Copyright Overview
Copyright gives the copyright holder exclusive rights over how others use their work. Copyright allows the holder to protect original material and stop others from using your work without permission. It means others will generally need to credit the authors and the work properly, increasing its impact. When publishing in ASHA journals, we ask authors to assign copyright to us.
During submission of a manuscript, the author will be required to affirm that
- No material in the manuscript is the copyrighted work of another individual or organization. OR
- Any material that is the copyrighted work, or an adaptation of such work, of another individual or organization is clearly marked as such and that the author has obtained permission for its use in the manuscript in all forms (i.e., both print and electronic) and languages.
Seek written permission for publication by the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) in all forms (i.e., both print and electronic) and all languages, every time you use or adapt any text or images that are not your (or a co-author’s) original work. Also, keep in mind that for materials that are your original work, your previous publication of them might mean that a publisher is the copyright holder. In such a case, you must verify the copyright holder’s terms and conditions relating to your reuse, adaptation, or republication. Permission for using ASHA materials such as content from the ASHA Journals, the ASHA website, as well as content from other publishers can often be obtained directly from the Copyright Clearance Center.
Authors are responsible for paying any fees requested from copyright holders to grant the reprint or adaptation.
Seeking Permission For Third-Party Material
Always seek permission from the copyright holder, who is usually the publisher and not the author, if
- you copied and pasted (or otherwise reproduced) text or images from anywhere online into your manuscript.
- you copied and pasted (or otherwise reproduced) text or images from a computer software program/app into your manuscript.
- you started with text or images from someone else’s work (published or not) and modified it into something new for your manuscript.
- you intend to use text or images from someone else’s work (published or not) in a test or tool you created yourself and plan to publish test items from and/or earn money from sale of the test/tool.
- your image includes someone’s face. (If the person in the picture is a minor, the parent or guardian’s written consent must be obtained.)
These guidelines are especially true for material that is part of an assessment/diagnostic instrument. Never include actual test items in your manuscript unless you have received explicit permission form the publisher to do so.
Using Copyrighted Material in the ASHA Journals
If a figure or a table is the copyrighted work of another individual or organization, or if extensive material is quoted, the author must obtain written permission from the copyright holder (usually the publisher, not the author, of the original work) to reprint it.
Seek written permission for publication by the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) in all forms (i.e., both print and electronic) and all languages, every time you use or adapt any text or images that are not your (or a co-author’s) original work. Authors are responsible for paying any fees requested from copyright holders to grant the reprint or adaptation.
Include all necessary credit lines in your manuscript before submitting via Editorial Manager. Full credit to the original publication must be included in the legend of the figure or footnote to the table. Credit lines for quoted materials may be inserted on the page where the borrowed material appears, or they may all be grouped together in the front matter of the book. In granting the permission, the copyright holder may specify the form or the location of the credit line, or both.
Provide all letters granting permission at the time of submission of the manuscript. Evidence of permission for direct re-use or adaptation—or formal notification that permission is not needed—must be uploaded along with your manuscript files upon submission. If a permissions issue is discovered after you submit your manuscript via Editorial Manager, peer review will be delayed. If your manuscript is accepted, there will be production delays upon discovering a permissions issue.
If copyright infringement is discovered after publication, your article will be retracted immediately and you (and ASHA, as the publisher) may be subject to legal action by the infringed party.
Authors must affirm, at submission, that they recognize they will liable for any claims or penalties resulting from the unauthorized publication of copyrighted material.
Public Domain and Fair Use
Please note that online searches for public domain content are not necessarily reliable. You must do your due diligence to ascertain that the material you intend to use is actually in the public domain. In the absence of clear notation to that effect on the material (either via a caption or license), consider such material not to be in the public domain.
If you have read through a license that you believe grants your use of the content without a formal request, upload a copy of that license during submission of your manuscript files. If you paid an artist to create images, upload a copy of the signed agreement for use from the artist.
Many publishers post their “fair use” policies. These indicate the extent of their content in any given article that can be used without permission. If no fair use policy can be found, assume that permission must be obtained.
Translation of Articles Previously Published in Non-English Journals
Although the ASHA Journals Board recognizes certain advantages in publishing select articles in languages other than English, such projects are time and cost prohibitive due to the amount of human and financial resources required to do them well. Consequently, the Journas Board policy is to publish articles in its four scholarly journals in English only. However, if an editor considers an article important enough, and also considers the original publication obscure enough that broad dissemination was not possible, an article can be republished in an ASHA journal. This has occurred very rarely. Such an article must clearly reference the original and include all necessary disclosures to indicate that the article is a republished translation; publication is, of course, also contingent on permission from the original authors and the copyright holder, for all uses (both print and online).
Permission to Translate Articles From ASHA Journals for Use in Other Publications
Occasionally, individuals request permission to translate and distribute articles (or portions of articles) from ASHA journals. ASHA grants such permissions on a case-by-case basis. Certain conditions must apply to all approved cases, however. This includes permission of the authors and of the ASHA Publications Office. In addition, the individual or institution requesting permission must satisfy the ASHA Publications Office that the translator is well qualified to perform the translation. Finally, the following statement must appear in boldface on the front page of the document: Neither the authors nor ASHA were involved in the translation of this article from English. Neither the authors nor ASHA assume any responsibility for the accuracy of this translation.
To request permission to translate ASHA content, please fill out the translation request form.
Authors' Usage Rights
While ASHA journals needs publishing rights in order to publish and disseminate research articles, ASHA supports authors’ choice on how to publish their work. We are committed to helping you comply with your funder and institutional requirements and support both green and gold open access options (see Open Access Policy). Any author publishing in an ASHA journal can opt to retain their own copyright and sign a license to publish using the open access option.
In addition, ASHA recognizes the importance of authors’ use of their work in furthering the scholarship and research. Although a copyright transfer is signed by authors at submission, authors should be aware that they retain many rights for noncommercial use of the material. Express permission for use is required only in circumstances stipulated on the copyright transfer form. Additional information regarding is available in Sharing and Using Your Research.
