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Publisher Permission Template

Institutional Repository Copyright Tips

Seeking Permission from Publishers

If you have not been able to find information about who owns the copyright and what rights are available, then you should write to the person you believe is the copyright owner. This will usually be the publisher, but it could be an author.

Keep the author of the Journal Article, Book Chapter or Conference Paper informed of the process you are following.

Sometimes an author may volunteer to write for copyright permission, especially if they know the journal or publication Editor. This can be very effective because Editors will respond to a personal connection (however it is usually the responsibility of the Repository Manager to do this in order to save the time of the depositor).

Template for Publisher Letter

The following Template may be useful when contacting publishers:

Title

Publisher Name

Publisher Address>

<Date>

Dear <insert journal publication manager details>,

I am writing on behalf of <insert academic name(s) and title(s)> to request permission to deposit an electronic copy of an article written by <him/her/them> into <name and URL of the institutional repository>. The article is:

• First Author's Surname, First name and Second Author's Surname, First Name (Year). Article title. Journal Title, # [italicised](#), #-#. ISSN ****-****.

The author(s) would like to have an open access, electronic copy of this research available for other researchers to access.

<Name of repository> is a centralised institutional repository for academic research, both pre-and post-publication. It is a non-profit service, designed to showcase and collect together the work of academics at this university, and no charge is made for the use of any of the material deposited there.

If we are permitted to deposit a copy of this research there, we propose to provide acknowledgment of your organisation and journal as the source of the article. We will also create a permanent link to your web page, if any, from the article’s record in the archive. The archive would be the only place where the article would be posted at the University. It would not be posted on a personal home page or a departmental server.

If possible, it is preferred to archive the finalised PDF version as it appears in print. The PDF version has an advantage over mounting the author's own version, in that it maintains consistency in appearance of the article wherever it is read. This also maintains a closer association of the article with the journal, through the header-title and journal house-style.

However, if you require it, permission for the author to submit his/her/their final corrected but unformatted version would be acceptable.

If permission is granted, would it be possible to obtain an electronic copy of the journal article?
Should you agree to this request, would your agreement be limited to this instance only? Can we assume that this granting of reproduction permission reflects a policy that we could apply to other articles from USQ academics who have also published in this journal?

I would be grateful if you could contact me to give your permission for including this article and to pass on any associated conditions. If it would be possible to use the published PDF version of the article for this purpose, then please confirm this.

I hope you can consider this request favourably and I thank you for considering it.

I look forward to your response. Could you please send your email to [contact email address]

Yours sincerely,

General Issues

Sometimes an author has a regular relationship with a journal and may have a number of articles, so permission can be requested in a single email.

It is really important to ask the publisher for blanket permission for all authors from your institution. If you get that permission and store it, it will save time, energy and publisher aggravation.

o Sometimes publishers will give specific permission for a single instance only, or for a limited time (eg 12 months). If so you will need to record that on the electronic record, and have mechanisms to take the record inaccessible after that time and/or an alert to contact the publisher again at the time.

If you don’t get permission:

 If permission is not forthcoming, then consider a policy and practice to make just the citation available as metadata only.

 Details of permissions should be kept with the metadata if possible, either in a linked data stream or at least, as a note in the metadata, giving information about the date and source of the permission, any conditions and restrictions required.

 If a publisher gives blanket permission for all institutional authors, this should be kept online (database, spreadsheet etc) for repository administrators to access. This could also apply to standard embargo periods, if these are not readily locatable on publisher web sites or in SHERPA/R0MEO.