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Rights and Permissions

Wolters Kluwer Health has partnered with Copyright Clearance Center's Rightslink service to offer a variety of options for content to be reused in:

  • Books/Textbooks
  • Periodicals (Journals, Magazines, Newsletters and Newspapers)
  • Promotional Materials (Brochures, Pamphlets, and Posters)
  • Presentations and Slide Kits
  • CD-ROMs and DVDs
  • Posts on Websites and Intranets
  • Email Distributions
  • Government Reports
  • Coursepacks, Classroom Materials, Training Materials and CMEs
  • Library reserves and E-reserves
  • Distributed Photocopies
  • Conference Proceedings
  • Dissertations and Theses

Article-specific Rightslink information can be accessed directly from articles on the journal website.

For questions about the Rightslink service, email Customer Care or call 877-622-5543 (U.S. Only) or 978-777-9929.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why do I need to request permissions? Before anyone can legally sell, publish or distribute someone else's copyrighted work, they must obtain the permission of the copyrighted owner. This rule applies even if only using extracts or samples from the work.

It is each employee's responsibility to ensure that you respect the rights of others and only use their work when it is correct to do so.

Permission is needed to publish any figure or table previously published, or re-use an abstract or portion of text. Permission is also needed to publish an adaption of any figure or table previously published.

  • Altering the axes or headings in a figure, or altering the headings in a table (or adding one or two additional lines, or rearranging the layout but retaining the existing content) is not sufficient to avoid the need to obtain re-use permission from the copyright holder.

How do I find out whether figures/tables have been previously published? If a figure/table legend in a submitted manuscript reads: 'Reproduced from...' or 'Adapted from...' or 'Modified from...' or if just carries a reference number from the reference list then permission should be obtained to republish it.

  • Check the references to obtain the exact citation
  • Contact the author of the new work if necessary to ask for more specific information
  • Alternatively ascertain this by finding the original work on the internet

What if the figure says 'Data from...'? Permission may not be needed if the figure or table is a new work using data from a previous publication. You should still ensure that the original data source or sources are clearly acknowledged in the published work.

What information do I need in order to request permission?

  • The citation of the article the figure/table/text was originally published in
  • Preferably the original figure/table number
  • Whether a figure/table has been adapted from the original
  • The citation of the article/project that the figure/table will be re-published in
  • The number of copies to be published
  • Whether this will be translated or in the original language

For permissions for new journal publications (e.g. supplements or new articles for submission to LWW or Adis journals) you should also consider:

  • The number of copies to be published should include the journal readership/circulation as well as any additional copies.
  • The permission should include Electronic rights so we can publish online
  • The permission should not be one-off only as this would exclude reprints
  • Ideally it should not specify only English-Language rights so we can do translation

How do I know who holds the copyright? For most STM publishers, when articles are submitted for publication the copyright is assigned to the journal by the author as part of the standard acceptance procedure. This means that in most cases the publisher of the original article will hold the copyright for the figure or table you wish to re-use. In some instances the author may retain copyright for the work (especially for books), in which case the publisher will be able to let you know. In the case of material published on the internet the best place to start is normally by contacting the web site owner.

How do I request permission? Many publishers now use services such as Rightslink to handle their permissions processes. This includes Adis, LWW (Wolters Kluwer), Elsevier, Wiley Blackwell, Springer etc. Others will still have a permissions department internally and you can usually find contact details via the publisher's web site.

What if the author of my new article is the author of the original article I want to use figures/tables from? If any of the authors of the new article were authors of the original article, state this in your request, because the permission is likely to be a lot cheaper or free. Better still, if possible ask them to request the permission directly.

If you are requesting an author permission through a means other than Rightslink, it may be worthwhile looking at the publisher's website for an 'author permissions' section to see whether the permission is free or does not need requesting.

In Rightslink, when it asks who is requesting the permission, can I use 'publisher' for all my requests? No, because in the majority of cases you will be requesting permission on behalf of the for-profit commercial organisation who wants to use the material. Only if you are republishing the material in a new publication with an ISSN or ISBN should you legitimately state that the request is on behalf of the publisher –- in these cases you are likely to be applying for permission on behalf of the author of the new publication.


Learn more about LWW Journal Permissions