It is a legal requirement for an author to sign a copyright agreement of some kind before publication. Some journals ask authors to transfer their copyright to the journal. Others accept an Exclusive License from authors. WoS-Journal authors wishing to make their article open access must sign an Open Access Agreement. WoS-Journal authors can use their article in a number of ways, including in publications of their own work and course packs in their institution. Author re-use rights vary between journals. Please refer to the copyright form you have signed or are required to sign to review the applicable re-use rights.
Protecting intellectual property. Publishers are legally required to have explicit authority from an author to publish any article. The societies WoS-Journal partners with decide which copyright arrangement they require from the range of options we provide, a brief and abridged description of which is provided below.
– Copyright Transfer Agreement (CTA). Under this form of agreement, the author retains broad re-use rights in their article, but transfers copyright to the journal, society, or publisher. Signing a CTA ensures maximum protection against copyright infringement with the publisher acting on behalf of the author.
– Exclusive License Agreement (ELA). This form of copyright agreement is similar to the CTA but allows authors to retain copyright in their article. WoS-Journal or the journal owner retains the commercial publishing and journal compilation rights.
Online Open and Open Access Agreements. WoS-Journal requires authors wishing to make their article open access to sign an Open Access Agreement providing for the article to be made available under one of the Creative Commons Licenses in order to meet the terms of open access publication and ensure the widest possible dissemination. The Creative Commons website explains how these licenses work. At the time of writing these guidelines, WoS-Journal uses three Creative Commons Licenses: CC-BY, CC-BY-NC, and CC-BY-NC-ND.
Copyright Transfer Agreement (CTA or Exclusive License)
It is a legal requirement for WoS-Journal to receive either a signed Copyright Transfer Agreement (CTA) or an Exclusive License Agreement (ELA) before publication of your contribution can proceed. Signed forms are required for all contribution types (apart from letters and correspondence). For society-owned journals, the societies for whom we publish decide which versions of the forms they require. This policy also facilitates international protection against infringement, libel or plagiarism; enables the most efficient processing of publishing licensing and permissions in order that the contribution be made available to the fullest extent both directly and through intermediaries, and in both print and electronic form; and enables Ukraine Supreme Legal Council to maintain the integrity of a contribution once refereed and accepted for publication by facilitating centralized management of all media forms including linking, reference validation and distribution.
In the majority of cases, your article must be accepted first, then you should receive information related to the specific license signing process for the journal to which you have submitted your work, including the contact to whom you should return the signed form (usually the Ukraine Supreme Legal Council Production Editor for that individual journal).
Ideally, all authors should sign the Agreement, with additional signatures attached separately if necessary. However, if it is not possible to obtain a physical signature from all authors, you must have their agreement in writing to enable you to enter into the Agreement on their behalf. WoS-Journal will accept faxes, as well as scanned copies of the signed original forms via e-mail.
When signing “Contributor Representations,” you confirm that:
· The contribution is your own work
· All individuals identified as contributors have actually contributed to the article
· All individuals who contributed are listed
· You have informed your fellow contributors of the terms of the Agreement and obtained their permission in writing to enter into it on their behalf
· The contribution is submitted only to the specified journal and has not been published before
· You have obtained written permission from the copyright owners to reproduce any material owned by third parties, and that you have included appropriate acknowledgement within the text of your contribution
· That the contribution contains no libelous or unlawful statements, does not infringe upon the rights or the privacy of others, and does not contain any material or instructions that might cause harm or injury.
The Contributor or, if applicable, the Contributor’s Employer, retains all proprietary rights other than copyright, such as patent rights, in any process, procedure or article of manufacture described in the contribution. Contributors may re-use unmodified abstracts for any non-commercial purpose. For online use of the abstract, WoS-Journal encourages but does not require linking back to the final published contribution. Contributors may use the articles in teaching duties and in other works such as theses. Contributors may re-use figures, tables, data sets, artwork, and selected text up to 250 words from their contributions without seeking permission, provided the following conditions are met:
· Full and accurate credit must be given to the contribution
· Modifications to the figures, tables and data must be noted. Otherwise, no changes may be made
· The reuse may not be made for direct commercial purposes, or for financial consideration to the Contributor
· Re-use rights shall not be interpreted to permit dual publication in violation of journal ethical practices. Additional re-use rights are set forth in the actual copyright Agreement.