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• Taylor & Francis' position on copyright and author rights
• Copyright transfer FAQs
• Disclosure of conflicts of interest

Taylor & Francis' position on copyright and author rights

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Introduction
For over two hundred years, Taylor & Francis has sought to achieve the widest dissemination of new research knowledge via our scholarly journals.

We continue to support the widest possible access to the scientific, scholarly and medical literature through innovative and creative publishing policy and practice, founded on the highest standards of peer review.

Taylor & Francis, and the scholarly and professional associations with whom we work, is committed to good stewardship of the scholarly record, and to managing authors' Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) as these are associated with their article. Such articles are normally the primary written report of the results of a scientific research project. Such research may be supported by funding from Government or commercial sources. It may be conducted by a single research group from a single institution, or may be the outcome of collaborative working between institutions on a global scale. Such research in its written form, has been submitted for consideration to a Taylor & Francis journal, and is then subject to that journal's rigorous peer review. If acceptable after revision in the light of referees' comments, then that research is published in its final and definitive form, for the first time, by Taylor & Francis in a Taylor & Francis journal, or in a journal published by Taylor & Francis on behalf of a scholarly or professional association.

This is the version of scholarly record, and in its online form will be fully reference-linked. Taylor & Francis has added value to this version - editing to a style consistent with linking conventions, converting to a suitable digital form, putting in the digital reference links and meta-tags for feeds to abstracting and indexing services, registering the digital object identifier (DOI), and monitoring electronic usage.

In all our activities, we are working for the benefit of authors to ensure maximum access to, and use of, their articles, and to ensure that authors may gain from the goodwill associated with publishing in a Taylor & Francis journal. Yet we are also seeking to enhance the reputation and prestige of the journal, its editors and editorial board, its peer review processes, and the added value brought by the journal and its publisher.

Definition of terms

'First publication' is taken to mean 'first' publication in a recognised Taylor & Francis journal (in electronic and paper editions) of an original article that has been through a rigorous and equitable 'peer review' process, as opposed to any subsequent publication in a secondary medium.

'Exclusive publishing right' is taken to mean the exclusive right (with the exception of an agreed version of an article that an Author may place on a website or in an open archive repository) to reproduce and communicate to the public the whole or any part of an article, and to publish the same throughout the world in any format and in all languages for the full term of copyright. This includes without limitation the right to publish an article in printed form, electronic form, other data storage media, transmission over the Internet and other communication networks and in any other electronic form, and to authorise others to do the same.

Assign copyright, or license publication right?

We prefer authors to assign copyright to Taylor & Francis or the journal proprietor (such as a learned society on whose behalf we publish), but accept that authors may prefer to give Taylor & Francis an exclusive licence to publish. Copyright assignment has the advantage of elimination of ambiguity, for example in negotiating subsidiary licences (for instance with database aggregators) or in dealing on an author's behalf with plagiarism, abuse of moral rights, protecting intellectual property or copyright infringement.

It is important however that we are at least granted exclusive rights because of the needs of the scholarly community for certainty in the scientific record. There is a requirement for a clear and unambiguous record of the scholarly or scientific process, with validated authentication of the final version of an article which has been edited, peer-reviewed and accepted in a journal which confers a recognized, legitimate status on an article. For these reasons we need these rights to assure the scholarly community that they are reading the genuine, final version.

STM position paper: publishers seek copyright transfers (or transfers or licenses of exclusive rights) to ensure proper administration & enforcement of author rights

Taylor & Francis' duties as a publisher

We agree:

• to defend your Article against plagiarism and copyright infringement, and to that end, Taylor & Francis shall take all reasonable steps to act against unauthorised replication of an article in part or in whole;
• to receive and to administer permissions and deal with licensing issues relating to an article;
• to maintain the integrity of an article such that it becomes 'the sworn statement of science', that is a definitive, citeable, permanent and secure record of an article, accessible in perpetuity;
• to ensure that the published version of an article carries an appropriate level of metadata tagging to facilitate discovery and logging by search engines;
• to ensure the safe archiving of an article and as required to ensure that a copy is deposited in any national archive deriving from the Legal Deposit Libraries Act 2003.
• to supply definitive information on how to cite your article in both print and online formats.

The rights that you retain as author

In assigning Taylor & Francis or the journal proprietor copyright, or granting an exclusive licence to publish, you retain:

• Schedule of author rights |
• Schedule of author rights (Society journals) |

The following exclusions require you to obtain written permission from Taylor & Francis:

• inclusion of an article in a course pack for onward sale by a third party e.g. the library of an author's institution;
• distribution in print or electronic form by any third party such as a website, listserv, content aggregator, or conference organiser, with the exceptions specified above;
• distribution in print or electronic form to the commercial benefit of an author, an author's institution or employer, or a third party.

Retrospective coverage

We are happy to extend all these provisions to the many thousands of authors who have signed copyright assignments and licences to publish in the past with Taylor & Francis or one of its constituent imprints, without the need to seek amendment to the previous agreements.

Note

If an Author is a UK Crown servant and an article is made in that capacity, an article must be submitted for clearance by the permanent Head of the Department concerned. If an author is a US Government employee and an article is made in that capacity, assignment applies only to the extent allowable by US law. In either case it is the responsibility of an author to make the necessary enquiries and arrangements.

Copyright transfer FAQs

CHECKLIST

(a) Completing the Publishing Agreement

I have not published my Article previously.
I have not submitted my Article to another journal, and I confirm that it is not under consideration by any other journal.
I intend to publish the Article exclusively with Taylor & Francis.
I am only claiming Crown Copyright if I or one of my co-Authors is a Minister or civil servant.
I am only claiming U.S. Government non-Copyrightable Status if I or one of my co-Authors is an officer or employee of the Federal Government of the United States of America.
If I or one of my colleagues is a National Institutes of Health (NIH) employee, I have attached an NIH Addendum instead of signing the Publishing Agreement.
If I or one of my colleagues is a contractor of the U.S. Government (including NIH contractors), I have included my contract number and understand that I am still required to complete the form in full.
I understand that if I am working in a university as a researcher/lecturer but am grant funded and am submitting this work as part of my normal research, my work does not qualify as a 'work for hire'.
I have acknowledged any/all third party funders, giving full names and grant numbers.
I have not used an electronic signature.
I understand that I must return the completed and signed original of this form via post.

(b) My understanding

My work is original.
I have secured all the necessary permissions for use of third party material.
I have not included any statement that could be considered: abusive, defamatory, libellous, obscene, fraudulent, to infringe the rights of others, or to be in any other way unlawful or in violation of applicable laws.
I have obtained consent for inclusion of material related to patients, clients or participants in any research or clinical experiment or study. Furthermore I confirm that no such individual can be identified by the Article, nor will I identify them in any way.
I have included any relevant safety points and procedures in the Article.
I have reviewed the Taylor & Francis Publishing Ethics and Disclosure of Conflicts of Interest policies.
I have acknowledged in the text of the Article any financial interest I have or benefit arising from the direct applications of my research.
I have consulted any co-authors and guarantee that I have been authorized by all co-authors to sign on their behalf, if applicable.
If the warranties outlined above are breached I understand that I will keep Taylor & Francis and their affiliates indemnified in full against all loss, damages, injury, costs and expenses (including legal and other professional fees and expenses) incurred or paid by Taylor & Francis as a result.

GENERAL QUESTIONS

See Publishing Agreement: "we ask authors to transfer to Informa UK Limited trading as Taylor & Francis Group the rights of copyright in the Articles they contribute"

1. 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, prefer 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, in full or part, 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 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 their 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

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

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

3. 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 U.S. Government, where there are no restrictions on access, and the paper will be shown as being under Crown or U.S. Government Copyright. It is essential that authors ensure requisite licenses are secured from such employers once a paper has been accepted for publication. See section 7. below.

4. 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 his or her 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.

The sole condition is that authors advise us of such reproduction, and acknowledge and cite the Journal as the original source of publication.

5. If I have used any previously published material do I need to acknowledge this?

Yes. 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 consent. Taylor & Francis are signatories of and respect the spirit of the STM Agreement regarding the free sharing and dissemination of scholarly information. As such we partake in the reciprocal free exchange of material. Suggested wording for the request for permission is given here:

http://journalauthors.tandf.co.uk/preparation/copyright.asp http://journalauthors.tandf.co.uk/preparation/permission.asp

It is also important to ensure you acknowledge the source in your figure captions, and cite the source in your Reference section.

6. What happens if Taylor & Francis do not publish the Article?

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

AGREEMENT IN RELATION TO COPYRIGHT IN AN ARTICLE:

YOUR STATUS

See Publishing Agreement: "Please indicate if any of the other statements also apply to you"

7. What do these statements mean?

(a) I am UK, Canadian or Australian Government employee and claim Crown Copyright

Crown Copyright applies to material which is produced by employees of the Crown in the course of their duties. Therefore, most material originated by Ministers and civil servants is protected by Crown Copyright. Tick this option if you are a Government employee and your nationality is one of any of the 16 countries listed below that fall within the Commonwealth Realm. By ticking this option you are requested to provide a copyright statement.

• Antigua and Barbuda
• Australia
• The Bahamas
• Barbados
• Belize
• Canada
• Grenada
• Jamaica
• New Zealand
• Papua New Guinea
• Saint Kitts and Nevis
• Saint Lucia
• Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
• Solomon Islands
• Tuvalu
• United Kingdom

For further information, please see the Office of Public Sector Information guidelines here: www.opsi.gov.uk/advice/crown-copyright/index.

(b) I am a U.S. Government employee and there is no copyright to transfer

A work of the United States Federal Government, as defined by United States copyright law, is "a work prepared by an officer or employee of the U.S. Government as part of that person's official duties". The term only applies to the work of the Federal Government, not state or local governments. In general, under section 105 of the Copyright Act, such works are not entitled to domestic copyright protection under U.S. Law, sometimes referred to as "non-copyright". Tick this option if you are an employee of the U.S. Government.

Unless you supply us with a specific form of wording we will use the following:

"This work was authored as part of the Contributor's official duties as an Employee of the United States Government and is therefore a work of the United States Government. In accordance with 17 U.S.C. 105, no copyright protection is available for such works under U.S. Law."

If you are a contractor of the U.S. government, please see section (d) below.

(c) I am a National Institutes of Health (NIH) employee and there is no copyright to transfer. I am not required to sign this form and instead attach the NIH addendum

Tick this option if the NIH Public Access Policy applies to your manuscript. This includes any manuscript that arises from:

• An NIH employee.
• Any direct funding from an NIH grant or cooperative agreement active in Fiscal Year 2008 or beyond, where "directly funded" refers to costs that can be specifically identified with a particular project or activity.
• Any direct funding from an NIH contract signed on or after April 7, 2008.
• Any direct funding from the NIH Intramural Program.

You must attach an addendum. The NIH FAQ page http://publicaccess.nih.gov/FAQ.htm provides an example of the language that could be used in a copyright agreement between an author or institution and a publisher. Individual copyright arrangements can take many forms, and authors and their institutions should continue to manage such arrangements as they have in the past. Institutions and investigators may wish to develop particular copyright agreement terms in consultation with their own legal counsel or other applicable official at their institution, as appropriate. An example of the kind of language that an author or institution might add to a copyright agreement is as follows:

"[Journal name] acknowledges that [Author name] retains the right to provide a copy of the final peer-reviewed manuscript to the NIH upon acceptance for publication, for public archiving in PubMed Central as soon as possible but no later than 12 months after publication by [Journal name]."

Your Institution or professional society may have developed specific model language for this purpose, so we advise you to consult your counsel.

All Taylor & Francis Journals deposit the final published Article in PubMed Central for iOpenAccess articles and the accepted manuscripts for all other NIH funded articles. Taylor & Francis in conjunction with the NIH then make iOpenAccess articles immediately available and all other manuscripts available 12 months after publication. Through Taylor & Francis' direct manuscript feed it will not be necessary for you to submit a manuscript yourself.

Further information on the NIH can be found at the website: http://www.nih.gov/.

(d) I am a contractor of the U.S. Government (includes NIH contractors)

Unlike works of the U.S. Government, works produced by contractors under government contracts (or submitted in anticipation of such contracts) are protected and restricted under U.S. copyright law. Contract terms and conditions vary between agencies and depend on the terms of the contract and the type of work undertaken; we advise you to consult your counsel if you are in any doubt as to whether this statement applies to you. You are required to supply a copyright statement to be used, for example:

"This material is published by permission of the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, operated by Stanford University for the US Department of Energy under Contract No. [contract number]. The U.S. Government retains for itself, and others acting on its behalf, a paid-up, non-exclusive, and irrevocable worldwide license in said article to reproduce, prepare derivative works, distribute copies to the public, and perform publicly and display publicly, by or on behalf of the Government."

For further information, please visit the United States Copyright Office website:
http://www.copyright.gov/.

See Publishing Agreement: "I am one of [insert number] co-authors of the Article and confirm I have the consent of my co-authors to sign this agreement on their behalf"

8. What if I am not sole author?

A 'sole author' is defined as: an author from which a manuscript originates, when only one author has contributed.

A 'co-author' is defined as: an author from which a manuscript originates, when more than one author has contributed.

You must specify the number of authors and if at all practical, all co-authors should sign this Agreement. If not, we require you to secure the permission of your co-authors to act on their behalf, and sign the Agreement. If you are one among a number of authors and one or more of the statements under section 7. above applies to any author, please consult your counsel. In the case of collaboration between a U.S. Government employee and a non-government author we suggest you refer to www.cendi.gov/publications/04-8copyright.html#327 and again, if in any doubt seek the advice of your counsel.

See Publishing Agreement: "a work made for hire"

9. What is a 'work made for hire'? Would my university class as an 'employer' in this case?

No. A university is not considered to be an employer if you are grant funded but merely working within the institution.

'Work made for hire' is sometimes referred to as 'corporate authorship' and is when the employer-not the employee-is considered the legal author. The incorporated entity serving as an employer may be a corporation or other legal entity, an organization, or an individual. Please consult your employer to obtain a copyright statement to be used.

10. My institution has asked me to submit an addendum to the agreement. Is this acceptable?

No. Addenda are unacceptable and, in fact, unnecessary. Taylor & Francis' liberal Author Rights policy has been designed to meet authors' interests and needs. Taylor & Francis support the widest possible access to the scientific, scholarly and medical literature through innovative and creative publishing policy and practice, founded on the highest standards of peer review, and on our stewardship of the Scholarly Record.

FUNDING

See Publishing Agreement: "FUNDING"

11. Do I need to declare any funding?

Yes. The name of any/all third party funders must be given in full. In addition, the full names and numbers of all grants must be given in the acknowledgements section of your manuscript.

For further information, please see our Disclosure of Conflicts of Interest page.

PUBLISHING RIGHTS

See: Schedule of Author Rights and Schedule of Author Rights (Society titles).

12. What exactly is meant by 'assignment of publishing rights'?

When 'assigning publishing rights', be it transfer of copyright or exclusive licence to publish, you retain your Author Rights as detailed in the Schedule of Author Rights and Schedule of Author Rights (Society Journals). (See section 14. below).

In order for Taylor & Francis to publish and establish your Article as the Version of Record, you need to grant us an exclusive licence to:

(a) publish, reproduce, distribute, display, and store your Article, worldwide, in all forms;¹
(b) translate your Article into other languages, and create adaptations, summaries, extracts or other derivative works based on the Article;
(c) sub-license these rights to third party data aggregators - thus maximising dissemination.

If of course your Article is not accepted for publication, or is withdrawn, then the licence is rendered null and void, and all rights revert to you.

13. What are the responsibilities of Taylor & Francis as publisher of my Article?

Following rigorous peer review, we shall prepare the final, accepted version of your Article for publication in the Journal by having it copy-edited for style, fluency, and consistency, and share a proof with you for checking and approval prior to publication.²

14. What rights do I retain as Author?

The rights you retain are set out in the Schedule of Author Rights and Schedule of Author Rights (Society Journals).

15. What must I declare as Author under 'Author Warranties'?

See: Publishing Ethics.

It is mandatory that you make legally-binding guarantees in respect of the originality and provenance of your Article and its component parts. Taylor & Francis Group is a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), and we recommend you read our Guidelines on Ethics. You are required to confirm that you have reviewed Taylor & Francis' Ethics and Conflicts of Interest and Disclosure policies.

a) It is essential that you obtain formal written permission from copyright owners for the re-use of any third party copyright material in your Article, for example, text, figures, or tables. This is especially important in relation to the reproduction of poetry and lyrics, and photographs of artworks. As noted above (Section 5.), it is important to ensure you acknowledge the source in your figure captions, and cite the source in your Reference section. We suggest you consult The Design and Artists Copyright Society in relation to the reproduction of artworks.

We urge you to exercise extreme caution with respect to images you may find on the internet. These have often been posted without the permission of the copyright holder; a reference to a website hosting an image is not commensurate with formal permission.

Apart from the authorised reproduction of appropriate third party copyright material, you are confirming that your Article is your original work.

In this respect, you guarantee that nothing in the Article infringes the legal rights of any other person or entity, and that neither the Article nor any part of it could be construed as copying any other person's published work and attempting to pass this off as your own work. You also guarantee that neither the Article nor any part of it is abusive, defamatory, libellous, obscene, fraudulent, nor in any way infringes the rights of others, nor is in any other way unlawful or in violation of applicable laws.

b) You are confirming that your Article has not been published previously, nor is it under consideration by any other journal. If we discover it has been, we reserve the right to retract your Article and prohibit you from making new submissions to Taylor & Francis Journals.

c) You are confirming that you have written consent from any patient, client or participant in any research or clinical experiment or study for the inclusion of material pertaining to them. You are confirming you have anonymised such patients, clients or participants, and confirmed with them that they are assured they cannot be identified via the Article.

d) You are confirming that you have highlighted all relevant health and safety issues in your Article. You must include appropriate warnings concerning any particular hazards that may be involved in carrying out experiments or procedures described in your Article.

e) You are confirming that all the co-authors listed have authorised you to act as Corresponding Author, and make warranties on their behalf.

16. Is this agreement legally binding?

Yes. This agreement (and any dispute, proceeding, claim or controversy in relation to it) is subject to English Law and the jurisdiction of the Courts of England and Wales. If you are found to be in breach of any of these warranties, you are liable to indemnify Taylor & Francis against all loss, damages, injury, costs and expenses (including legal and other professional fees and expenses) awarded against or incurred or paid by us as a result of a breach.

POST-PUBLICATION

17. What do I receive once the Article is published?

Once your Article is available online you will be granted access to the Article. If you do not have a username, one is created for you, and an email will be sent to you containing your login details. On informaworld, you can access both HTML and PDF versions of your Article. You may download a PDF version, which will contain a watermark noting this is an author copy. You are free to circulate this PDF to up to 50 colleagues by email, or make 50 printed copies and circulate by mail. Additionally, some of our Journals offer other complimentary author items, such as print issue copies or offprints.

Please refer to the editorial policy at the journal level for further details.

18. What is RightsLink^TM?

RightsLink^TM is a division of the Copyright Clearance Center. RightsLink^TM offers a secure website where authors can purchase discounted reprints of their article. Many of our Journals are partnered with RightsLink^TM which entitles the Authors in these journals to obtain discounted print products. Links to this service are made available to authors at the time they review proofs. Additionally, many of the articles on informaworld are available for custom reprint orders through Rightslink^TM. A link labelled "Order Reprints" appears on the article's title and abstract page.

19. 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 participate 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.

¹ This encompasses all formats and media now known or as developed in the future, including print, electronic and digital forms.
² Taylor & Francis reserve the right to make such editorial changes as may be necessary to make the Article suitable for publication or as we reasonably consider necessary to avoid infringing third party rights or law. Taylor & Francis also reserve the right not to proceed with publication for whatever reason.

Disclosure of conflicts of interest

A conflict of interest may occur when an author or an author's employer or sponsor has a financial, commercial, legal, or professional relationship with other organizations or with the people working with them that may exert an influence on that author's research.

A conflict can be actual or potential and as such disclosure in full is required at the point of submission by the author. All manuscript submissions to the Journal must include the disclosure of any and all relationships that could be viewed as presenting a potential conflict of interest. Once disclosed, the Journal Editor may use such information for making editorial decisions and may publish such disclosures if they are held to be important to readers in judging the manuscript. Additionally, a decision may be made by the Journal Editor or peer reviewers not to publish on the basis of any declared conflict.

Personal conflicts of interest

A list of potential conflicts of interest in relation to the submitted manuscript could include:

• Consultancies
• Employment
• Grants
• Fees & Honoraria
• Patents
• Royalties
• Stock or share ownership

If necessary, please describe any potential conflicts of interest in a covering letter, indicating funding when greater than US$2000.00 per year. All funding sources supporting the work should also be acknowledged.

Institutional conflicts of interest

Are you aware that your employer has any financial interest in or a financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript? If 'Yes' then please also provide additional detail in a covering letter.

Disclosure statement

Authors should also include a relevant Disclosure Statement along with the text of their article, in conjunction with any Acknowledgments and Details of Funders.

Related Information

• Ethics & responsibility
• General permissions requests
• Copyright permission