Copyright Transfer FAQs

Download Taylor & Francis's position on Copyright and Author Rights.

Why should I transfer copyright?

The transfer of copyright is standard practice in serials and journals publishing. It is designed to facilitate the protection from copyright abuse for authors, editors, and publishers involved in the creation of a single copyright product composed of multiple contributions.

Taylor & Francis, in common with the majority of journal publishers, be they commercial or non-profit, prefers authors to assign to Taylor & Francis or the Journal proprietor (such as a learned society for whom we publish) the copyright, in all forms, of papers accepted for publication in our journals. Our rationale is as follows:

(i) Ownership of copyright by Taylor & Francis ensures maximum international protection against infringement, libel, abuse of moral rights or plagiarism

(ii) It enables Taylor & Francis to deal efficiently with requests from third parties to reproduce, reprint, or translate an article, or part of it, and in accordance with a general policy which is sensitive both to any relevant changes in international copyright law and to the general desirability of encouraging the dissemination of knowledge. Notwithstanding this, we shall always use all reasonable endeavours to ensure that any direct request to reprint an author's contribution, or a part of it, for example, figures, tables or illustrations, in another publication is approved by the author prior to permission being given.

An increasing number of journals are now published in an electronic or digital edition. In addition to publication of an author's article in conventional printed form, an author's assignment of copyright also signifies an author's agreement to its publication and/or storage electronically or digitally. The Journal may also arrange to include an author's article in electronic or digital document-delivery services and databases.

You will note your published article has been assigned a digital object identifier (DOI) to assure digital copyright protection - see www.doi.org

What if I want to retain copyright in my own name?

Whilst Taylor & Francis strongly recommends to authors that they transfer copyright, it is not necessarily a condition of publication. An author can retain copyright in her or his paper, but we must receive a formal signed statement licensing us to publish the work exclusively, worldwide, and in all forms, in the journal.

Will transferring copyright prevent me from exploiting my own work?

No. Certain 'moral rights' were conferred on authors by the UK Copyright Designs and Patents Act in 1988. In the UK an author's 'right of paternity', the right to be credited whenever the work is published (or performed or broadcast), requires that this right be asserted in writing. In assigning copyright an author is not forfeiting her or his other proprietary rights.

Nothing in the copyright transfer agreement is intended to restrict an author's rights as the Author, or in the case of work written by an author during the course of his or her employment, an author's employer's rights, to revise, adapt, prepare derivative works, present orally or otherwise make use of the contents of the article.

For example, authors themselves retain the right to reproduce their own paper in any volume of which the author acts as editor or author, subject to acknowledgement and citation.

As a courtesy, we request that authors advise us of such reproduction, and we require them to acknowledge and cite the journal as the original source of publication.

Can I post pre-prints and post-prints of my article?

1. Always providing that the editorial policy of the journal concerned allows this within its policies on prior publication, you are able to post a pre-print version of the Article on Internet websites including your home page, institutional website or subject pre-print server so long as our standard acknowledgement is given and a link is made on publication to the final published version of scholarly record on the journal's web page.

2. You are able to post, after an embargo period commencing 12 months (STM) or 18 months (SSH) after first publication (either in print or online), your revised text version of the final article after editing and peer review on your home page, internal university, college, or corporate network or intranet, or within an Institutional or Subject Repository, but not for commercial sale or for any systematic external distribution by a third party(for example a listserv or database connected to a public access server) so long as our standard acknowledgement is given and a single link is made to the fully reference-linked version of scholarly record on the journal's web page. For the avoidance of doubt, 'your version' is the author version and not the publisher-created PDF, HTML or XML version posted as the definitive, final version of scientific record.

What are my other retained rights as an author?

1. the right to be identified as the Author of an article whenever and wherever the Article is published;

2. patent rights, trademark rights, or rights to any process, product or procedure described in an article;

3. the right to share with colleagues (but not on a commercial or systematic basis) copies of an article in its published form as supplied by Taylor & Francis as an electronic or printed offprint or reprint;

4. the right to make printed copies of all or part of an article for use for lecture or classroom purposes provided that such copies are not offered for sale or distributed in any systematic way, and provided that acknowledgement to prior publication in the relevant Taylor & Francis journal is made explicit. For the avoidance of doubt, authors may use the publisher-supplied PDF version in teaching and for coursepacks, within their own institution, so long as they are distributed free of charge and not sold to students, in which case we would require permission to be sought. In addition, authors may also use the publisher-supplied PDF for posting in e-reserves, so long as it is also only within the author's institution. We allow this on the basis of the AAP/Cornell agreement.

5. the right to facilitate the distribution of the Article if the Article has been produced within the scope of an Author's employment, so that the Author's employer may use all or part of the Article internally within the institution or company provided that acknowledgement to prior publication in the relevant Taylor & Francis journal is made explicit;

6. the right to include an article in a thesis or dissertation that is not to be published commercially, provided that acknowledgement to prior publication in the relevant Taylor & Francis journal is made explicit;

7. the right to present an article at a meeting or conference and to distribute printed copies of the Article to the delegates attending the meeting provided that this is not for commercial purposes, provided that acknowledgement to prior publication in the relevant Taylor & Francis journal is made explicit;

8. the right to use the Article in its published form in whole or in part without revision or modification in personal compilations in print or electronic form or other publications of an Author's own articles, provided that acknowledgement to prior publication in the relevant Taylor & Francis journal is made explicit;

9. the right to expand an article into book-length form for publication, provided that acknowledgement to prior publication in the relevant Taylor & Francis journal is made explicit.

What do I need to do about using previously published material?

We require that you obtain the necessary written permission in advance from any third party owners of copyright for the use in print and electronic formats of any of their text, illustrations, graphics, or other material, in your article and in our journal. The same applies to any other necessary consents eg from patients.

What if I do not own copyright of the article I have written?

In some cases copyright will be held by the author's employer, for example, the British Crown or US Government, where there are no restrictions on access, and the paper will be shown as being in Crown or US Government Copyright. It is essential that authors ensure requisite licenses are secured from such employers once a paper has been accepted for publication.

What if I am not sole author?

If at all practical, all co-authors should sign this Agreement. If not, we require you secure the permission of your co-authors to act on their behalf, and sign the Agreement.

What happens if Taylor & Francis does not publish the article?

If the paper is not published in the Journal, the rights revert to the author as original copyright holder.

What is Taylor & Francis's position on photocopying?

Our policy on photocopying is that a third party is free to make one copy of an article for the purposes of private study or research without seeking the permission of either Taylor & Francis or the author.

Unlicensed multiple copying without permission is illegal.

Taylor & Francis participates in a number of photo- and digital copying licensing schemes which exist in many countries for the purposes of private study or research, as co-ordinated by the International Federation of Reproduction Rights Organizations (IFFRO), for example, the Copyright Licensing Agency (UK) and Copyright Clearance Centre (USA), non-profit-making organizations which offer centralized licensing arrangements for photocopying.

Where can I find out more about submitting a paper?

Please visit the individual journal web page, to access a comprehensive online style guide, visit our website 'Publish With US' area, email us at tf.enquiries@informa.com or write to Journals Editorial, Taylor & Francis Ltd, 4 Park Square, Milton Park, Oxfordshire OX14 4RN, UK.