Licence to Publish for journals

Before we can publish a research paper or communication in an RSC journal, we require the Author to complete a Licence to Publish.    In signing this licence the Author (who is either the Copyright Owner or who is authorised to sign on behalf of the Copyright Owner, eg his/her employer) grants to the RSC "the exclusive right and licence throughout the world to edit, adapt, translate, reproduce and publish the Paper . in all formats, in all media and by all means (whether now existing or in future devised)". 

The RSC thus acquires all practical rights to the paper, save, however, copyright.  Copyright of the paper remains with the Copyright Owner. Even though the RSC has an exclusive right to publish, the RSC allows the Copyright Owner to retain several practical rights to the paper (all specified in the Licence to Publish), in addition to the copyright. For example, we allow the Copyright Owner to reuse material from his/her paper (in some cases the entire paper), provided that a suitable acknowledgement is given. Any republication must be accompanied by an acknowledgement in the form specified in the Licence to Publish (this will depend on the journal). 

In the Licence to Publish the Author provides the RSC with the assurances that it needs to publish the material, including assurances that the work is original to the Author, that permissions have been obtained if previously published material has been included, and that the work has not already been published.

A General Licence to Publish covers most RSC journals, but there are special versions for journals that are jointly owned or for which the RSC is publisher for another organisation. The principles are entirely the same, with minor variations in wording to take account of the circumstances of ownership. This applies to New Journal of Chemistry (NJC), Photochemical & Photobiological Sciences (PPS), and PCCP. Authors of papers to be published in other journals than the three listed above should complete the General Licence to Publish.