Copyright and Licensing

About the Journal Publishing Agreement

All authors publishing their research with ICR Publications are required to complete and sign a Journal Publishing Agreement, establishing the terms between the author and ICRP. This agreement grants authors various rights regarding the use of their article, subject to certain conditions, and outlines the transfer of copyright. The copyright may be retained by either the author or ICRP, based on specific factors.

Upon acceptance of their manuscript, authors will receive an email containing a personalized link to complete and sign the Journal Publishing Agreement. This process includes a series of questions to determine the most suitable agreement for the manuscript.

Copyright / Open Access Policy

ICRP's journals are dedicated to offering immediate, free, and open access to their scholarly content, grounded in the belief that accessible research enriches the global exchange of knowledge. Accordingly, all articles are freely available under the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY) 4.0. In line with the Budapest Open Access Initiative's (BOAI) principles, this journal ensures that anyone can read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of our articles for any lawful purpose without the need for prior permission from either the publisher or the author.

Copyright, Publication Rights, Licensing, and Repository Policy

• The author(s) retain copyright over their work published by our journal, without restrictions.
• Authors are granted the freedom to retain publishing rights without limitations.
• The legal framework and formal attributes of articles published in our journal adhere to the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. To this effect, all published articles, including their formats (e.g., PDF), will bear the notation:
  • © Year by the author(s). Licensed and distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0).
• Authors are empowered to utilize their published articles in any manner they choose, provided they attribute the work to the journal using the specified citation format of the published article.

Repository Policy: Authors are explicitly authorized to deposit any version of their article—be it the author's original version, the accepted manuscript, or the version of the record—on personal websites, institutional repositories, or other non-commercial repositories of their choice. Additionally, the policy extends to commercial platforms and social media, promoting broad dissemination.

Article Version Posting Permissions

Understanding Copyright and Licensing

Copyright and licensing govern how scholarly work is published, distributed, and reused. All authors publishing with ICR Publications (ICRP) are required to complete and sign the appropriate Author Agreement before publication. Failure to complete the required agreement will result in withdrawal of the article from the publication process. Specific licensing requirements may vary by journal and article type; authors are therefore advised to consult the relevant journal’s author guidelines.

A signed Author Agreement is mandatory for all article types accepted by ICRP. This requirement enables ICRP to protect the work against infringement, plagiarism, or legal claims; to manage permissions, licensing, and dissemination efficiently; to preserve the integrity of the scholarly record across all media formats; and to clearly define the rights and obligations of authors, publishers, and third parties. Licensing information is provided to authors after acceptance, typically through the Author Services dashboard, and electronic signing is available in most cases.

For subscription-based articles, authors are required to either transfer copyright to ICRP through a Copyright Transfer Agreement (CTA) or grant ICRP an exclusive license to publish through an Exclusive License Agreement (ELA). These agreements are issued after the article has been accepted and must be completed before publication can proceed. While copyright or exclusive publishing rights are transferred, authors retain proprietary rights such as patent rights and may reuse their work for teaching, theses, and non-commercial scholarly purposes, subject to the terms of the agreement.

For open-access articles, authors retain copyright and publish under a Creative Commons license. In this case, the authors grant ICRP a license to publish the work and to identify itself as the original publisher. Most ICRP journals offer the Creative Commons license, depending on journal policy and funder requirements. These licenses permit reuse of the content in accordance with their specific conditions, provided proper attribution is given. 

Authors may reuse abstracts, figures, tables, datasets, and limited portions of text from their published work without requesting permission, provided that the original publication is fully cited, any modifications are clearly indicated, the reuse is non-commercial, and journal ethical standards regarding duplicate publication are respected. Broader reuse rights are defined in the executed agreement and may vary by journal.

In cases involving conference abstracts, translated articles, or reproduced abstracts, specific rules apply. Conference abstracts generally do not require a signed agreement. Translated articles require prior permission from the original copyright holder, and the translation must include a full bibliographic reference to the original publication. Abstracts remain protected by copyright but may be reproduced under limited legal exceptions with appropriate citation.

Copyright ownership may differ depending on the author’s employment status. Authors must indicate whether the copyright is author-owned, employer-owned, or held by a government or intergovernmental body. Government employees, corporate authors, and authors affiliated with international or public institutions may be required to use non-standard agreements or provide additional documentation. In all cases, authors are responsible for ensuring that the correct agreement is signed by an authorized representative.

By signing the Author Agreement, authors confirm that the work is original, has not been previously published or submitted elsewhere, does not infringe third-party rights, contains no unlawful or defamatory material, properly acknowledges reused content, and fully discloses any conflicts of interest. Authors also confirm that all contributors are appropriately credited and that all co-authors have approved the submission.

If you require assistance at any stage of the licensing process, including clarification of ownership or selection of an agreement, please contact publications@icrp.org.uk. A License Signing Guide is also available to support authors throughout the process.

Multiple Ownership

For contributions where there are multiple copyright owners, one author or authorized representative can sign on behalf of co-authors in the same category. The Responsible Corresponding Author needs to download the appropriate forms in coordination with their co-authors and submit them per the journal’s licensing workflow (usually through their Author Services dashboard). For articles with authors employed by multiple government agencies, companies, or organizations, one signature is needed per agency/company/organization – uploading a separate file for each group is acceptable. For example, where there is a government-employed author and a non-government-employed author, each author must sign the appropriate agreement/section.