Copyright and Creative Commons

SpringerOpen journals

• Copyright on any research article in a SpringerOpen journal is retained by the author(s).
• Authors grant Springer a license to publish the article and identify Springer as the original publisher.
• Authors also grant any third party the right to use the article freely as long as its integrity is maintained and its original authors, citation details and publisher are identified.
• The SpringerOpen Copyright and License Agreement (identical to the Creative Commons Attribution License) formalizes these and other terms and conditions of publishing research articles.

SpringerOpen books

• Copyright on any SpringerOpen book is retained by the author(s).
• Authors grant Springer a license to publish the book and identify Springer as the original publisher.
• Authors also grant any third party the right to use the book for non-commercial purposes as long as its integrity is maintained and its original authors, citation details and publisher are identified.
• The Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial (CC BY-NC) license) formalizes these and other terms and conditions of publishing SpringerOpen books.

Authors' certification

In publishing with SpringerOpen authors are requested to certify that:

They are authorized by their co-authors to enter into these arrangements.

They warrant, on behalf of themselves and their co-authors, that:

• the content is original, has not been formally published, is not under consideration and does not infringe any existing copyright or any other third party rights;
• they are the sole author(s) and have full authority to enter into this agreement and in granting rights to SpringerOpen are not in breach of any other obligation. If the law requires that the content be published in the public domain, they will notify SpringerOpen at the time of submission;
• the publication contains nothing that is unlawful, libellous, or which would, if published, constitute a breach of contract or of confidence or of commitment given to secrecy;
• they have taken due care to ensure the integrity of the publication. To their - and currently accepted scientific - knowledge all statements contained in it purporting to be facts are true and any formula or instruction contained in the article will not, if followed accurately, cause any injury, illness or damage to the user.