Copyright and License

Last Updated: October 2026

ETFLIN supports open scholarly communication through clear copyright ownership, transparent licensing, and responsible reuse of published research. This policy explains who retains copyright in published articles, the permissions granted to ETFLIN, the license governing reuse of published content, authors' rights to reuse and deposit their work, and the treatment of third-party materials.

The policy is intended to ensure that authors, readers, repositories, educational institutions, researchers, and other users can determine which rights apply to published content and what permissions are necessary for reuse.

ETFLIN follows an author-retention model of copyright. Authors retain copyright in their published articles and do not transfer copyright ownership to ETFLIN as a condition of publication, subject to any applicable rights held by employers, institutions, co-owners, or other rights holders under relevant law or contractual arrangements.

As a condition of publication, the authors or other relevant rights holders authorize ETFLIN to publish and distribute the accepted work and grant the publisher the non-exclusive, royalty-free, perpetual, and worldwide publishing rights necessary to make the article available, reproduce and distribute it, create and maintain publication records, and support its dissemination through relevant scholarly infrastructure.

This arrangement allows ETFLIN to publish and maintain the official version of an article without acquiring exclusive ownership of its copyright. Authors retain their copyright while granting the permissions necessary for the journal to publish the work and make it available under the applicable license.

Authors must have the legal authority to grant these rights. Where an employer, institution, funder, or another party has an applicable claim to copyright or publication rights, authors must resolve the relevant permissions before publication. ETFLIN does not automatically assume that every author has unrestricted ownership of material created in the course of employment or under a specific contractual arrangement.

Copyright in ETFLIN's publisher materials remains with ETFLIN or the relevant rights holders, as applicable. Such materials may include journal logos, trademarks, branding, website design elements, proprietary graphics, editorial templates, website content, software components, and other materials that are not part of an individual published article.

The Creative Commons license applied to a published article does not automatically extend to ETFLIN's website, branding, trademarks, software, or other independent publisher materials.

Some components of the publishing platform or website may be owned by third parties or distributed under separate licenses. Their use is governed by the terms applicable to those materials.

Reuse of ETFLIN's protected publisher materials outside the scope of an applicable license or legal exception requires appropriate authorization from the relevant rights holder.

License for Published Articles

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International

Unless an article's publication record explicitly identifies a different applicable license, articles published by ETFLIN are distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license (CC BY 4.0).

CC BY 4.0 permits users to copy, redistribute, share, translate, adapt, transform, and build upon the licensed material for any purpose, including commercial purposes, provided that the applicable license conditions are followed.

The license is intended to facilitate the dissemination and reuse of scholarly research while preserving appropriate attribution to the original work. Its conditions include appropriate credit, a link to the license, and an indication of whether changes have been made. Reuse must not imply that the original authors, ETFLIN, or another credited party endorses the reuse or the user.

The complete legal terms are available in the CC BY 4.0 legal code. Where a summary of the license differs from its legal terms, the applicable legal code governs the interpretation of the license.

Commercial and Adapted Reuse

CC BY 4.0 permits commercial and non-commercial reuse alike. Accordingly, users may reproduce or adapt an article for educational, research, professional, commercial, or other lawful purposes without obtaining separate permission from ETFLIN, provided that their use complies with the license and does not exceed the rights granted by the relevant copyright holders.

Authors cannot impose an additional non-commercial restriction on an article already published under CC BY 4.0 merely by adding a statement to the Acknowledgments section or another part of the article. Such a restriction would conflict with the permissions granted under the standard license.

If a different license is to apply to a particular article, the applicable arrangement must be established before publication and clearly identified in the article's publication record. A different license must not be implied through informal wording that contradicts an explicitly stated CC BY 4.0 license.

The rights granted by CC BY 4.0 remain available to users who comply with its conditions. ETFLIN will not treat legitimate commercial reuse of material covered by CC BY 4.0 as unauthorized solely because the reuse is commercial.

Attribution Requirements for Reuse

Anyone reusing material distributed under CC BY 4.0 must provide appropriate attribution in a reasonable manner suitable for the medium and context.

Attribution should include the following information where applicable and reasonably available:

  • The name of the original author or authors.

  • The title of the work.

  • The journal or original source and a DOI or other stable link where available.

  • A link to the applicable CC BY 4.0 license.

  • An indication of whether the material has been modified.

A reuse statement may take the following form:

"Adapted from [Article Title] by [Author(s)], published in [Journal Name], [Year], [DOI or URL], under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license (CC BY 4.0). Changes have been made to the original material."

The example is illustrative rather than a mandatory citation format. Users may adapt the attribution format to the medium in which the material is reused, provided that the information required by the license is preserved.

If an article is translated, redrawn, modified, excerpted, or incorporated into another work, the reuse should identify that a change has occurred. The attribution must not present modified material as an exact reproduction of the original where that would mislead readers.

Attribution does not require the original authors or publisher to endorse the new work. Users must not imply such endorsement unless separate authorization has been obtained.

No Additional Restrictions

Users must not impose legal terms or effective technological measures that prevent others from exercising the permissions granted under CC BY 4.0.

For example, a person who redistributes an article under this license must not represent the redistributed material as being subject to a new restriction that prohibits commercial reuse when such reuse is permitted by the original license.

A person may apply a separate license to original material they contribute to an adaptation, provided that this does not restrict others from exercising the rights granted in the original CC BY-licensed material.

Nothing in this policy removes rights or exceptions that may apply independently under copyright law. CC BY 4.0 grants only the rights that the relevant licensor has authority to grant. Other rights, including applicable privacy, publicity, moral, trademark, or patent rights, may require separate consideration or authorization. These limitations are explained in the official Creative Commons license terms.

Third-Party Materials and Rights Clearance

Materials Not Owned by the Authors

An article may contain third-party materials such as photographs, illustrations, maps, diagrams, previously published figures, tables, long excerpts, or other content that the authors do not own.

Authors are responsible for determining whether each third-party element may legally be included in the submitted manuscript and whether permission or another valid legal basis is required.

The CC BY 4.0 license applied to the published article does not automatically grant rights in third-party materials that are separately owned or licensed. A third-party image included in an article, for example, must not be assumed to be reusable under CC BY 4.0 if its copyright belongs to another party and the material has been excluded from the article's license.

Permission and License Verification

Where permission is required, it must be obtained from the appropriate rights holder before publication. Authors must retain evidence of the relevant permission and provide documentation to ETFLIN when requested.

Authors should verify that the permission covers the intended publication and distribution, including the online publication of the article and the applicable open-access license where relevant.

A permission to reproduce an image in a conventional journal article does not necessarily authorize unrestricted redistribution or adaptation under CC BY 4.0. Where the rights holder does not permit the intended licensing arrangement, the material must be replaced, omitted, appropriately restricted, or handled through another arrangement approved by the editorial office.

Materials available online are not automatically free to reuse. Authors must assess the applicable copyright notice, license, and permission requirements before including such content in a manuscript.

Identification of Excluded Materials

Where third-party content is not covered by the article's CC BY 4.0 license, the exclusion must be clearly identified in the published article or an associated credit line.

A suitable notice may state:

"Third-party material identified in this figure is excluded from the article's Creative Commons license. Permission must be obtained from the relevant rights holder for uses not otherwise permitted by law."

The wording should be adjusted to identify the relevant material and rights holder where appropriate. The notice must make it possible for readers to distinguish the article content covered by CC BY 4.0 from material subject to different terms.

If the applicable rights cannot be established or the intended reuse would exceed the available permissions, ETFLIN may request additional documentation or require the material to be removed or replaced before publication.

Responsibility for Rights Clearance

Authors are responsible for securing permissions and ensuring that third-party content is properly attributed and licensed. ETFLIN's editorial assessment or publication of the article does not constitute independent legal certification that every included element is free from third-party claims.

Authors must provide accurate information about the origin and licensing status of third-party material. Where uncertainty remains, the material should not be presented as though it is automatically covered by the article's license.

This policy concerns copyright and licensing permissions. Questions regarding the ethical acceptability of images, participant confidentiality, or research consent remain subject to the applicable requirements governing the submitted research.

Authors' Rights and Reuse of Their Work

Reuse by Authors

Because authors retain copyright, they may reuse their own published work for legitimate scholarly and professional purposes, subject to their applicable rights and the terms governing the publication.

Authors may incorporate their work into teaching materials, lectures, presentations, theses, dissertations, books, institutional repositories, subsequent research, or other scholarly outputs without seeking a separate reuse license from ETFLIN, provided that they have the necessary rights to the material being reused.

Authors should ensure that the original publication is appropriately acknowledged and that readers can identify the official version of the article. Where applicable, the citation should include the DOI or stable link to the published article.

The reuse of an author's own article does not automatically grant permission to reuse third-party material embedded in it. Images, figures, tables, or other content excluded from the article's license remain subject to the relevant third-party rights.

Self-Archiving and Repository Deposit

ETFLIN imposes no embargo on authors' self-archiving of their work. Authors may deposit the preprint, accepted manuscript, or final Version of Record in institutional repositories, subject repositories, or other appropriate platforms at any time, subject to their authority to distribute the relevant material and any applicable third-party rights.

Authors should include the publication details and, once available, a link to the official ETFLIN publication. This helps readers identify the authoritative published version and supports accurate citation and discovery.

The CC BY 4.0 notice attached to the Version of Record applies to the material covered by that published license. The licensing status of a preprint or another earlier version may depend on the terms under which that version was originally shared. Publication by ETFLIN does not automatically retroactively apply the Version of Record's license to every independently distributed version of the work.

Depositing a manuscript does not remove the author's responsibility to respect applicable copyright, permissions, and data-use restrictions. Repository preservation infrastructure and technical archiving arrangements are described separately in ETFLIN's Archiving Policy.

Republishing and Reuse in Other Publications

Authors may reuse their own work in subsequent publications, subject to the relevant copyright, attribution, originality, and publication requirements.

Where material is reproduced substantially or verbatim, the source should be acknowledged clearly so that readers can distinguish the earlier publication from the new contribution. Authors must avoid presenting previously published content as new material where doing so would mislead readers about the originality or scope of the new work.

Reuse rights do not exempt an author from disclosure obligations or from any applicable requirements concerning duplicate publication, redundant reporting, or the originality of a new submission.

License Identification and Publication Metadata

ETFLIN aims to make the applicable license easy to identify on the article landing page and in the published full-text files.

For articles published under CC BY 4.0, the license name and a link to the official license terms should be displayed clearly. The license information should be consistent across the article page, PDF or HTML publication, and associated publication metadata wherever supported.

Where license metadata are registered with Crossref or another scholarly infrastructure provider, the license URL and related information must accurately reflect the license governing the relevant content and version. Crossref recommends using active, verified license URLs and keeping license metadata accurate and up to date in its license metadata best practices.

If an article is subject to a different license under an explicitly established arrangement, the applicable license must be identified clearly and consistently rather than inferred from a general policy or acknowledgment.

ETFLIN may update license information when a material error is identified. Such updates must accurately reflect the rights applicable to the article and must not be used to misrepresent or silently change the licensing status of previously published content.

Requests for Permission

Material covered by CC BY 4.0 may generally be reused without requesting separate permission from ETFLIN, provided that the applicable license terms are followed.

Permission may still be necessary for content outside the scope of the article's license, including excluded third-party materials, protected publisher branding, trademarks, or other material whose reuse is not covered by the applicable license.

Requests concerning ETFLIN-owned materials or content for which additional authorization is required should identify the material, the intended use, and the context in which the material will be reproduced or adapted. ETFLIN will assess such requests according to the applicable rights and licensing arrangements.

Reporting Suspected Infringement

A person who believes that material published or distributed by ETFLIN infringes their copyright or other applicable rights may contact halo@etflin.com.

The report should identify the material concerned, provide the original source or evidence of ownership where available, identify the allegedly infringing use, and explain the basis for the claim. ETFLIN may request additional information before determining the appropriate response.

The publisher will assess the report and may contact the relevant parties for clarification. Depending on the circumstances, the response may include correcting an attribution, clarifying a license notice, requesting additional permission, restricting or removing material where justified, or taking other appropriate action.

The existence of a commercial use, adaptation, translation, or redistribution of a CC BY 4.0 article is not, by itself, evidence of infringement. The relevant question is whether the use falls within the permissions granted by the license and whether its conditions have been satisfied.

Review and Proportionate Action

ETFLIN will assess alleged copyright or licensing violations according to the rights involved, the nature of the alleged conduct, the available evidence, and any explanation provided by the relevant parties.

Where a problem can be resolved by restoring attribution, correcting a license notice, or obtaining appropriate permission, the journal or publisher may request the necessary correction. More serious cases may require restriction or removal of the affected content, formal notice, or other appropriate legal or administrative measures.

Actions must be proportionate to the established issue. ETFLIN will not classify lawful commercial reuse under CC BY 4.0 as unauthorized solely because the reuse is commercial. Nor will a claim of copyright infringement be treated as established merely because it has been submitted.

This procedure concerns copyright and licensing matters. Allegations involving plagiarism, fabricated scholarship, or other research integrity concerns may require separate assessment under the relevant publication ethics procedures.

Policy Review

ETFLIN will periodically review this policy to maintain consistency with the Creative Commons license terms, recognized open-access publishing practices, and the publishing rights granted by authors.

Material changes to copyright ownership, article licensing, self-archiving permissions, or reuse conditions will be reflected in the published policy and in the relevant article-level licensing information where applicable.

Questions concerning copyright, licensing, or reuse of ETFLIN materials may be directed to halo@etflin.com.