Guidance - Publication of Articles written by Ministers and Civil Servants in Journals and Conference Proceedings
Updated 19/12/2008
Introduction
We aim to provide a fast and streamlined process to enable the publication of Crown copyright articles and presentations with the minimum of administration. The authors will, in most cases, be either a minister or a civil servant.
For ease of reference the term ’article’ in this guidance means articles and presentations.
All government departments and agencies have delegated authority from the Controller of HMSO/Queen’s Printer for Scotland to authorise the first publication of Crown copyright information.
What is covered?
This covers the circumstances where:
- a government department or agency wishes to submit an article for publication in a journal or similar publication;
- a publisher asks an author to prepare an article for publication;
- a minister or a civil servant gives a presentation at a conference or seminar and the conference organiser wishes to publish the text of the presentation in the conference proceedings.
In the majority of cases the article in question would not have been previously published. Any subsequent re-use of previously published articles would be covered under the terms of the PSI Click-Use Licence.
It does not cover re-use of departmental logos and the Royal Arms.
What is the Process?
Before the article is published you must obtain consent from:
a) the author; and
b) the head of the department or division concerned who needs to confirm that the article is consistent with departmental policy and may be published.
For articles written by a minister, clearance from the Minister’s Private Office will suffice.
We have produced a sample licence that can be used for obtaining the appropriate clearance. See Annex A (Word - 45 kb).
What you are allowed to do?
You are allowed to:
- publish the article in any format throughout the world;
- sub-license your customers to access the articles in the context of digital products and services;
- authorise the inclusion of the articles in collective licensing schemes such as that operated by the Copyright Licensing Agency;
- authorise the articles to be included as part of document delivery, abstracting and indexing services;
What do you need to do?
You may publish articles provided that:
- you obtain the consent of the author and the originating department;
- you acknowledge the author, the originating department and the copyright.
- they are not published for the purpose of advertising or promoting a particular product or service;
- you reproduce them accurately and do not amend them without obtaining the author’s approval.
You should also send one copy of the published article to the author on publication.