About APAAPA Copyright and Permissions Information
APA Permissions Policy
1. Permission Is Required for …
2. Permissions Not Granted
3. Permission is Not Required for …
4. Requirement for Attribution and Credit
5. Permission From Authors
6. Permissions for Electronic Reproductions of APA Content
7. How to Seek Permission
8. Original Material
9. STM Permission Guidelines
APA supports the dissemination of information to aid in the development of science and scholarly research. APA also values and respects its own intellectual property as well as the intellectual property of others. As a result, APA believes it is essential for publishers of scholarly and other proprietary material to develop an efficient and consistent system, based on mutual trust, for granting permissions for both electronic and print publication of proprietary works. Therefore, APA adopts the following guidelines for the use of APA copyrighted content.
1. Permission Is Required for the Following:
- A measure, scale, or instrument
- A video
- Full articles or book chapters
- Single text extracts of more than 400 words
- Series of text extracts that total more than 800 words
- More than three figures or tables from any one journal article
- More than three figures or tables from any one book chapter
- Placement of an abstract of a journal article in a database for subsequent redistribution
- Reuse of content from the public APA web site unless there is a copyright notice on that material stating otherwise
- Content essential to the character of the previously published book or article, when reuse could compromise the sale of the APA publication. Examples include complex illustrations, cartoons, maps, works of art, creative photographs.
This list is illustrative rather than exhaustive.
APA will not grant permission for use of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association or any portion of the Manual with the exception of the 'Guidelines to Reduce Bias in Language,' which appears on pages 61–76 in the fifth edition and on pages 71-77 in the sixth edition. Nor will APA grant permission for use of any products derived from the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, the APA Dictionary of Psychology and derivative products, or publications from Magination Press.
3. Permission is Not Required for the Following:
- A maximum of three figures or tables from a journal article or book chapter
- Single text extracts of less than 400 words
- Series of text extracts that total less than 800 words
No formal requests to APA or the author are required for the items in this clause.
4. Requirement for Attribution and Credit
APA requires that full credit be given to the author(s) and APA of the material(s) reused. That credit should include the following:
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For material republished from books: author, title, edition, publisher, city, copyright year, and "reprinted [or adapted] with permission."
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For material republished from journal articles: author, title of article, title of journal, volume number, issue number (if relevant), page range (or first page if this is the only information available), date, APA as publisher, and "reprinted [or adapted] with permission."
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The following language should be added to the credit line for versions translated from the English: "APA is not responsible for the accuracy of this translation".
- When formal APA permission is required to reprint, APA requires that author permission also be obtained. APA does not assist in this effort.
- In the case of multiple authorship, only one author's permission is required.
In most cases, if a good faith effort is demonstrated and the author cannot be contacted, APA will grant permission on its sole authority.
6. Permissions for Electronic Reproductions of APA Content
- When APA grants permission for use of APA content in print, APA will also grant permission for use in an electronic version of the same article or chapter.
- The requesting party should indicate the medium or media in which the APA content will be used at the time of the request.
- APA expects that other publishers will provide reciprocal permissions, granting permission for both print and electronic reproduction.
- APA does not generally grant permission for any use of APA scholarly content on the public Internet or in electronic mailing list.
- APA has partnered with the Copyright Clearance Center to provide a web-based permission service using Rightslink®. This service offers users the opportunity to obtain permission to reuse APA book and journal copyrighted materials quickly, easily, and legally.
To use Rightslink locate the journal article or book title you want to use on the APA web site. Then click the Permissions link associated with that item. The majority of requests to use APA copyrighted content will be processed through Rightslink.
It is the requesting party's responsibility to ensure that the material is original to APA and that it was not reprinted with permission from a non-APA source.
APA is a signator to STM Permission Guidelines.
In adopting these guidelines, APA seeks to facilitate the exchange of scholarly and professional information. At the same time, APA maintains full authority for protecting and setting policy for works copyrighted by APA.