Copyright & Licensing

Author Rights and Licensing

This policy applies to the ESS Press book line: books, monographs, chapters, and conference proceedings. Publications in journals that are under our editorial service are governed by the rules of the respective journals on their own websites.

1. Purpose and scope

1.1. This policy defines the legal regime for works submitted to and published by ESS Press in the formats of a book, monograph, chapter, and conference proceedings (hereinafter, the “Work”).

1.2. The policy aims to protect authors’ rights, ensure an appropriate license for publication and dissemination of the Version of Record, and align terms for open access, self-archiving, and the use of third-party materials.

1.3. In the event of any inconsistency between this Policy and an individual agreement (License to Publish/Author Agreement), the agreement prevails.

2. Copyright and retention of rights

2.1. Copyright in the Work remains with the author(s). ESS Press does not require the transfer of exclusive rights.

2.2. Author(s) retain the right to reuse the content of the Work in subsequent works, courses, reports, etc., provided that the first publication is properly attributed and the terms of the license under which the Version of Record is published are observed.

2.3. Author(s) may translate and adapt the Work, enter into agreements for derivative works, and deposit author versions in repositories in accordance with Section 6 of this Policy.

3. License to Publish and distribute (License to Publish)

3.1. For the purposes of editorial and production processing, DOI/ISBN assignment, hosting, long-term archiving, and dissemination of the Version of Record of the Work, author(s) grant ESS Press a publication license (exclusive or non-exclusive—defined by the project agreement).

3.2. Regardless of the license type, ESS Press receives the necessary technical rights to edit, typeset, create publication files, distribute the Version of Record in print and electronic form, and transmit metadata to indexing and archiving services.

3.3. The specific scope of rights, territory, term, and permitted uses are set out in the individual agreement with the author(s).

4. Open access and Creative Commons licenses

4.1. For Open Access publications, the default license is Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0). The license permits unrestricted use, distribution, and creation of derivative works, provided that authors are attributed and the source and DOI/ISBN are indicated.

4.2. Upon a justified request and/or to comply with funder requirements, other CC licenses may be agreed (BY-NC, BY-ND, BY-NC-ND). The choice is fixed in the agreement and stated in the Version of Record.

4.3. For non-OA publications, the access regime and permissible forms of reuse are determined by the agreement and the notice on the Work’s webpage.

Note: OA terms and any possible fees/waivers for journal publications are established by the respective journals on their own websites.

5. Third-party materials

5.1. The inclusion in the Work of materials to which the author does not hold exclusive rights (images, tables, maps, substantial text excerpts, data, code, etc.) is permitted provided that either:

(a) a compatible open license allows their inclusion under the license chosen for the Work; or

(b) the rights holder has granted written permission for publication as part of the Work and under the selected access model.

5.2. Author(s) undertake to provide the editorial office with evidence of rights clearance (copies of permissions, links to licenses) and correct attributions in captions/source lists.

5.3. Author(s) bear responsibility for the lawful use of third-party materials.

6. Self-archiving (Green OA)

6.1. The Accepted Author Manuscript (AAM)—the final author version after peer review and before publisher typesetting—may be deposited without embargo in institutional and disciplinary repositories, on personal pages, and on affiliation websites, provided that:

(a) a full link to the Version of Record with DOI/ISBN is included;

(b) the following notice is included: “This is an Author Accepted Manuscript (AAM). The Version of Record is available at [DOI/URL].”

6.2. The Version of Record (VoR)—the publisher’s version—may be made openly available in accordance with the license under which it is published (for OA—under the applicable CC license; for non-OA—only to the extent permitted by the agreement).

6.3. Posting preprints (prior to peer review) is permitted, provided that the link is disclosed and the information is updated after acceptance of the Work (adding the DOI of the Version of Record and information about changes).

7. Translations and derivative works

7.1. Author(s) may prepare translations and create derivative works, provided that the first publication in ESS Press is properly attributed and the terms of the applicable license are observed.

7.2. Where a translation/adaptation is published by another publisher, author(s) notify ESS Press to ensure correct synchronization of metadata and links and, where necessary, assignment of additional identifiers for chapters (cross-referencing).

8. Identifiers, metadata, and long-term preservation

8.1. Each Work (and, where necessary, its chapters) is assigned an ISBN and/or DOI; metadata are produced in a standardized form, including authors’ ORCID, funding information, and keywords.

8.2. Metadata may be distributed under an open data license (default: CC0), ensuring broad discoverability and indexing.

8.3. Electronic versions are subject to long-term archiving in relevant repositories and/or with digital preservation partners in accordance with ESS Press practice.

9. Text and Data Mining (TDM)

9.1. For OA content published under CC BY, TDM is permitted provided that proper attribution and DOI/ISBN are included.

9.2. Large-scale automated harvesting and/or technically intensive access is coordinated with ESS Press to avoid impairing resource availability.

10. Author names, affiliations, and name changes

10.1. Author names and affiliations are stated as provided by the authors at the time of manuscript finalization; where changes occur, a “current address” may be indicated.

10.2. ESS Press supports author name changes through a confidential procedure with retroactive updates to the online version and metadata, without disclosure of the grounds and without compromising the integrity of the scholarly record.

11. Attribution requirements

11.1. Any use of the Work or its parts must preserve attribution, including: author names, publisher name (ESS Press), full bibliographic description, DOI/ISBN, and the applicable license.

11.2. For third-party materials, the original attribution and the terms of the rights holder’s license/permission must be preserved.

12. Relationship to journal policies

12.1. Journal publications under ESS Press editorial service are governed by the policies of the respective journals on their own websites, including OA, fees, self-archiving, and Version of Record licensing.

12.2. This Policy does not apply to such journal publications and is provided here solely for the ESS Press book line.

13. Sample contractual clauses

— Attribution: “Any use of the Version of Record must retain a reference to the authors, ESS Press, the publication title and DOI/ISBN, and must indicate the applicable license.”

— CC BY 4.0 license: “The Version of Record is published under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) license.”

— Self-archiving (AAM): “The author may deposit the Accepted Author Manuscript (AAM) without embargo, provided that the DOI of the Version of Record and the required notice are included.”

— Third-party materials: “The author warrants that all necessary permissions have been obtained and provides supporting documentation to the publisher; captions to materials include the rights holder and the license terms.”

14. Contacts

Questions regarding license selection, self-archiving, use of third-party materials, and coordination of translations should be sent to: policies@ess.press