The permissions question

The “additional information” page was set up as an adjunct to the copyright transfer form to prompt authors to think about materials included in the manuscript.

Please list below any items for which permission to reprint is necessary and has been obtained. If there are no copyrighted materials reprinted in whole or in part in the article, please indicate this.

Items that require permission to reprint include information models, survey instruments, materials from previously published sources that are copied exactly in the article (such as a figure or table), and may include screen shots and artwork from Web sites or software applications.

If, for example, you base research on a published model, and you include a graphic of that model in the article, you are required to contact the copyright holder for permission to use the graphic.

Permissions are also required to adapt materials for articles. If you base research on a version of a model or survey that you modified for your work, you are required to seek permission to adapt before submitting an article.

Text sources (such as quoted materials from books or articles) should not cover more than a few paragraphs (no more than 10 percent of the source). A reference citation in the text, with page numbers, should clearly indicate the exact location of the original material in the source, as specified in the CIN Information for Authors Revised 2011 (PDF).

Other materials that may require permission are use of facility names, unpublished oral and written communications, and in-house software applications, particularly if the article includes screen shots.

For example, if you are an informatics nurse at High-Tech Regional Hospital, and you participate in and write an article about a project that was conducted at the hospital, you may wish to contact hospital administration to see if approval is required to write about the facility.

Similarly, when you quote an unpublished oral or written communication, it is a good policy to ask permission to include the communication in your article.

Although CIN does not require written permission for such uses,  it is a professional courtesy and may prevent future problems.

When you sign the copyright transfer form you certify that all the work in the article is your own. The publisher, who retains copyright to the published work, is excused from liability in the matter.

If an author uses a previously copyrighted item without obtaining permission and the original copyright holder objects to it, the author is fully liable for the infringement.

Please be aware that CIN does not publish in APA format, and therefore APA guidance as to required permissions does not apply to the journal.