Further to the NIH mandate, Wiley-Blackwell will post the accepted version of contributions authored by NIH grant-holders to PubMed Central upon acceptance. This accepted version will be made publicly available 12 months after publication. For further information, see www.wiley.com/go/nihmandate.

2. I am a UK government employee

The rights in a contribution prepared by an employee of a UK government department, agency or other Crown body as part of his/her official duties, or which is an official government publication, belong to the Crown. The form required to permit publication of Crown copyright material is available from the Office of Public Sector Information website (http://www.opsi.gov.uk/advice/crown-copyright/copyright-guidance/publication-of-contributions-written-by-ministers-and-civil-servants.htm) and should be attached to the Agreement.

3. I am a US federal government employee

A contribution prepared by a US federal government employee as part of the employee's official duties, or which is an official US government publication, is called a ‘US Government work’, and is in the public domain in the United States. If the contribution was not prepared as part of the employee's duties or is not an official US government publication, it is not a US Government work. In the case of a contribution prepared under US government contract or grant, the US government may reproduce, without charge, all or portions of the contribution and may authorize others to do so, for official US government purposes only, if the US government contract or grant so requires.

4. My employer holds the copyright

Where work is carried out by an author in their capacity as an employee of a company, copyright will be owned by the company. An authorized signatory of the company must therefore sign the Agreement.

5. Special conditions relating to military personnel

Work carried out by government employees or military personnel may require a statement to the effect that the opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of the military or government agency for which they work. Please ensure that you check with the appropriate authorities and include the necessary statement within the body of your contribution. (See also section 2 'I am a UK government employee' or section 3 'I am a US federal government employee'.)

6. Why is it important to sign a Copyright Transfer Agreement or Exclusive Licence?

It is a legal requirement for Wiley-Blackwell to receive either a signed Copyright Transfer Agreement (CTA) or an Exclusive Licence Form (ELF) before publication of your contribution can proceed. Wiley-Blackwell has adopted the CTA for all Wiley-Blackwell-owned journals. For society-owned journals, the societies for whom we publish decide which versions of the forms they require.
This policy also has the following advantages:

it facilitates international protection against infringement, libel or plagiarism;
it enables the most efficient processing of publishing licensing and permissions in order that the contribution can be made available to the fullest extent both directly and through intermediaries, and in both print and electronic form;
it enables Wiley-Blackwell to maintain the integrity of a contribution once refereed and accepted for publication, by facilitating centralized management of all media forms including linking, reference validation and distribution.

7. What rights do I retain?

The Contributor or, if applicable, the Contributor's Employer, retains all proprietary rights other than copyright, such as patent rights, in any process, procedure or article of manufacture described in the contribution.

Contributors may re-use unmodified abstracts for any non-commercial purpose. For online use of the abstract, Wiley-Blackwell encourages but does not require linking back to the final published contribution.

Contributors may use the articles in teaching duties and in other works such as theses.

Contributors may re-use figures, tables, data sets, artwork, and selected text up to 250 words from their contributions, provided the following conditions are met:

Full and accurate credit must be given to the contribution.
Modifications to the figures, tables and data must be noted. Otherwise, no changes may be made.
The reuse may not be made for direct commercial purposes, or for financial consideration to the Contributor.
Re-use rights shall not be interpreted to permit dual publication in violation of journal ethical practices.

Additional re-use rights are set forth in the actual copyright Agreement.

8. What sections must I sign?

You must sign in the space indicated depending on whether you own the copyright in your work, the copyright is owned by your employer or whether you are a government employee. It is essential to check that the CTA or ELF (the Agreement) has been completed, signed and dated correctly before your contribution can be accepted for publication.

9. Must all authors sign the Agreement?

Ideally, all authors should sign the Agreement, with additional signatures attached separately if necessary. However, if it is not possible to obtain a physical signature from all authors, you must have their agreement in writing to enable you to enter into the Agreement on their behalf.

10. Can I send a faxed copy of the Agreement?

Ideally we should receive the original. However, we are prepared to accept faxes, as well as scanned copies of the signed original forms via e-mail. We prefer in the latter case for the originals to be mailed subsequently to us.

11. Do all contributions require a signed Agreement?

Yes, signed forms are required for all contribution types (apart from letters and correspondence).

12. What are the ‘Contributor representations’?

In signing the forms you confirm that:

The contribution is your own work
All individuals identified as contributors have actually contributed to the contribution
All individuals who contributed are listed
You have informed your fellow contributors of the terms of the Agreement and obtained their permission in writing to enter into it on their behalf
The contribution is submitted only to the specified journal and has not been published before
You have obtained written permission from the copyright owners to reproduce any material owned by third parties, and that you have included appropriate acknowledgement within the text of your contribution
That the contribution contains no libellous or unlawful statements, does not infringe upon the rights or the privacy of others, and does not contain any material or instructions that might cause harm or injury

13. Do abstracts require an Agreement?

Meetings abstracts. We do not require a signed Agreement to publish abstracts of material submitted for poster sessions and presentations at conferences or meetings. The right to publish such material is presumed.
Abstracts specifically created for abstract publications. If you have written an abstract of a previously published article for publication in another journal (e.g. a reviews-type journal), we do require you to sign an Agreement.
Reproduction of existing abstracts. If you wish to include verbatim abstracts from previously published articles , you do not need written permission from the publisher of those articles, although the source should be cited. Abstracts are covered by copyright and are not in the public domain but there is an exception in UK law which permits the copying and publication of scientific and technical abstracts accompanying published periodical articles.

14. What about translations?

Let's say, for example, that you have published an article in Spanish by Palabra Publications. You have translated the article yourself (or by employing a translator) and want to submit the English translation to a Wiley-Blackwell journal, say Journal of Indelible Research.
In order to make the translation, you must first approach Palabra for permission to translate the article for republication. The translation itself would then be held under separate copyright – by you or the translator. You would then be able to sign the Journal of Indelible Research Copyright Transfer Agreement for the translation, rather than the original article.
The translation must include a full bibliographic reference to the original publication and you must have obtained permission from the original copyright holder to make the translation.

15. What do I do if some material has been published before?

Author retains copyright If you, the author, have retained the copyright, it is still likely that the first journal will have required an exclusive licence to publish, which means that you are not in a position to authorize another journal to republish. As a general rule it is essential to obtain written permission from the original publisher or society to reproduce the relevant material if this is not made clear in the Agreement or licence you signed for that publisher or society. It will always be necessary to seek permission to re-publish unless the licence you have signed is clearly for non-exclusive rights only. Copyright rests with the original publisher Where the previous publisher owns the copyright, the copyright line on the re-published contribution should refer to the previous publisher. In these cases the copyright line that will appear on the published contribution will be e.g. © 2005 Oxford University Press. Copyright is owned by a third party If content has been previously published, and a third party is the copyright holder or exclusive licensee of rights in that material, you must seek and obtain permission for re-use, and credit the material in accordance with the permission grant. This applies whether you have written the material yourself or whether it has been written by a third party. Permission is generally not required for brief and insubstantial extracts of text or references to other works, provided that these are properly attributed. In all cases, you should be aware that duplicate publication can constitute an infringement and/or an ethical violation if it is not made clear that the material has been published before.

16. I want to reproduce some figures/tables from an already published contribution

You must ensure that you have received permission from the copyright holder or exclusive licensee to reproduce in the contribution all material not owned by you, and that you have provided full acknowledgement of the source. In most cases, the original publisher's Rights Department or the journal editorial office will advise you of the exact form of words required. This usually includes a full bibliographic reference to the original publication, and an acknowledgement that the material is reproduced with permission from the rights owner.

Wiley-Blackwell is a signatory to an agreement signed by the majority of scientific, technical and medical (STM) publishers whereby participating publishers do not make reciprocal charges for the reproduction of copyright material. (For further information, please see: http://www.stm-assoc.org/stm-permission-guidelines.) These guidelines extend to re-use of a small number of figures and tables from journal articles without seeking permission and a number of large STM publishers have signed up to this.

17. I want to reproduce some material from a website

Just because material is freely available on the web, it does not necessarily mean that the information can be reproduced without permission. We recommend the following actions:

You should seek permission from the original source.
If the website doesn't provide an original source and/or the source is unknown to you then you should seek permission from the website to reuse the material. You can use the following link to identify the contact details for the name in which the website has been registered: http://www.whois.org.

If the website has posted material without seeking permission from the copyright holder and/or the source is unknown, then you are taking a risk in including the material in your work. As a last resort, the Authors' Licensing and Collecting Society (ALCS) can be contacted to trace the copyright holder: http://www.alcs.co.uk.

18. Do I need permission to quote someone else's work?

Fair use or fair dealing (depending on the country whose laws apply) allow use of a copyrighted work for the purposes of criticism or review. This extends to quotations that form part of book reviews and other critical material. Permission to quote is not required in such instances, provided the extracts are not substantial and are genuinely required for the purposes of review or criticism. For works of shorter length, such as songs, permission to re-use shorter extracts may be required. All sources must be credited – title and author at minimum – in order for fair dealing to apply.

19. What is the situation regarding copyright in interviews?

If the record of an informal conversation you held with a particular interviewee appears in a contribution there is no issue regarding copyright. However, copyright may rest with the interviewee in cases of formal interviews where you record the subject's conversation on a tape recorder or verbatim. It is therefore necessary for the interviewee to sign the Agreement. An interview release form can be obtained from Wiley-Blackwell for use in such cases.
In some cases, copyright in interviews is shared jointly between interviewer and interviewee where the conversation being recorded represents a mutual exchange between the two. In such cases both parties should sign the Agreement.

20. What is the situation regarding plagiarism?

The Contributor’s representations contained in the Agreement are designed to protect against plagiarism.
Wiley-Blackwell policy is based on the 'Guidelines on Good Publication Practice' published by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) (http://www.publicationethics.org.uk/guidelines).
COPE defines plagiarism as follows:
'Plagiarism ranges from the unreferenced use of others' published and unpublished ideas, including research grant applications, to submission under 'new' authorship of a complete paper, sometimes in a different language. . . It applies to print and electronic versions.'
Dealing with misconduct
it is the duty of journal editors to investigate suspected cases of misconduct. They need to decide whether it is necessary to retract a published contribution and in some cases, whether it is necessary to alert the employers of the accused author(s). Some evidence is required, but if the employers have a process for investigating accusations, it is not necessary for the editor to assemble a complete case as this may entail wider consultation which would bring the author into disrepute before the facts of the matter have been decided.
Editors may decide not to involve employers in cases of less serious misconduct, such as dual publication, deception over authorship or failure to declare a conflict of interest.
In all cases, authors must be given the opportunity to respond to accusations of misconduct before any action is taken. (See http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/bauthor/faq_main.asp).
Available sanctions
The following sanctions are set out in the COPE guidelines, but any sanction should be considered very seriously due to the potential impact on an author’s reputation. The COPE guidelines have no legal force and it is generally prudent to avoid ‘naming and shaming’ authors and simply to confirm a retraction, when necessary, in neutral and concise terms.

A letter of explanation (and education) to the authors, where there appears to be a genuine misunderstanding of principles.
A letter of reprimand and warning as to future conduct.
A formal letter to the relevant head of institution or funding body.
Publication of a notice of dual publication or plagiarism.
An editorial giving full details of the misconduct.
Refusal to accept future submissions from the individual, unit or institution responsible for the misconduct, for a stated period.
Formal withdrawal or retraction of the paper from the scientific literature, informing other editors and the indexing authorities (see section 21, 'What is the situation regarding retractions?').

Reporting the case to the General Medical Council, or other such authority or organization which can investigate and act with due process.

21. What is the situation regarding retractions?

It is Wiley-Blackwell policy strongly to discourage withdrawal of an article in line with the STM guidelines on retractions: 'Preservation of the Objective Record of Science - an STM Guideline' (http://www.stm-assoc.org).
The practice of removal, deletion or obscuring of an article or portion thereof should be limited to circumstances such as:

An inappropriate violation of the privacy of a research subject
Errors to which a member of the general public might be exposed that, if followed or adopted, would pose a significant risk to health
Clearly defamatory comment made about others in the relevant field or about their work

Even in these circumstances, bibliographic information about the removed contribution should be retained for the scientific record, and an explanation given, however, brief, about the circumstances of its removal.
For most cases of infringement, Wiley-Blackwell recommends linking a retraction statement to the article in question, while retaining the article as first published. (This policy has been adopted by Science, for example, in the case of the original contributions published by Woo Suk Hwang see
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/sci;303/5664/1669).

The retraction will appear on a numbered page in a prominent section of the journal.
The retraction will be listed in the contents page, and the title of the original contribution will be included in its heading.
The retraction must be signed by one of the following: the author, the author's legal counsel, the author's sponsoring institution, or the editor of the journal.
The text of the retraction should explain why the contribution is being retracted.
The statement of retraction and the original article must be clearly linked in the electronic database so that the retraction will always be apparent to anyone who comes across the original article.

If the Editor of the journal believes there are irregularities with the content of the article then it is at the Editor’s discretion to print an appropriate statement in the journal.

22. What is the situation regarding dual publication?

Dual publication of an article is generally not permitted. In signing the Agreement you are being asked to represent that the contribution has not been submitted elsewhere for publication. There are narrow exceptions to the dual publication rule for some materials, such as standards. In any such case prior approval from the journal to which you are submitting is likely to be required.

23. Can you provide advice regarding libel, slander and obscenity?

Libel and slander are both forms of defamation and so in defining them it is necessary to look at what is meant by defamation. Broadly, defamation arises where a statement is made which is false and which impugns another person's reputation, or adversely affects his or her standing in the community.
Libel can be defined as a statement in print, or some other permanent form, concerning any person, which exposes that person to hatred, or ridicule, or which might injure that person in their profession, trade or calling. In the UK, the printer, publisher and author may all be held liable for libellous statements in printed published form. Ignorance is not an acceptable defence . . .
The difference between libel and slander relates to how the defamatory statement is made. In libel, the defamatory statement is expressed in a permanent and visual form including written words and printed images. In slander, the defamatory statement is in a transient form, conveyed for example by spoken words or gestures.

There is a range of defences to an action for libel. In the UK, the two main defences (apart from 'privilege') are 'justification' and 'fair comment'. In a defence of justification it must be established that the works in question are true in substance and in fact. In a defence of fair comment, which only protects statements of opinion, the defence is that the words in questions are a comment – based on actual facts – on a matter of public interest and are not malicious. Laws in other countries differ, but truth is always a defense. If in any doubt, please refer to Wiley-Blackwell for guidance.

Obscene matter can be defined as matter that, if taken as a whole, tends to deprave and corrupt persons who are likely to read, see or hear it.

Standards vary from country to country. For example, in the UK, an article is deemed to be obscene if its effect is, taken as a whole, such as to tend to deprave and corrupt persons who are likely, having regard to all relevant circumstances, to read, see or hear the matter concerned or embodied in it. The standard defence is to show that publication of the article is justified as being for the public good because it is in the interests of science, literature, art or learning, or other objects of general concern. In the US, very few works are deemed ‘obscene’.

24. What is OnlineOpen?

OnlineOpen is a service offered by Wiley-Blackwell that enables authors the opportunity to ensure that their final published contribution is made available for anyone to access online. This option is an important part of Wiley-Blackwell's response to the calls for open access and our commitment to viable high-quality publishing on behalf of societies.

25. What are the permitted uses for OnlineOpen articles?

Provided that you give appropriate acknowledgement to the journal, the society where relevant and Wiley-Blackwell, and full bibliographic reference for the contribution when it is published, you may use the published version of the contribution in the following ways:

you may share print or electronic copies of the contribution with colleagues;
you may use all or part of the contribution and abstract, without revision or modification, in personal compilations or other publications of your own work;
you may use the contribution within your employer’s institution or company for educational or research purposes, including use in course packs;
You may post the final PDF of the contribution on your own personal website, on your employer’s website/repository and on free public servers in your subject area,
Wiley-Blackwell will deposit the full-text of your contribution on publication with PubMed Central (PMC), which will in turn be mirrored to UKPMC. Electronic versions of the accepted contribution must include the following statement, adapted as necessary for your contribution: ‘Author Posting. © The Authors {Insert year of publication} This is the author's version of the work. For full bibliographic citation, please refer to {insert journal name}, {insert volume, issue number and pages}. http://dx.doi.org/ {insert doi number}’

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Guidelines by Journal

If you are interested in submitting a manuscript, view the author guidelines for each journal by selecting the journal title below (the guidelines will appear in a new browser window):