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Licensing and copyright

¹ú²úÂÒÂ×’s guide to licensing, copyright and author rights for journal articles.

Whether you're publishing your article via the open access (OA) or subscription model, this guide will help you understand the differences in licensing, the rights you retain as an author, and the permissions needed for various uses of your work.

Publishing licence options

Open access (OA) articles in ¹ú²úÂÒÂ× journals are published under Creative Commons licences. These provide an industry-standard framework to support re-use of OA material. Details of the OA licences offered to authors can be found on our individual journal websites, and more information about Creative Commons licence terms is available in this guide and on .

Articles published under the subscription publishing model in ¹ú²úÂÒÂ× journals have different terms of use.

Read on to learn more about how others can make use of your work, and your rights as an author.

What are the differences between publishing licences?

All licences used by ¹ú²úÂÒÂ× require that all authors and the article version is credited when anyone reuses your publication. This means you are always recognised for your work. Depending on the licence you choose for your publication, the rights that others have to share and reuse your work will vary.

The two main OA licences used by ¹ú²úÂÒÂ× journals are:

  • - Creative Commons Attribution, Non Commercial, No Derivatives: The article can be shared for non-commercial purposes as long as the authors are credited. Permission is needed for commercial re-use or sharing adapted and derivative versions.
  • - Creative Commons Attribution: The article may be shared and adapted for any purpose, including commercially, so long as the authors are credited.

Rights for reuse

Rights for reuse

CC BY                    

CC BY-NC-ND

¹ú²úÂÒÂ× Subscription licence

Authors must be credited

Yes                    

Yes

Yes

Available to anyone to read, print and download

Yes                    

Yes

For subscribers only

Share, distribute or republish the final published work, in any medium or format

Yes                    

Yes; sharing for non-commercial purposes allowed

No

Share derivative or adapted versions

Yes                    

No

No

Sell or re-use the work for commercial purposes

Yes                    

No

No

Here are some examples of reuse:

                             

Reuse portions or extracts in other works

Yes                    

Yes, only for non-commercial purposes

Permission may be required

Text and data mine

Yes                    

Yes, with

Yes, for subscribers only
Translate the manuscript

Yes                    

Only for private, non-commercial use

Only for private, non-commercial use

Create an app based on the original work

Yes                    

No

No

All Creative Commons licences require the licence to be referenced when sharing the content in whole or in part.

For more information about permissions and commercial reuse visit the ¹ú²úÂÒÂ× Rights and Permissions guide.

Meeting funder and institutional OA licence requirements

Authors are advised to check their funder's open access (OA) requirements, to ensure compliance. Certain funders require grantees to publish with a specific OA licence. Check our list of funders with Creative Commons licence requirements, and learn more about funder OA requirements.

Where the costs of OA publication are covered by an institutional or funder OA agreement, the OA licence options available to authors may vary according to the agreement terms.

Journal authors employed by the US Government or the Crown (the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Canada or Australia), who require a non-standard licensing agreement, are able to select this upon acceptance, prior to publication.

If you, or part of your author group, are employees of the European Commission, or an intergovernmental organisation (such as the United Nations, IMF or World Bank) you may need an alternative agreement. All ¹ú²úÂÒÂ× journals with an OA option offer intergovernmental organisation (IGO) versions of Creative Commons licences on request, where required by the author’s employer. Please contact our customer service team by email or chat.

Authors who have questions about changing the OA licence of their article post-publication should contact the Open Research Support Team at ORSupport@springernature.com with your Article’s title, DOI and journal name.

Copyright and author rights

We believe that authors should retain copyright of their research manuscripts and receive clear credit for their work.

¹ú²úÂÒÂ× is against infringement of intellectual property, while also considering the sensitivities and concerns of the research community. We achieve this by proactively identifying, monitoring and taking action against potential instances of infringement to ensure that any threats to the intellectual property rights of our authors are targeted, disrupted and, where possible, closed down.

OA articles

Authors retain copyright of all OA articles published by ¹ú²úÂÒÂ×. Authors publishing their articles OA will sign an OA licence to publish agreement (LTP), and grant non-exclusive rights to ¹ú²úÂÒÂ× where a CC BY licence is selected, or exclusive commercial and derivative rights where CC BY-NC-ND is chosen.

Subscription articles

The vast majority of ¹ú²úÂÒÂ× journals do not require authors to transfer the copyright of their published contributions. In most cases, authors will sign a subscription licence agreement, granting ¹ú²úÂÒÂ× an exclusive licence to publish the article.

For a small number of content types (for example review articles in selected journals) and for a small number of ¹ú²úÂÒÂ×'s society-owned journals, authors transfer copyright. By signing the Copyright Transfer Statement authors still retain substantial rights, such as self-archiving.

Author rights

In addition to the use cases described in the Rights for reuse table above, authors also have additional rights to make use of their article. Unless otherwise specified, these use cases refer to reuse of the published version of record, in whole or in part.

Author rights

¹ú²úÂÒÂ× OA licence agreement - CC BY 4.0

¹ú²úÂÒÂ× OA licence agreement - CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

¹ú²úÂÒÂ× Subscription licence agreement

Yes

Yes

Yes

Reuse their own material in new published works without permission or payment 

Yes

Yes

Yes, see licensing agreement for details

Reproduce their own work for the purpose of course teaching

Yes

Yes, for non-commercial purposes

Yes, for non-commercial purposes

Reuse their work in a thesis written by the Author

Yes

Yes

Yes

Reuse graphic elements in presentations and other works created by the Author

Yes

Yes

Yes

Share the final published work with peers

Yes

Yes

Limited sharing for research and career advancement allowed

Deposit a preprint of their original research manuscript

Yes

Yes

Yes

Self-archive the accepted manuscript (AM) in an institution/funder repository

Yes

Yes, under the same terms as the licence applicable to the article

Yes, subject to SN’s self-archiving policy, embargo period and deposition terms

For more information on the rights granted to authors and ¹ú²úÂÒÂ×, you can view sample copies of the licence to publish (LTP) agreements currently in use for research articles published in ¹ú²úÂÒÂ×-owned journals:

  • ¹ú²úÂÒÂ× Subscription licence agreement in use for the majority of non-OA research articles in ¹ú²úÂÒÂ×-owned journals:
    • portfolio
    • portfolio

For more information about permissions and commercial reuse visit the ¹ú²úÂÒÂ× Rights and Permissions guide.

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