1. What are CGF guidelines on copyright, open access, and reusing published materials?
CGF follows the Wiley Guidelines on Rights and Permissions. In addition, the authors should consult Wiley’s Authors’ Resources on
- Learning About Licensing and Copyright, which includes guidelines on Copyright Transfer Agreement (CTA), Exclusive License Agreement(ELA), Fair Use or Fair Dealing, Obtaining Permission to Reproduce Material, Plagiarism and Defamation, Dual Publication, Complaints Procedure, and Retractions.
- Choose the Right Open Access Option for Your Article, which gives advice on “Gold Open Access” and “Green Open Access” Schemes.
- STM Permission Guidelines. Wiley is a member of STM, which is the leading global trade association for academic and professional publishers. Please note the particular by Wiley that all requests should be cleared via RightsLink or sent by email to permissions@wiley.com, except under the conditions described by the answer to Question 4.
2. In my CGF paper, I would like to reuse an image from one of my previous publications. Do I need to obtain a copyright permission from the publisher?
In most circumstances, the answer is likely to be YES, as normally you would have signed away the copyright to the publisher of your previous publication. However, if the previous publication is in CGF, please see Question 4 in this section.
3. In my CGF paper, I would like to reuse an image from an existing publication. Is it enough to obtain a permission from the authors of that publication?
In most circumstances, the answer is likely to be NO, as the authors of that publication may have already signed away their copyright to the publisher of that publication. However, if the previous publication is in CGF, please see Question 4 in this section.
4. Since Wiley is a member of STM, can I use images in CGF for free?
As stated in the Wiley Guidelines on Rights and Permissions:
AUTHORS – If you wish to reuse your own article (or an amended version of it) in a new publication of which you are the author, editor or co-editor, prior permission is not required (with the usual acknowledgements). However, a formal grant of license can be downloaded free of charge from RightsLink by selecting “Author of this Wiley article” as your requestor type.
Individual academic authors who are wishing to reuse up to 3 figures or up to 400 words from this journal (CGF) to republish in a new journal article they are writing should select University/Academic as the requestor type. They will then be able to download a free permission license.
Either of the above who are publishing a new journal article or book chapter with an STM Signatory Publisher may also select that requestor type and the STM Signatory publisher’s name from the resulting drop-down list in RightsLink. This list is regularly updated. The requestor is required to complete the republication details, including the publisher name, during the request process. They will then be able to download a free permissions license.
5. How can I obtain a copyright permission for reusing images in some existing publications?
You normally need to obtain a copyright permission for each of such images. The process varies from one publisher to another, and may change from time to time. The following information should only be used as an informal and hearsay advice. You must always consult the relevant publisher for the latest information about copyright rules, fees for reusing images, and the process to obtain the permission. In many situations, discounts are offered to those being the original authors of the image or being members of a professional association.
Many publishers use RightsLink to manage the reuse of their copyright materials. For example, you can use RightsLink to request copyright for materials in:
- Computer Graphics Forum (CGF) by Wiley,
- Computers & Graphics (C&G) by Elsevier,
- The Visual Computer by Springer, Information Visualization (Journal) by Sage,
- Transactions on Graphics by ACM,
- Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics (TVCG) and Computer Graphics & Applications (CG&A) by IEEE,
- many computer graphics and visualization books by Taylor & Francis,
- and so on.
As RightsLink is designed to serve many different requirements, the user interface may appear to require many pieces of information. Some publishers may offer free use of their materials under some conditions, and some of such free-use permission may take 1-2 weeks to be granted by the publisher. So please make your requests through RightsLink as early as possible.
Quick Steps for CGF, TOG, TVCG, and CG&A
For Computer Graphics Forum (CGF), one can request a reuse permission through the journal web site. One may follow a few simple steps: (i) locate the paper concerned in the Table of Contents of the issue. (ii) select <Request Permissions> under the TOOLS button on the Abstract page. (iii) One is directed to a specific RightsLink page.
For many IEEE publications (including TVCG and CG&A), one can request a reuse permission through IEEE Xplore. One may follow a few simple steps: (i) locate the paper concerned. (ii) select <Request Permissions> on the left menu bar (below the abstract). (iii) One is directed to a specific RightsLink page.
For ACM publications (including TOG, earlier SIGGRAPH proceedings, and CHI), one can request a reuse permission through ACM DL. One may follow a few simple steps: (i) locate the paper concerned. (ii) select <Request Permissions> on the right menu bar (under Tools and Resources). (iii) One is directed to a specific RightsLink page.
Some publishers may allow authors to reuse their own figures and texts (e.g., IEEE). In such a case, the author may provide such document evidence in a PDF file, and add the relevant information, such as figure index, paper title, and date of the document evidence to the PDF file as annotations. Such document evidence is necessary since the publisher concerned may chan
6. I read all of the above, but the article from which I want to use material is under open access, do I still need to worry?
If you want to reuse material from an open access article, please carefully study the license agreement of the article. Open access articles are published under specific licenses typically allowing a liberal reuse of the material, but the details may vary. In many cases, it will be sufficient to cite the reused material properly, for example when the article uses a Creative Commons CC-BY license.