Copyright FAQs : Palgrave Macmillan Journals

Why should I transfer copyright? |
Will transferring copyright prevent me from exploiting my own work? |
What do I need to do about using previously published material? |
What if I am a UK or US government employee? |
What if my employer holds the copyright? |
Must all authors sign the Copyright Assignment Form? |
Can I send a faxed copy of the Copyright Assignment Form? |
Can I archive a copy of my article? |

Why should I transfer copyright?

There are two main reasons why we ask you to transfer copyright to Palgrave Macmillan (or to the journal owner):

ownership of copyright by the journal owner facilitates international protection against infringement of copyright, libel or plagiarism;
it also ensures that requests by third parties to reprint or reproduce a contribution, or part of it, in either print or electronic form, are handled efficiently in accordance with our general policy which encourages dissemination of knowledge within the framework of copyright.

Will transferring copyright prevent me from exploiting my own work?

Not at all. As an author, you retain many rights and in the following cases you will not need to obtain specific permission from Palgrave Macmillan, although you should provide the usual acknowledgements regarding copyright and reference to first publication. You have the right to:

make copies (without charge) of the Contribution for personal use, including classroom teaching use (but not for inclusion in course pack material for onward sale by libraries and institutions);
make and distribute copies of the Contribution to colleagues, for the personal use by such colleagues (but not commercially or systematically, e.g. via an e-mail list or list serve);
present the Contribution at a meeting or conference and to distribute copies to the delegates attending the meeting;
patent and trademark rights and rights to any process or procedure described in the Contribution;
use the Contribution or any part thereof in a printed compilation of works of the author, such as collected writings or lecture notes (subsequent to publication of the contribution in the journal);
prepare other derivative works, to extend the Contribution into book-length form, or to otherwise re-use portions or excerpts in other works authored by you (subsequent to publication of the contribution in the journal);
for the author's employer, if the article is a 'work for hire', made within the scope of the author's employment, the right to use all or part of the Contribution for other intra-company use (e.g. training).

NB: the above use of the term 'Contribution' refers to the author's own version, not the final version as published in the Journal.

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What do I need to do about using previously published material?

Authors are responsible for obtaining written permission from copyright holders for reproducing any illustrations, tables, figures or lengthy quotations previously published elsewhere. Add your acknowledgements to the typescript, preferably in the form of an Acknowledgements section at the end of the contribution. Credit the source and copyright of photographs or figures in the accompanying captions.

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What if I am a UK or US government employee?

Please contact the Publisher to obtain an alternative version of the form.

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What if my employer holds the copyright?

Where work is carried out by an author in their capacity as an employee of a Company, it may be the case that copyright is held by the Company. In this case it is important to ensure that someone with suitable authority within that Company signs the Copyright Assignment Form.

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Must all authors sign the Copyright Assignment Form?

We accept one signature by an author signing on behalf of her/his co-authors. The Copyright Assignment Form states that in signing the form, you will have obtained copyright assignment from all co-authors, in writing; that all co-authors have approved the manuscript of the Article in the form in which it has been submitted; and that they have read and agreed the terms of the Copyright Assignment Form.

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Can I send a faxed copy of the Copyright Assignment Form?

Ideally we should receive the original. However, we are prepared to accept faxes, as well as scanned PDF copies of the signed Copyright Assignment Form (but not digital signatures inserted into a file).

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Can I archive a copy of my article?

Self archiving policy

The majority of our journals (see below) now permit authors to archive either a pre-print or a post-print of their article.

Pre-print archiving

A pre-print is the author’s version of the article before peer-review. Prior to acceptance for publication, authors retain the right to make a pre-print of their article available on any of the following: their own personal website; their employer’s website; a free public pre-print server (e.g. RePEc). Authors should clearly state where the article has been submitted, and if the article is accepted, should change the status to ‘accepted by Journal Name’.

Once the article has been published, the author should update the acknowledgement and provide a link to the definitive version on the Palgrave Macmillan website thus:

“This is a pre-print of an article published in [insert journal title XXX here]. The definitive publisher-authenticated version [insert complete citation information here] is available online at: [insert URL here]”

Post-print archiving

A post-print is defined as a post-peer-review, pre-copyedit version of an article.

Authors may upload their post-print to institutional and/or centrally organized repositories, but must ensure that public availability of post-print is delayed until 18 months after first online publication in the relevant journal issue.

An acknowledgement in the following form should be included, together with a link to the definitive version on the Palgrave Macmillan website thus:

“This is a post-peer-review, pre-copyedit version of an article published in [insert journal title XXX here]. The definitive publisher-authenticated version [insert complete citation information here] is available online at: [insert URL here]”

Please contact the relevant journal Publishing Manager if you require assistance with the correct online citation details. Contact details are available here.

Exempt journals

The following journals are not covered by this policy, and applications to post material from these journals should be sought from the Rights Manager at rights@palgrave.com:

Development
European Management Review
IMF Staff Papers
Journal of International Business Studies

There is no requirement for authors to seek permission to post material (other than for the excluded journals) provided usage is as per the above conditions.

Please ensure that the conditions of any grant funding you may have received to produce your article do not conflict with our policies. If you require any further advice on this topic, please contact the relevant Publishing Manager.

Most of our journals permit authors to archive the final draft of their manuscript (i.e. the version accepted for publication, following peer review and including any resultant revision, but prior to copy-editing by the publisher) on their own website or their institution's or funding body's online repository/archive.

All journals participating in this policy require that public availability of the author's archived version of the manuscript must be delayed until 24 months after first online publication in the relevant journal.

The archived version must be clearly identified as the author's post-peer-review, pre-copy-edit version and a link must be provided to the definitive, published version on the Palgrave Macmillan Journals web site.

An acknowledgement in the following form should be included:

"This is a post-peer-review, pre-copyedit version of an article published in [insert journal title XXX here]. The definitive publisher-authenticated version [insert complete citation information here] is available online at: [insert URL here]"