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Permission to Use Previously Copyrighted Material
To use previously published material, you must obtain written permission from the owner of the rights to the material (the original publisher and/or author). Emailed statements or faxed letters for these granted permissions are acceptable. Submit these permissions together with your final manuscript. Without the appropriate permission to use copyrighted material, the previously copyrighted text or figure in your paper cannot be published. Please be aware that U.S. copyright law protects published materials for 75 years, and sometimes longer. Just because an article or book is out of print does not mean it is no longer protected by copyright law
It is the author’s responsibility to obtain written permission to use copyrighted materials. The executed permissions need to be sent along with the manuscript.
Write for permission as early as possible before your manuscript due date. Publishers may be slow in responding to requests for permission, and it is possible that permission will be denied, or that you will be asked to also obtain the author’s permission (in cases where the author controls sole rights, or joint rights with the publisher). In any case, it is in your own best interest to also ask the author of the original publication. If the author is difficult to locate, keep good records of your attempt.
Most publishers offer submission of permission requests online or via email, which may be the fastest and most convenient way of receiving a reply.
Some examples with relevant links are:
You Do Need Permission to:
- Reproduce tables, graphs, drawings, and photos, or any copyrighted features that are complete in themselves. This is true even if it is “your own work” already published elsewhere. NOTE: The mere redrawing of an illustration is not enough to make it original. There must be alterations that are themselves copyrightable. Even when intellectual additions are present, you must obtain permission from the copyright holder to alter the table or illustration.
- Quote verse, either in whole or in part. NOTE: Acknowledgment of the source of material does not substitute for obtained permission to use the material. Always obtain permission when in doubt.
You Do Not Need Permission to:
- Use material from any AIP journal, magazine, or book (published before 1998).
- Use material in the public domain (material that is no longer or never has been protected by copyright, e.g. United States government reports, NASA publications, DOE publications). Note that a work which has passed into the public domain in the United States may still be protected under copyright in other countries. If so, you must obtain permission to use such material in order to enable AIP’s worldwide distribution of your work.
- Include material that falls within the Freedom of Information Act. This would include work done by a U.S. government employee and work published by the U.S. government.
- Discuss another’s ideas as long as that person’s “literary expression” of the ideas is not used; you must keep in mind that the organization and selection of the material and its sequence are part of the “literary expression.” When in doubt, obtain permission.
- Include material when the use constitutes “fair use,” such as quoting or paraphrasing copyrighted material for the purpose of scholarly comment, illustration, or criticism within a limited scope.
Don't Forget!
When the signed permission is returned to you,
please
insert any necessary credit lines in your
figure or table captions.
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