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AGU Permissions and Copyright Information

Usage Permissions

Permission is granted for individuals to make single copies for personal use in research, study, or teaching and to use figures, tables, and short quotes from the journal for republication in scientific books and journals. This permission does not extend to posting a copy of the PDF or HTML created by AGU for publication. There is no charge for any of these uses, but the material must be cited appropriately.

Rights Granted to Authors

AGU’s philosophy recognizes the need to ensure that authors have a say in how their works are used and the necessity to foster broad dissemination of scientific literature while protecting the viability of the publication system. The following nonexclusive rights are granted to AGU authors:

  • All proprietary rights other than copyright (such as patent rights)
  • The right to present the material orally
  • The right to reproduce figures, tables, and extracts properly cited
  • The right to make paper copies of all or part of the contribution for classroom use
  • The right to deny subsequent commercial use of the contribution
  • The right to place the contribution or its abstract on his/her personal Web site as described below.

Policies

Posting article to author’s Web site

Authors may post their unformatted papers or their abstracts to their own Web sites or their departmental Web sites according to the guidelines listed below. If authors wish to post preprints of their articles on other sites, they should be aware of the relevant part of the Dual publication policy that deals with preprints:

Dual Publication Policy: “…Electronic posting of preprints to services that provide or purport to provide archiving and citability constitutes publication. If the preprint is removed from the archive, it is no longer considered published…”
  1. If the paper has been submitted for publication, but not yet accepted, the author should include the following statement if he/she places the paper on a Web site:

    “Submitted for publication in (journal title).”
  2. If the paper has been accepted for publication and copyright has been transferred to AGU, the author may place the paper on his/her own Web site with the following statement appearing on the first screen of the abstract or article:

    “Accepted for publication in (journal title). Copyright (year) American Geophysical Union. Further reproduction or electronic distribution is not permitted.”
  3. If the paper has been published, or when it is published, the above statement should be changed to the following:

    “An edited version of this paper was published by AGU. Copyright (year) American Geophysical Union.”


    It is recommended that the full citation and a link to the open abstract also be provided:

    “Author(s), Year of publication (in parentheses), Title of article, Name of journal, Volume number, Citation number, Digital Object Identifier (DOI). To view the published open abstract, go to http://dx.doi.org and enter the DOI.”


    Providing the full bibliographic reference helps assure that authors receive full credit through correct citation to their articles, while including the url directs viewers to the published abstract.
  4. If an article was placed in the public domain, the following statement should appear on the first screen of the abstract or article:

    “Not subject to U.S. copyright”. Please substitute “published” for the word “copyright” in the credit line mentioned in items 2 and 3.

Copyright Transfer Information

When your manuscript is accepted for publication by AGU, please mail the original signed copyright transfer agreement form to:

Publications Administration
American Geophysical Union
2000 Florida Avenue, N.W.
Washington, DC 20009

To avoid publication delays, please also send the form via fax to Publications Administration at +1-202-328-0566.

Please note that AGU cannot publish your paper without first receiving the original signed copyright agreement. If you have any questions concerning the agreement, call Author Information at +1-202-777-7354.

You can download the AGU copyright transfer agreement.

If all authors are or were bona fide officers of a Crown government that reserves its own copyright under national law, and the work was prepared on behalf of a government agency, use the Crown copyright agreement (PDF).

Copyright Transfer FAQ


Who should sign the copyright transfer agreement?

The form must be signed by at least one author. If more than one author chooses to sign, please type or print the name beside each signature. If only one author signs the form he or she must have the consent of each author to transfer copyright of the article.

Can I sign the copyright transfer agreement if I am a U.S. Government employee?

Works prepared by U.S. Government employees as part of their official duties are not eligible for U.S. copyright. Such works are considered to be in the public domain, which means that they may be freely copied, republished, and redistributed. In order for works to be placed in the public domain, all authors must be official U.S. Government employees. If at least one author of the work was privately employed, copyright should be transferred to AGU by any of the privately employed authors.

Who can transfer copyright if a paper has multiple authors including at least one U.S. Government employee?

To ensure that we can continue to promote wide availability of our publications, AGU requests all non-U.S. Government employees to transfer copyright to us. This transfer permits us to continue publishing our journals and books in all their various formats, to grant permission to abstracting and indexing services to cover our publications, and to grant permission for photocopying beyond the limits defined in the law. In instances where authorship consists of both U.S. Government and privately employed individuals, we require at least one privately employed author to transfer copyright to AGU. This kind of transfer provides ultimate protection and broad dissemination of the work.

What if my company owns the copyright to my article?

Privately employed authors who have written articles in their official capacities as employees should also transfer copyright to AGU. The author’s employer retains the same rights as individual authors. AGU claims no right to the work other than copyright; the author’s employer retains all other rights such as patent rights.

What if my work was supported by a U.S. Government grant or contract?

Authors who are publishing works supported by a U.S. Government grant or contract are requested to transfer copyright to AGU. This kind of transfer permits the broad dissemination of the work while recognizing the U.S. Government’s prior license to use the work for noncommercial purposes.

Where can I get the copyright transfer form?

You can download the AGU copyright transfer agreement.

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