Copyright Information

Transfer of Copyright

Upon submission to a Human Kinetics journal, authors must complete a copyright transfer form to be submitted along with the manuscript. Copyright is thereby transferred to Human Kinetics effective if and when the article is accepted for publication in the journal. This transfer of copyright gives Human Kinetics the exclusive, assignable, and sublicensable right, unlimited in time and territory, to reproduce, publish, distribute, transmit, make available, and store the article, including abstracts thereof, in all forms of media of expression now known or developed in the future. Those forms include, but are not limited to, publication in the journal’s Ahead of Print and final online versions on the journal’s website and in any and all online databases, as well as the journal's print version. These rights encompass the article in its entirety, including original tables, figures, and any supplementary material that may be part of the final published article. (For authors who are employees of the U.S. Government, the transfer of copyright is understood to be effective only to the extent that such copyright is transferable.) The authors explicitly reserve the following rights:

• All proprietary rights other than copyright, such as patent rights.
• The right to use all or part of the accepted manuscript (i.e., the version of the manuscript that has been through peer review and accepted by a journal editor for publication), including original figures and tables, in future works of their own, provided explicit acknowledgment is made of the initial appearance in the journal.
• The right to make copies for their own teaching use.
• The right to post an electronic version of the accepted manuscript (i.e., the version of the manuscript that has been through peer review and accepted by a journal editor for publication) on the authors' own website or website(s) or other electronic repositories controlled by the authors' institution, provided that the electronic version is in PDF or other image capturing format. Posting to academic social networks is also permitted in this form. The posted version must contain an acknowledgment that follows our preferred format (review this page further for preferred format).

Authors of manuscripts accepted for publication must transfer copyright to Human Kinetics unless the author has chosen to have the article published Open Access (learn more here) with a Creative Commons license. The full transfer of copyright form can be downloaded from the Human Kinetics ScholarOne submission site for the specific journal.

Permission Information

Using Copyrighted Information

From a Human Kinetics Publication
Requests for permission to reproduce material from a Human Kinetics publication should be submitted through the Copyright Clearance Center. To request permission for an article's content, click the Get Permissions button from the article's web page. Alternatively, you may directly visit www.copyright.com. For additional support, contact permissions@hkusa.com.

There are certain circumstances under which Human Kinetics journal authors are not required to seek permission to reuse their own work. To learn more about these circumstances, as well as other permission conditions, please review the information below.

For Information Submitted to a Human Kinetics Publication
If a manuscript submission contains any previously published material (table, figure, or a quote of more than 200 words from a book or more than 5% of an article), the author (not Human Kinetics) must obtain written permission (for print and electronic rights, in the English language, for worldwide distribution) from the original publisher (or other copyright holder, if the publisher does not own or control the copyright) to reprint or adapt the material and pay any associated fees. Such documentation should be obtained before submission and must be received by Human Kinetics before the work can be published.

Permission FAQs

. . . for Authors

In which ways may authors of a manuscript published in a Human Kinetics journal reuse their manuscript without first seeking permission from Human Kinetics?
With proper acknowledgment, authors may reuse all or part of their accepted manuscript in the following ways without first seeking permission:

• Printed copies for their own lectures and teaching use
• In future noncommercial works of their own, such as a thesis or dissertation

Which version of an author’s manuscript does Human Kinetics describe with the phrase “accepted manuscript”?
The accepted manuscript is the version of the manuscript that has been through peer review and accepted by a journal editor for publication. It is not the final published version.

Are authors permitted to post their dissertation on ProQuest when the dissertation includes all or part of their accepted manuscript?
Yes, authors may post dissertations that include all or part of their accepted manuscript as long as the manuscript has been published; proper acknowledgment is made of its initial appearance in the journal; and the manuscript is in PDF or other image capturing format.

Are authors permitted to post a version of their manuscript on their own website or on websites/other electronic repositories controlled by their academic institution?
Yes, with proper acknowledgment (details below), authors may post their accepted manuscript on their own website or on websites/other electronic repositories controlled by their academic institution as long as the article has been published (either as Ahead of Print or in final form) and the manuscript is in PDF or other image capturing format.

Are authors permitted to post a version of their manuscript on academic social networks (e.g., Academia.edu, ResearchGate, Mendeley) after publication?
Yes, with proper acknowledgment (details below), authors may post their accepted manuscript on such sites as long as the article has been published (either as Ahead of Print or in final form) and the manuscript is in PDF or other image capturing format.

What is the proper format for acknowledgment?
The format of the acknowledgment depends on whether the manuscript is published or unpublished. If published, it depends on whether it is Ahead of Print or formally published in an issue of the journal.

Manuscript has been accepted but not published:
Accepted author manuscript version reprinted, by permission, from [Journal Title], [year] (ahead of print). © Human Kinetics, Inc. [or copyright notice shown in journal, if different]

Manuscript has been published online as Ahead of Print:
Accepted author manuscript version reprinted, by permission, from [Journal Title], [year], https://doi.org/[doi-number]. © Human Kinetics, Inc. [or other copyright notice shown in journal, if different]

Manuscript has been published in a journal issue:
Accepted author manuscript version reprinted, by permission, from [Journal Title, year, volume (issue): pp-pp, https://doi.org/[doi-number]. © Human Kinetics, Inc. [or other copyright notice shown in journal, if different]

May authors reuse all or part of their article, including figures and tables, in a book chapter or edited collection without first seeking permission?
No, permission is required for that use and it should be sought by the author, editor, or publisher of the new work. Permission can be requested through the Copyright Clearance Center (www.copyright.com OR click the Get Permissions button from an article's web page).

Do authors need to seek permission before submitting their manuscript to PubMed Central as required by the NIH Public Access Policy for publications from funded projects?
No. Human Kinetics allows authors to submit the accepted version of their files as required by NIH policy. Please note that Human Kinetics does not have an agreement with PubMed Central, meaning that Human Kinetics cannot deposit articles to PubMed Central on behalf of authors. However, authors can ensure compliance with their funding agencies by self-archiving with PubMed Central (see NIH Public Access Policy). 

Is there an embargo period authors need to observe when archiving/depositing their article (when archival/deposit is required by funders/institutions)?
No. Human Kinetics does not currently impose an embargo.

. . . for Nonauthors

Does an educational institution need to seek permission before it can include links to abstracts of Human Kinetics' journal articles in material that will be shared with students, faculty, or alumni for educational purposes?
No. Educational institutions are free to share links to abstracts of journal articles under those circumstances. 

What is Human Kinetics’ policy in regard to interlibrary loan?
Subscribing institutions may fulfill interlibrary loan requests via fax, scan, print delivery, or by sharing a PDF of the article from the publisher’s site, provided such fulfillment is not performed at such a frequency that it substitutes for a subscription on the part of the receiver.

May I make print copies of an article for students registered in my course?
Articles published by Human Kinetics Journals may be copied for classroom purposes only if the instructor remains an authorized user of the journal per his/her institution's subscription.

May I send a PDF copy of an article to my students as an attachment?
Sending a PDF copy of a journal article via email is discouraged, as the PDF could easily be forwarded to unauthorized users, which violates the copyright. Rather, the article's DOI hyperlink should be distributed, so that only authorized users (i.e., those with a personal or institutional subscription) gain access.

May I share a PDF of an article with a colleague for academic or research purposes only?
Electronic versions of articles, such as a PDF, should not be shared with colleagues. Rather, the article's DOI hyperlink should be shared, so that only authorized users (i.e., those with a personal or institutional subscription) gain access.

I don’t see my copyright or permission-related question here. Who can I ask?
Please send an e-mail to permissions@hkusa.com requesting assistance.