Springer Nature’s guide to licensing, copyright and author rights for journal articles.
Whether you're publishing your article via the open access (OA) or subscription model, this guide will help you understand the differences in licensing, the rights you retain as an author, and the permissions needed for various uses of your work.
Open access (OA) articles in Springer Nature journals are published under Creative Commons licences. These provide an industry-standard framework to support re-use of OA material. Details of the OA licences offered to authors can be found on our individual journal websites, and more information about Creative Commons licence terms is available in this guide and on the Creative Commons website.
Articles published under the subscription publishing model in Springer Nature journals have different terms of use.
Read on to learn more about how others can make use of your work, and your rights as an author.
All licences used by Springer Nature require that all authors and the article version is credited when anyone reuses your publication. This means you are always recognised for your work. Depending on the licence you choose for your publication, the rights that others have to share and reuse your work will vary.
The two main OA licences used by Springer Nature journals are:
Rights for reuse | CC BY | CC BY-NC-ND | Springer Nature Subscription licence |
Authors must be credited | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Available to anyone to read, print and download | Yes | Yes | For subscribers only |
Share, distribute or republish the final published work, in any medium or format | Yes | Yes; sharing for non-commercial purposes allowed | No |
Share derivative or adapted versions | Yes | No | No |
Sell or re-use the work for commercial purposes | Yes | No | No |
Here are some examples of reuse: | |||
Reuse portions or extracts in other works | Yes | Yes, only for non-commercial purposes | |
Text and data mine | Yes | Yes, with limitations on commercial/derivative use | Yes, for subscribers only |
| Translate the manuscript | Yes | Only for private, non-commercial use | Only for private, non-commercial use |
| Create an app based on the original work | Yes | No | No |
All Creative Commons licences require the licence to be referenced when sharing the content in whole or in part.
For more information about permissions and commercial reuse visit the Springer Nature Rights and Permissions guide.
Authors are advised to check their funder's open access (OA) requirements, to ensure compliance. Certain funders require grantees to publish with a specific OA licence. Check our list of funders with Creative Commons licence requirements, and learn more about funder OA requirements.
Where the costs of OA publication are covered by an institutional or funder OA agreement, the OA licence options available to authors may vary according to the agreement terms.
Journal authors employed by the US Government or the Crown (the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Canada or Australia), who require a non-standard licensing agreement, are able to select this upon acceptance, prior to publication.
If you, or part of your author group, are employees of the European Commission, or an intergovernmental organisation (such as the United Nations, IMF or World Bank) you may need an alternative agreement. All Springer Nature journals with an OA option offer intergovernmental organisation (IGO) versions of Creative Commons licences on request, where required by the author’s employer. Please contact our customer service team by email or chat.
Authors who have questions about changing the OA licence of their article post-publication should contact the Open Research Support Team at ORSupport@springernature.com with your Article’s title, DOI and journal name.
We believe that authors should retain copyright of their research manuscripts and receive clear credit for their work.
Springer Nature is committed to protecting our authors against infringement of intellectual property, while also considering the sensitivities and concerns of the research community. We achieve this by proactively identifying, monitoring and taking action against potential instances of infringement to ensure that any threats to the intellectual property rights of our authors are targeted, disrupted and, where possible, closed down.
Authors retain copyright of all OA articles published by Springer Nature. Authors publishing their articles OA will sign an OA licence to publish agreement (LTP), and grant non-exclusive rights to Springer Nature where a CC BY licence is selected, or exclusive commercial and derivative rights where CC BY-NC-ND is chosen.
The vast majority of Springer Nature journals do not require authors to transfer the copyright of their published contributions. In most cases, authors will sign a subscription licence agreement, granting Springer Nature an exclusive licence to publish the article.
For a small number of content types (for example review articles in selected journals) and for a small number of Springer Nature's society-owned journals, authors transfer copyright. By signing the Copyright Transfer Statement authors still retain substantial rights, such as self-archiving.
In addition to the use cases described in the Rights for reuse table above, authors also have additional rights to make use of their article. Unless otherwise specified, these use cases refer to reuse of the published version of record, in whole or in part.
Author rights | Springer Nature OA licence agreement - CC BY 4.0 | Springer Nature OA licence agreement - CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 | Springer Nature Subscription licence agreement |
Yes | Yes | Yes | |
Reuse their own material in new published works without permission or payment | Yes | Yes | Yes, see licensing agreement for details |
Reproduce their own work for the purpose of course teaching | Yes | Yes, for non-commercial purposes | Yes, for non-commercial purposes |
Reuse their work in a thesis written by the Author | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Reuse graphic elements in presentations and other works created by the Author | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Share the final published work with peers | Yes | Yes | Limited sharing for research and career advancement allowed |
Deposit a preprint of their original research manuscript | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Self-archive the accepted manuscript (AM) in an institution/funder repository | Yes | Yes, under the same terms as the licence applicable to the article | Yes, subject to SN’s self-archiving policy, embargo period and deposition terms |
For more information on the rights granted to authors and Springer Nature, you can view sample copies of the licence to publish (LTP) agreements currently in use for research articles published in Springer Nature-owned journals:
For more information about permissions and commercial reuse visit the Springer Nature Rights and Permissions guide.
