Obtaining Copyright Permission
The information on this site and from the Office of Scholarly Communication and Publishing at the University Library System is not legal advice and is provided for informational purposes only. The Office of Scholarly Communication and Publishing is not counsel to any members of the Pitt community.

Clicking this link will take you to a Copyright Clearance Center page where you can input some basic information. This form will generate a price for your re-use and a license statement that you can print out or save for your records. For a full illustration, watch the video below.
Elsevier, Sage, and Wolters Kluwer (including Lippincot Williams & Wilkins), Taylor & Francis:
If you are the author of an article published by Elsevier or Sage you may not be able to use the Copyright Clearance Center to obtain the necessary permissions. These publishers will only grant you permission to re-use your content non-commercially and the University of Pittsburgh requires you to deposit your ETD with ProQuest Dissertation and Theses. You will need to use the Elsevier Permissions Request Form or the Sage Permissions Portal in order obtain the necessary permissions. For Wolters Kluwer please email them at permissions@lww.com or the contact listed for the individual publication
You will want to include the following language along with your permissions request:
D-scholarship@Pitt is the institutional repository for the University of Pittsburgh, and the repository of record for University of Pittsburgh ETDs. Pitt relies on ProQuest for preservation of theses and dissertations. They are our provider of microfiche for our Archives & Special Collections copies and they also steward multiple redundant electronic copies of each document.
Elsevier's form is now limited to 300 characters please consider using the following shorter language:
D-scholarship@Pitt is the institutional repository for the University of Pittsburgh. Pitt relies on ProQuest for preservation of theses and dissertations. They are our provider of microfiche for our Archival copies and they also steward multiple redundant electronic copies of each document.
If you can't find a form and need to send an e-mail or make a phone call, feel free to use our permissions templates below.
Templates
- Introduction / start of the call.
- "Hello, my name is [...] and I am a graduate student at the University of Pittsburgh working on my dissertation. I am calling today to inquire about permissions to reproduce materials in one of your articles for my dissertation, which will be published and distributed by ProQuest."
- Give them the information needed.
- Hopefully the person will tell you what information they need, and you can read that information from your citation.
- Alternatively, they may direct you to a website or offer to send you an e-mail with permissions information.
- If they do this, ask for THEIR e-mail address so that you can look for their e-mail soon and follow up if you have any questions.
- Ask how much it will cost to re-use this material.
- "Just one more question, will there be any cost for granting this permission?"
- It should be free. If they try to charge you for it, use these responses:
- "I apologize, but can I clarify that this will be used in a dissertation and I will not profit from this in any way. Is there any way to reduce that charge?"
- "I am a graduate student with no external funding for this work, and will not profit from this venture. Is there any way that you can grant me permission without a fee?"
- If they insist, say "Please go ahead and send me the information by e-mail [give your e-mail address if necessary], and let me consult with my advisor about my options." Then contact us for help and alternative options.