Obtaining Image Permissions

This section is meant for authors of ASCSA monographs and Hesperia articles using images copyrighted by other parties. For permission to use images produced by the ASCSA, click here.

Author Responsibilities

All use of either unpublished or published works requires permission from the copyright holder. Authors are responsible for obtaining permission to reproduce copyrighted material. The cost of obtaining permissions is the responsibility of the author. A manuscript will not be scheduled for production by ASCSA Publications until all copyright permissions have been received from the author and approved by the ASCSA’s Publications Office.

Please be aware of the following:

• Permission to publish a previously published image must be secured in writing from the publisher.
• Permission to publish a previously unpublished image must be secured in writing from the image’s rights holder.
• Permission to publish a previously unpublished ASCSA image must be secured in writing from the relevant ASCSA department or excavation (details here).
• Permission to publish anything photographed in a Greek museum by the author must be secured in writing from the museum.
• Permission to publish an image that an author produced on behalf of an ASCSA excavation/survey (affiliated or otherwise) during the course of working on that excavation/survey (if the image was not produced as a work-for-hire) must be secured in writing from the excavation.
• Permission to publish an image that an author produced as a work-for-hire for an ASCSA excavation or otherwise must be secured in writing from either the photographer/artist or the photographer’s/artist's designated rights holder.

Duration of copyright varies from country to country. Information on the duration of U.S. copyright can be found here.

Requesting Permissions

When asking for permissions, please keep in mind the following: 

• Emphasizing that the book or article in question is of a specialist, scholarly nature and will be published by a non-profit institution often results in reduced or waived fees.
• Print runs are normally under 700 for books and under 600 for Hesperia articles.
• Writing directly to the press or museum often results in either reduced or waived fees as compared to clearing permissions online or on the publisher’s own website.
• Be sure to ask for "perpetual" permissions when requesting images. This means non-exclusive, worldwide rights in all languages and all editions, including print and digital. At the very least, secure publication rights for the print edition and its digital counterpart (e.g., PDF or EPub). If permission is not granted to publish an image in the digital edition of a publication, that image may be blacked out in the digital edition and will contain a link to that image on the rights-holder’s website.

Authors can accept permissions granted via mail or email (with or without an attached letter). All permissions should be printed by the author and submitted to the ASCSA Publications Office with the relevant figure number written on each.

If you encounter difficulties in acquiring image permissions for an accepted manuscript, contact the ASCSA’s Director of Publications for assistance.

Resources

A sample permissions-request letter with suggested wording and useful copyright guidelines prepared by the University of Chicago Press with the support of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation are provided below.