If you author scholarly research papers, chances are you’ve needed to reproduce an image, table, graph, or figure. It doesn’t really matter what subject, whether the humanities or scientific research, authors will always plumb the depths of what has come before them and sometimes will need to use another person’s work to expand upon their own research needs. Of course, the adage of asking for forgiveness instead of permission doesn’t really fly in the case of reusing other’s work. Plagiarism claims can kill an academic career, and no one wants their life’s work discredited simply because they didn’t get prior permission before publishing.
We previously wrote a post highlighting how to use Rightslink to get permission for reusing work. For a refresher from that post, “RightsLink is a service provided by Copyright Clearance Center (CCC) that many publishers use to streamline the permission request process. This service provides the following advantages to those who use it.
- Customization – Publishers can configure the RightsLink form to specify what is available for reuse, control pricing rules, and provide content use requirements and instructions to the user.
- Integration – RightsLink can be embedded directly into publisher websites as a clickable button or link, providing users with a quick and easy way to start the permission request process.
- Speed – Granting permissions manually can take anywhere from a few days to six weeks or more to complete depending on the publisher, the number of people handling the request, and the complexity of said request. RightsLink is an automated process and can grant permission immediately at any time of the day. RightsLink manages permissions for most scholarly publications; however, it cannot authorize all types of uses or grant permissions for certain content. In such cases, you may need to contact the publisher’s permissions department.
- Tracking – RightsLink allows publishers to see the transactions made via the service and track customers’ purchasing trends.
- Customer service – CCC provides 24-hour customer service for RightsLink.”
Obtaining permission from Rightslink is a multi-step process but is still fairly simple in the grand scheme of things. The process hasn’t changed much in recent years, but an author should start by going to the website of the source material for the image that needs to be reproduced. The source website should have a button for “Request Permission” or something similar. After clicking on this, you will be asked questions to determine which license is needed for the publication that you are reproducing the image in. Based on the answers, the Rightslink form will update accordingly. A “Quick Price” button will then appear after you fill out the form giving you an idea of how much it will cost if there is a cost to reuse the material. Many STEM publishers belong to a group that follows specific guidelines, and if these guidelines are adhered to, there will be no charges. Instructions will also be provided on how to give proper attribution in the text. You will need to create a Rightslink account to pay for the reproduced image. Once you pay (using the many payment methods on the website), a receipt will be provided with a link to access the full details of the permission including the Terms & Conditions. This document can be used as part of your submission for most major journals to confirm permission to publish.
The biggest obstacle in permission gathering nowadays is the growing prevalence of open access articles. While it might seem that if a manuscript is published as open access, their figures and data should be fair game for reproduction, that is far from the case. Some open access publications do allow free and full reproduction, but there are multiple open access licenses through the Creative Commons umbrella, and each comes with their own set of criteria for reproduction.
- CC BY: This license allows an author to reuse, adapt, and distribute any material in any medium or format as long as the original author and publication is given proper attribution in the new publication. This includes commercial use so no action would be needed by authors to republish this material as long as the proper attribution is given.
- CC BY-SA: This license allows all the same reproduction as CC BY material except that the new adapted material will be held to the terms of the original license, thus presenting some slight limitations compared to the blanket CC BY license.
- CC BY-NC: This license allows an author to reuse, adapt, and distribute any material in any medium or format as long as the original author and publication is given proper attributions but only for noncommercial purposes. This means that an article that is CC BY-NC will require Rightslink permissions to reuse in any publication that is commercial (i.e., most journals).
- CC BY-NC-SA: This license allows the same reproduction as CC BY-NC but holds the adapted material to the same terms as the original license.
- CC BY-ND: This license allows an author to reuse and copy material but does not allow any adaptation of the material upon reproduction. This license does, however, allow reproduction in both commercial and noncommercial uses as long as full attribution is provided.
- CC BY-NC-ND: This license allows reuse and copying without any adaptations, but only in noncommercial uses with full attribution. Rightslink permissions will be required to reuse these materials in commercial publications.
As an author or journal staff member, it is important to know the differences between these licenses to avoid any legal issues. For more information on open access licenses and what is required for reproduction, visit the official Creative Commons website here. If you have questions when using the Rightslink website, you can contact customer service at any time by emailing: customercare@copyright.com or calling: 1-877-622-5543 or 1-978-646-2777.
By: Chris Moffitt
Chris is a Managing Editor at Technica Editorial
