Also see the IEEE copyright policies for the Internet and other new publishing technologies at the end of this form.

IEEE Copyright Form

This form is intended for original, previously unpublished manuscripts submitted to lEEE periodicals and conference publications. The signed form, appropriately completed, must accompany any such paper in order to be published by IEEE. Please read all notes and information below and keep a copy of the section that you will sign and return to IEEE.


Notes and Information for Authors and Their Employers

IEEE Policy

In connection with its publishing activities, it is the formal policy of the IEEE to own the copyrights to all copyrightable material in its technical publications and to the individual contributions contained therein, in order to protect the interests of the IEEE, its authors and their employers, and, at the same time, to facilitate the appropriate re-use of this material by others. The IEEE distributes its technical publications throughout the world and does so by various means such as hard copy, microfiche, microfilm and electronic media. It also abstracts and may translate its publications, and articles contained therein, for inclusion in various compendiums and similar publications, etc. When an article is submitted for publication to the IEEE, the IEEE understands that its acceptance of the article implies that IEEE has the rights to do all of the things it normally does with such an article.

The following IEEE policy applies to all material submitted to IEEE:

IEEE Policy 6.17 - Clearance of Papers

The IEEE must of necessity assume that material presented at its meetings or submitted to its publications is properly available for general dissemination to the audiences these activities are organized to serve. It is the responsibility of the authors, not the IEEE, to determine whether disclosure of their material requires the prior consent of other parties and, if so, to obtain it.

Furthermore, the IEEE must assume that, if an author uses within his/her article previously published and/or copyrighted material that permission has been obtained for such use and that any required credit lines, copyright notices, etc. are duly noted.


IEEE Obligations

In exercising its rights under copyright, the IEEE will make all reasonable efforts to act in the interests of the authors and employers as well as in its own interest. In handling third party reprint/republication requests for an IEEE work, the IEEE requires that:

  1. The consent of the first-named author be sought as a condition in granting republication (of a full paper) to others.
  2. The consent of the employer be obtained as a condition in granting permission to others to re-use all or portions of a paper for promotion or marketing purposes.

Author/Company Rights

If you are employed and you prepared your paper as a part of your job, the rights to your paper initially rest with your employer. In that case, when you sign the copyright transfer form, we assume you are authorized to do so by your employer and that your employer has consented to all the terms and conditions of this form. If not, it should be signed by someone so authorized. (See also IEEE Policy 6.17 above.)

Special Note to Employers: Just as the IEEE requires a signed copyright transfer form (for copyrightable material) in order to do "business as usual," it is the intent of the transfer portion of the form to return rights to the author and employer so that they, too, may do "business as usual." (See "Returned and Retained Rights" for further details.)

Please note that, although authors are permitted to reuse all or portions of their IEEE-copyrighted material in other works, this does not include granting third party requests for reprinting, republishing or other types of re-use. All third party requests must be handled by the IEEE Copyrights and Permissions Department. (See note at bottom of page.)


Joint Authorship

For jointly authored papers, have all the joint authors sign, or at least have one of the authors sign as an authorized agent for the others. In the case of multiple authorship where one or more authors are Government employees but at least one author is not, that non-Government author should sign Part A of this Copyright Transfer Form.


Returned and Retained Rights

In return for transfering copyright, the IEEE recognizes the retained rights noted in Items 1 and 4 below, and grants to the above authors and the employers for whom the work was performed royalty-free permission to reuse their material as noted in Items 2 and 3. Item 5 stipulates that authors and employers must seek permission to republish in cases not covered by Items 2, 3, and 4.

  1. Employers (or authors) retain all proprietary rights in any process, procedure, or article of manufacture described in the work.
  2. Authors/employers may reproduce or authorize others to reproduce the above work, material extracted verbatim from the work, or derivative works for the author's personal use or for company use provided that the source and the IEEE copyright notice are indicated, that the copies are not used in any way that implies IEEE endorsement of a product or service of an employer, and that the copies themselves are not offered for sale. (See "Author/Company Rights" above.)
  3. Authors/employers may make limited distribution of all or portions of the above work prior to publication if they inform the IEEE of the nature and extent of such limited distribution prior thereto.
  4. In the case of work performed under a U.S. Government contract or grant, IEEE recognizes that the U.S. Government has royalty-free permission to reproduce all or portions of the above work, and to authorize others to do so, for official U.S. Government purposes only, if the contract/grant so requires. (Appropriate documentation may be attached, but IEEE's Copyright Form must be signed. See "U.S. Government Employees/U.S. Government Contract Work (Part B)" below.)
  5. Authors/employers must request permission from the IEEE Copyright Office to reproduce or authorize the reproduction of the work or material extracted verbatim from the work, including figures and tables, for all circumstances not covered by Items 2, 3, and 4.

U.S. Government Employees/U.S. Government Contract Work (Part B)

Authors who are U.S. Government employees are not required to sign Part A of the IEEE Copyright Form, but any coauthors outside the U.S. Government are required to sign Part A (see "Joint Authorship" above).

Authors whose work was performed under a U.S. Government contract or grant, but who are not Government employees, are required to sign Part A of this Copyright Form.


Crown Copyright (Part C)

Authors who are employees of the British Government (or a British Commonwealth Government) and whose works are subject to Crown Copyright may sign Part C below.


Please direct all questions about IEEE copyright policy or this form to:
Manager, Copyrights and Trademarks, IEEE Service Center, 445 Hoes Lane, P.O. Box 1331, Piscataway, NJ 08855-1331. Telephone: (908) 562-3966.


IEEE Copyright Form

Part A -- Copyright Transfer

Title of Paper (hereinafter, "the work"):



Author(s):


Publication Title/Date:


Company or other forms may not be substituted for this form. Wording may not be changed. U.S. Government employees whose work is not subject to U.S. copyright may so certify by signing Part B below. Authors of works subject to Crown Copyright may sign Part C below.

The undersigned hereby transfers any and all rights in and to the work including without limitation all copyright rights in the above work to The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc., known as the IEEE. The undersigned hereby represents and warrants that the work is original and that he/she is the author of the work, or otherwise has the power and authority to make and execute this assignment. The undersigned also represents that he/she has read the preceding Notes and Information for Authors and their Employers.

In the event the above work is not accepted and published by the IEEE or is withdrawn by the author(s) before acceptance by the IEEE, this agreement becomes null and void.


______________________________________________   _______________  

Authorized Signature of Author                   Title of Signee  
(or if joint work, as Agent for all authors) 



______________________________________________   ________________  

Employer for Whom Work was Performed             Date Form Signed 

IEEE Copyright Form

Part B -- U.S. Government Employee Certification

Title of Paper (hereinafter, "the work"):



Author(s):


Publication Title/Date:


If your work was performed under Government contract but you are not a Government employee, sign transfer form above (Part A) and see item 5 under Returned and Retained Rights.

This will certify that all authors of the above work are employees of the U.S. Government and performed this work as part of their official duties and that the work is therefore not subject to U.S. copyright protection.


_______________________________________________  _______________

Authorized Signature                             Title of Signee 


_______________________________________________  _______________  

Name of Government Organization                  Date Form Signed  

IEEE Copyright Form

Part C -- Crown Copyright

Title of Paper (hereinafter, "the work"):



Author(s):


Publication Title/Date:


IEEE recognizes and will honor Crown Copyright as it does U.S. Copyright. It is understood that, in asserting Crown Copyright, IEEE in no way diminishes its rights as publisher. Sign only if ALL authors are subject to Crown Copyright.

This will certify that all authors of the above work are subject to Crown Copyright. (Appropriate documentation and instructions regarding form of Crown Copyright notice may be attached.)


____________________________________________       ________________  

Authorized Signature (See over: Author/Co. Rights)  Title of Signee 



____________________________________________       ________________  

Name of Government Branch                          Date Form Signed

Return to the top of the IEEE Copyright Form.

Provisional IEEE Copyright Policies
for the New Publishing and Communications Technologies


  • Introduction
  • Requirements
  • IEEE Copyright Transfer
  • Copyright Notice
  • Preprints
  • Hard Copy Preprints
  • Electronic Preprints
  • Collected Works
  • Personal Servers
  • Classroom Use
  • Finality of Work
  • Linking to IEEE

  • 1. Introduction

    The rapidly developing communications technologies are bringing about significant changes in how authors, publishers, and users think about creating and sharing information. Along with presenting innovative methods for distributing information, these new electronic opportunities have presented a healthy challenge to all publishers to respond in responsible and practical ways.

    Our goal is to continue the role of professional societies in certifying and disseminating accurate scientific information, and toward that end we must maintain some level of control over the material we publish. At the same time, new technology has made it easier to share and distribute electronic files; hence it becomes all the more important that the rights of authors and their employers to reuse their own material are unambiguously defined. We believe the copyright policy described here, which allows for author and classroom use while protecting the publisher's financial and other interests, is an important step in that direction.

    These policies aim to encourage the ongoing and timely exchange of research results while at the same time maintaining a reasonably compliant and responsive centralized authority for published literature. In order to accommodate the constantly and rapidly changing nature of the communications technologies involved, it will be helpful to consider these new policies as provisional and to review them every six months after approval. These proposals should be seen as the start of a long conversation on the subject, leading to informed discourse and ultimately to an equitable and balanced policy.

    The IEEE Standards Board has also begun to implement policies and procedures related to the electronic distribution of standards material. These policies have been developed to facilitate standards development as well as the timely and efficient distribution of Standards and standards-related material. For specific information regarding these policies and procedures, please contact the Standards Department directly.

    The IEEE Copyrights and Permissions Department will process all permission requests and will monitor and report on electronic reuses of IEEE-copyrighted material relative to the policies described here. The procedures outlined below will enable the department to carry out these responsibilities.


    2. Requirements

    2.1 IEEE Copyright Transfer

    A fully executed IEEE Copyright Form should accompany any original material when it is first submitted to an IEEE technical periodical or conference publication. In any event, an author must transfer copyright to IEEE upon being notified of the acceptance of his/her paper if the transfer has not been done prior to acceptance. IEEE will not insist on a transfer of copyright rights (other than a license to print, reprint, and distribute) in any computer programs set out in the text of the material.

    2.2 Copyright Notice

    The following copyright notice must be displayed on the first page of any hard copy reproduction of IEEE-copyrighted material or on the initial screen displaying IEEE-copyrighted material electronically:

    Copyright 199x IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. However, permission to reprint/republish this material for advertising or promotional purposes or for creating new collective works for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or to reuse any copyrighted component of this work in other works must be obtained from the IEEE.

    2.3 Preprints

    2.3.1. Hard Copy Preprints

    A hard copy preprint may be an article which an author and/or company wishes to distribute, but which either 1) has been only recently submitted for review, or 2) has been reviewed and accepted but not yet published. Hard copy preprints must carry the following notice on the first page of the reproduction:

    This work has been submitted to the IEEE for possible publication. Copyright may be transferred without notice, after which this version will be superseded.

    2.3.2. Electronic Preprints

    Upon submitting an article to the IEEE for review and possible publication, the author must add the following notice to the first screen of any of his/her posted electronic preprint versions of the paper:

    This work has been submitted to the IEEE for possible publication. Copyright may be transferred without notice, after which this version may no longer be accessible.

    When IEEE accepts the work for publication, the author must add the IEEE copyright notice shown in Section 2.2 above to any previously posted electronic versions of the particular paper submitted and provide IEEE with the electronic address (URL, ftp address, etc.) of the primary electronic posting.

    When IEEE publishes the work, the author must replace the previous electronic version of the accepted paper with either 1) the full citation to the IEEE work or 2) the IEEE-published version, including the IEEE copyright notice and full citation. Prior or revised versions of the paper must not be represented as the published version.

    2.4 Collected Works

    IEEE-copyrighted collected works, such as conference proceedings (full text and/or abstracts) and collections of published papers (including collections distributed from a single server or created through a collection of pointers that refer to versions posted by IEEE authors), may not be posted for electronic distribution without prior written permission from IEEE. Such permission will be contingent upon the placement of prominently displayed copyright and reuse notices. Another condition in granting permission will be that the posted collected work include a monitoring mechanism for authorizing access to the material and for the reporting of usage data.

    2.5 Personal Servers

    Authors and/or their companies shall have the right to post their IEEE-copyrighted material on their own servers without permission, provided that the server displays a prominent notice alerting readers to their obligations with respect to copyrighted material and that the posted work includes the IEEE copyright notice as shown in Section 2.2 above. An example of an acceptable notice is:

    This material is presented to ensure timely dissemination of scholarly and technical work. Copyright and all rights therein are retained by authors or by other copyright holders. All persons copying this information are expected to adhere to the terms and constraints invoked by each author's copyright. In most cases, these works may not be reposted without the explicit permission of the copyright holder.

    2.6 Classroom Use

    Instructors are free to post their own IEEE-copyrighted papers on their institution's servers, provided that appropriate copyright, credit, and reuse notices appear prominently with the posted material. Other electronic distribution of IEEE-copyrighted works on university servers may be done only with prior written permission from IEEE.

    2.7 Finality of Work

    After IEEE accepts the work for publication and the copyright has been transferred, IEEE will not allow changes or revisions to the work without further review and approval.

    2.8 Linking to IEEE

    The IEEE and many affiliated societies provide publication and society information via Internet servers. Links to society servers are encouraged and prior consent is not required.

    Sincerely,

    Bill Hagen, Manager
    IEEE Copyrights & Trademarks
    IEEE Service Center
    445 Hoes Lane
    Piscataway, NJ 08855-1331
    phone: 908 562 3966
    fax: 908 981 8062
    whagen@ieee.org

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