the Research Collection) must be licensed under a recognised open source license in accordance with the ETH Zurich's Guidelines for Research Data Management. This also includes any programming code/scripts that are published as part of research data.
The following open source licenses can be used for licensing software and programme code/scripts:
| License name | License text |
|---|---|
| Apache License 2.0 | http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0 |
| BSD 3-Clause License | https://opensource.org/licenses/BSD-3-Clause |
| BSD 2-Clause License | https://opensource.org/licenses/BSD-2-Clause |
| GNU General Public License 3.0 | http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-3.0 |
| GNU General Public License 2.0 | http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-2.0 |
| GNU Affero General Public License 3.0 | http://www.gnu.org/licenses/agpl-3.0.html |
| GNU Lesser General Public License 3.0 | http://www.gnu.org/licenses/lgpl-3.0 |
| MIT License | https://opensource.org/licenses/MIT |
| Mozilla Public License 2.0 | http://www.mozilla.org/MPL/2.0/ |
| Python License, Version 2 | https://opensource.org/license/Python-2.0 |
| Common Development and Distribution License 2.0 | http://opensource.org/licenses/CDDL-1.0 |
| Eclipse Public License 1.0 | http://www.eclipse.org/legal/epl-v10.html |
| European Union Public Licence (EUPL) 1.2 EN | https://joinup.ec.europa.eu/sites/default/files/inline-files/EUPL%20v1_2%20ET.txt |
If you would like to license your software under a license not included here, please contact us before uploading the files.
If you are unsure which open-source license to choose, consult the OSS License Selection Flowchart provided by ETH transfer.
Please note the following two cases when assigning licenses:
- Publication of software only (publication type: Research Data > Software) in the Research Collection
Enter the license in the header of the source code or as a separate file (LICENSE.txt) and select the corresponding open source license during the upload in the tab "Enduser License".
- Publication of research data with programming code/scripts in the Research Collection
To license programming code/scripts that are part of your research data (publication type: Research Data > Dataset / Data Collection / Other Research Data) you need to include the license in the header of the source code or as a separate file (LICENSE.txt). For the research data that accompanies your programming code/scripts you can select a separate Creative Commons license in the Research Collection on the tab "Enduser Licence".
Creative Commons licenses are not suitable for software and open source licenses are not suitable for research data. For more on Creative Commons licences, see Creative Commons Licences.
