The Radiological Society of North America has changed its policy on the republication of images contained in articles published in its two journals, Radiology and RadioGraphics, and in its educational materials. Starting this month, the Oak Brook, IL, society will allow authors of RSNA-published materials to republish their images in other commercial forums without receiving prior written permission from the RSNA. The RSNA announced the change in the latest issue of Radiology (January 2003, Vol. 226, No. 1, pp. 8-9).
The RSNA holds copyright ownership to all articles and images it publishes, and under the previous policy authors had to receive written permission from the RSNA before images could be published in other venues such as books, journals, or Web sites. The RSNA said this practice reflected standard intellectual property policy in the publishing industry.
However, an RSNA task force began reevaluating the policy in 2001, and concluded that "the RSNA should recognize the trend in publishing toward greater emphasis on authors’ rights, provide authors with flexibility and freedom in using their own images, and give academic radiologists something in return for submitting scientific manuscripts to the RSNA."
Under the new policy, the RSNA will continue to hold copyright ownership to articles and images it publishes, but the society will grant authors a sublicense to publish their images in other commercial publishing ventures without securing written permission from the RSNA. Authors will have to notify the RSNA that they intend to give their images to commercial publishers, the RSNA said.
Authors may publish images on their own Web sites, use images in presentations at meetings, or share images with colleagues without notifying the RSNA. The new policy does not apply to the article itself.
By AuntMinnie.com staff writersJanuary 13, 2003
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