Copyright Policy
The Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (SETAC) adheres to copyright laws in all its aspects. Further, we require all participants in SETAC programming, including authors, presenters, instructors, event attendees, sponsors, exhibitors, service providers among others, to adhere to copyright laws and regulations.
SETAC Publications and Presentations
By submitting a publication, an abstract, slides or a poster to SETAC, or agreeing to have a presentation recorded or streamed, the person declares the right to grant SETAC permission to use, reproduce, display, distribute (internally or externally) derivative works of any or all of the submissions, including the person’s own works and that of others. Being able to grant these rights requires stringent attention to permissions. SETAC provides these recommendations to assist in that regard:
Attribution
The original source for any material must be properly attributed (text excerpts of more than 250 words, tables, figures, illustrations, photos, videos and audio recordings) that has been published previously, including content that has been published in print, digitally or electronically. Attribution is NOT a substitute for permission to re-use, unless the material is licensed under Creative Commons (see below under Open Access). If in doubt, permission should be obtained. Customary professional courtesy in acknowledging intellectual properties such as patents and trademarks shoudl be excercised.
Permission
If a work has been published previously and is not Open Access or in the public domain, permission to re-use must be obatined. For SETAC journals, permission can be obtained through the RightsLink service of the Copyright Clearance Center. Most publishers use a similar service or have their own permission forms available online. For other content, the source must be contacted to obtain permission for re-use. The request should include the educational purpose and the potential uses of the copyrighted material (e.g., on a poster or slide, on a handout, or as a visual in video recording).
Public Domain
Some government-published content is in the public domain and requires attribution but not permission. However, many other governments publish materials that are not in the public domain; both attribution and permission are required for such content. If there is any doubt, permission must be obtained.
Open Access
Some materials are published under a Creative Commons (CC) license. CC-licensed materials can be used as long the license conditions apply. One condition of all CC licenses is attribution (see above under Attribution). If there is doubt that the material has a CC license, permission must be obtained.
Caution
Some people assume that materials published on a website or webpage are free to be copied or downloaded and re-used without attribution or permission. As with any other publication, that may or may not be true. What is certain is that you are responsible for determining whether permission is required, and you must obtain it where necessary. While SETAC cannot obtain permissions for you, we will be glad to answer questions.
For questions, contact the SETAC communications and publications team.