Copyright Statement
Statement Regarding University Depository
Universities may not summarily or unilaterally adopt a policy regarding copyright related to scholarly articles written by faculty members, other university employees, institutional contractors, students, employees of other institutions, or other persons that overrides the copyright ownership of Tob Regul Sci. Moreover, universities may not authorize others to exercise this same action or ones similar in nature or intent.
I understand that should the manuscript for which I am exercising authority to submit is accepted for publication by Tob Regul Sci, henceforth, Tob Regul Sci holds the copyright for that manuscript. Moreover, should said manuscript NOT be accepted for publication, I further understand that I retain all rights. The only copy that belongs to the authors and the university is the original submission to Tob Regul Sci. Because reviewers provide their expertise and comments solely on behalf of Tob Regul Sci, consequently, universities may not post the manuscript with changes made or recommended by peer reviewers. The final copy may not be archived as it belongs to the publisher; however, authors may archive the original (initial) submitted copy. Parties understand that there may be discrepancies between what is submitted and what is eventually published.
Tob Regul Sci affirms that universities view faculty manuscripts as they might view faculty patents – for materials produced at a university using university facilities and time, the university has a claim; legal authorities concur enough not to dispute infringement on copyright. Our position is that authors’ only legal claim is to the initial manuscript submission, NOT the manuscript that has undergone review, and incurred changes made by the publisher to improve the manuscript. Note that upon submission, authors are unable to submit or move forward in the online submission process until they tick the box that indicates they acknowledge and understand that copyright is relinquished to Tob Regul Sci upon acceptance for publication.
Regarding the final published portable document format (pdf) appearing online, authors may print it, share it with colleagues, and/or have it available for personal use and non-commercial research. However, due to copyright laws (copyright belonging to the publisher), authors may not use the pdf for profit, either directly or indirectly. Unauthorized use includes: (1) re-sale; (2) publication in other media (compilations, books, manuals, journals, and the like); (3) use for mass distribution by businesses, corporations or companies; (4) promotion of the funding for a study by any organization or group; (5) reproduction and distribution; (6) selling or licensing copies; or (7) posting on third-party websites such as Research Gate, a university repository website, personal website, or organizational website. Thus, the pdf only may be used by authors for personal and professional use, and NOT for mass distribution. Permissions for such use may be authorized under some circumstances by the publisher (PNG Publications) if requested in writing, and may incur fee(s) to be determined solely by the publisher. One example of educational use is to place on library reserve as a reading for an online class, which upon the end of the class must be removed immediately.
In the event of violation of copyright agreed upon during the submission process, Tob Regul Sci reserves the right to withdraw the limited use of the pdf and to pursue copyright infringement to the full extent of the law. Moreover, depending on the situation, the publisher reserves the right to remove the manuscript from its storage base (online listing), delete it from its files and the Internet, and prohibit future publications submitted by persons from or on behalf of the university.
Tob Regul Sci offers an Open Access (OA) option where, for a fee, authors retain copyright. Should the authors select OA, the manuscript is listed online free of charge for anyone to download. OA generally refers to “manuscripts freely available to the public via the Internet” and allows anyone to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full text of article anywhere and at any time as the author retains the copyright and is not surrendered to the publisher. All of these actions are allowable under the OA option without financial, legal, or technical barriers other than those inseparable from gaining access to the Internet itself. Also, authors who have purchased the OA option can, if they qualify, deposit their FULL manuscript at PubMed Central without adhering to the typical 12-month publisher embargo. This specific embargo of 12-months applies only to PubMed Central.
Outside of PubMed Central being the exception, Tob Regul Sci does not allow posting of articles within the first 2 years of publication anywhere. However, after a 2-year embargo from date of online publication (not the date of submission or acceptance), all non-OA publications become available for archiving by universities. This is a mandatory requirement of publication, as the publisher could not secure journal subscriptions or sales of articles if manuscripts were obtained without charge through universities repositories.
Authors and university officials must understand that publishers incur considerable expenses in the process of receiving, reviewing, editing, publishing, and perpetually hosting a manuscript. Publishers recoup some of these costs through a journal subscription process and sales of articles in the first year after manuscripts are published. By choosing the OA option, authors enable waiver of some of these expenses otherwise incurred by the publisher.