The U.S. Copyright Act of 1976 specifies, in Section 107, the terms of the Fair Use exception:
Notwithstanding the provisions of sections 106 and 106A, the fair use of a copyrighted work, including such use by reproduction in copies or phonorecords or by any other means specified by that section, for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright. In determining whether the use made of a work in any particular case is a fair use the factors to be considered shall include:
- the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes;
- the nature of the copyrighted work;
- the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; &
- the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.
The fact that a work is unpublished shall not itself bar a finding of fair use if such finding is made upon consideration of all the above factors.
In accord with these provisions, CSSC believes in the vigorous assertion and defense of Fair Use by scholars engaged in academic research, teaching and non-commercial publishing. Thus, we view the inclusion of “quotations” from existing print, visual, audio and audio-visual texts to be appropriate examples of Fair Use, as are reproductions of visual images for the purpose of scholarly analysis.
We encourage authors to obtain appropriate permissions to use materials originally produced by others, but do not require such permissions as long as the usage of such materials falls within the boundaries of Fair Use. It is the author’s responsibility to ensure that permissions are obtained to use materials originally produced by others that fall outside the scope of Fair Use and to include these permissions in a manuscript submission to CSSC.
Authors are also responsible for:
- the accuracy and quality of their research procedures and written submissions;
- the appropriate citation of supporting sources;
- the ethical execution of research involving human subjects;
- the disclosure of financial support and conflicts of interest;
- the acknowledgment of any co-authors and those who made significant contributions to the authoring of the manuscript, as well as their consent to publish the manuscript;
- avoiding defamatory statements and unsupported attacks on a person or organization’s integrity; and
- the compliance with any pre-existing agreements between them and any organization discussed in the manuscript, such as employment agreements or non-disclosure agreements.