Permissions for re-use of journal content

Seeking permission

There is a choice of routes to seek permission:

  • Navigate to the journal and article you wish to seek permission for and follow the “Get Permission” link on the right-hand side.
  • The alternative is to search for the article via Copyright.com or PLSclear.

You cannot use parts or the whole of an article until after it has been published.

You do not need to seek permission for re-use of material over 70 years old for up to 5 articles or figures – re-use is only subject to acknowledgement. Beyond this limit please contact us.

Circulation

The Copyright Clearance Center may ask you for a circulation number as part of the permissions process. This is the amount of copies that will be printed; please contact the journal editorial office if you need to know the print circulation number of a particular issue.

Images

Once you have sought permission via the Copyright Clearance Center, you can request high resolution images from the corresponding author of the article. Alternatively, browse our picture library for images from older papers; our library team will be able to help you if you can’t find what you’re looking for. Please note there is a reproduction fee for this service.

Open access articles

To re-use material in an open access article, you do not need to seek permission from the paper’s author or the Royal Society. However, the source of open access articles should always be acknowledged and full attribution given. You should also state clearly any changes that have been made to the original content.

Re-use of own work

Authors are allowed to re-use parts of their own work in derivative works without seeking the Royal Society’s permission. However, please ensure the paper is cited.

For full information about re-using your work please see the licence to publish.

Electronic supplementary material

Supplementary material is made available under an open access CC-BY licence, meaning that others are free to share, reuse and build upon the information, as long as they properly credit the original author.