Find out whether permissions are required for your book contribution, and how to obtain and acknowledge permissions from different publishers.
If you intend to reproduce any material from another source in your chapter (for example, a figure, diagram, scheme, table, text, etc) for which you do not own the copyright, then permission must be obtained from the original publisher or copyright holder.
We cannot accept a chapter for production until we receive a completed Permissions confirmation form, verifying either that permissions have been given or that no permissions are necessary.
On this page
1 Determine whether permissions are required
2 Obtain permission from the original publisher
3 Acknowledge the source correctly
4 Complete our Permissions confirmation form
Step by step guide
Downloadable version with screenshots available
1 Determine whether permissions are required
Permissions are not required for:
- your own original, unpublished figures, diagrams, schemes, tables and text.
Permissions are required for:
- figures, diagrams, schemes, tables and text ('materials') that have been reproduced from another source
- your own materials that have been previously published elsewhere
- previously published materials that you have modified
- direct text quotations taken from another source.
In some cases, material reproduced from other sources require acknowledgement of the original source only, and it is not necessary to request formal permissions. In these cases, the material should be referenced following our referencing guidelines.
Acknowledgement only is required for:
- materials published in Royal Society of Chemistry journals. Information about how to acknowledge these can be found here
- materials that you have modified to be significantly different from the original source; ask the original publisher whether your new figure is considered different enough to not require permission
- materials that you have drawn using data or information from another source
- some signatories of the STM Permissions Guidelines. Detailed information on whether the publisher requires a permissions requests or an acknowledgment only for use of a figure can be found on the STM Association website.
- materials made available under a creative commons licence (CC BY or CC BY-SA). However additional permission is needed for any materials under a non commercial (CC BY-NC) licence.
If there are no permissions or acknowledgements required for your chapter: (that is, all figures, diagrams, schemes, tables and text in your book chapter are your own, original work) sign our Permissions confirmation form to confirm this.
If acknowledgements only required for your chapter: acknowledge the original source correctly in your work, as described above, and sign our Permissions confirmation form.
If permissions are required for your chapter: obtain the necessary permissions as described below, acknowledge the original source correctly in your work and complete our Permissions confirmation form (see below).
2 Obtain permission from the original publisher
It's the chapter author's responsibility to obtain permissions, including paying any fees, to reproduce figures, diagrams, schemes, tables and text. You must also provide the appropriate acknowledgement text in the caption in the format prescribed by the copyright owner.
Requesting permission
RightsLink
The easiest way to obtain permission to reproduce a figure is through RightsLink. The majority of publishers – including Elsevier, ACS, Wiley and Taylor & Francis – use this service. When using RightsLink, the requestor type should be ‘STM Publisher’.
If the publisher of the figure doesn't use RightsLink
You can request permissions directly from the publisher. There is often a link or online form on the publisher's website for permission requests, which will either link you to RightsLink or to another method for obtaining permissions.
If the publisher doesn't use RightsLink & doesn't have a specific procedure for permissions requests
If you are unable to find a way to request permission, please complete the Permissions request for non-RSC material form and send it to the permissions administrator or editor of the publication.
Permissions request for non-RSC material formWhen requesting permissions, please note that the Royal Society of Chemistry is a signatory to the STM permission guidelines.
This will often allow reproduction of figures without the payment of fees.
Type of permission
Your permission request must cover:
- reuse of the specified material in the book and in all subsequent editions of the book
- distribution throughout the world
- all media including electronic and microfilm and to use the material in conjunction with computer-based electronic and information retrieval systems
- permissions for photocopying, reproductions and reprints
- translation of the material and publication of the translation.
If a publisher requires payment for reuse of a figure
You can contact the publisher directly and request that any fees be waived. The following working can be used:
'I note that you request a payment of X for use of material Y. The Royal Society of Chemistry is a registered charity (number 207890) devoted to advancing the chemical sciences. As a signatory to the STM Guidelines on Permissions and in the interest of facilitating the dissemination of chemical knowledge, we do not charge for re-use of our own material and we grant permission to requests such as this free of charge. Could you please consider waiving your fee in this instance?'
3 Acknowledge the source correctly
Once permissions have been obtained, you must sufficiently acknowledge the original source in the figure caption.
Check the permissions document from the publisher to ensure you acknowledge the source as required by the publisher.
Royal Society of Chemistry publications
Formal permissions do not need to be requested, but the original source must be acknowledged in the figure caption as follows.
| Publication | Caption |
|---|---|
|
New Journal of Chemistry |
Reproduced/Adapted from Ref. XX with permission from the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) and The Royal Society of Chemistry. |
|
Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics |
Reproduced/Adapted from ref. XX with permission from the PCCP Owner Societies. |
|
Photochemical and Photobiological Sciences |
Reproduced/Adapted from ref. XX with permission from the European Society for Photobiology, the European Photochemistry Association, and The Royal Society of Chemistry. |
|
All other RSC publications |
Reproduced/Adapted from Ref. XX with permission from The Royal Society of Chemistry |
Other publishers have their own requirements and these can usually be found on the permission licence. If they do not specify, please use the following as a template:
“Reproduced/Adapted from Ref. [X] with permission from [Original Publisher], [DOI if required], [Copyright Notice if required].”
For Creative Commons - If the original article is published under a CC BY license then please use the following as a template:
“Reproduced from Ref. XX, [DOI], under the terms of the CC BY [4.0/3.0/etc] license [link to license].”
Please be aware if the original article is published under a CC BY NC (non-commercial) license then you will need to contact the publisher and possibly the original authors. You will also need to provide a link to the original license in your figure caption. You can find more information about Open Access licenses here: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/
4 Complete our Permissions confirmation form
Please note we cannot publish your work without this signed form, together with proof of your permissions and confirmation that your reproduced figures have been correctly acknowledged.
The Permissions confirmation form should have been sent to you by your editorial assistant at the Royal Society of Chemistry; if not, you can download it below.
If no permissions for your work are required, please tick the first box on the signature page and sign the form. Submit this form together with your finished chapter to the book editor or to us with your typescript if your book is authored.
If permissions or acknowledgements are required, please complete the table on the last page of the form, listing all figures that require permissions or acknowledgements. You should give the full source reference, and include the acknowledgement you have used in the figure caption.
Tick the second box on the signature page and sign and submit the form together with proof of all necessary permissions to the book editor together with your finished chapter, or to us with your typescript if your book is authored. .