IEEE Intellectual Property Rights
Policy language has been added to the PSPB Operations Manual to codify the expanded use of the PAL, and to encourage volunteers from other organizational units to use the PAL when reviewing nominations or appointments of individuals to positions of leadership or decision-making roles within IEEE. These include EICs, associate editors, conference organizers, Society Conference VPs, and Society Pubs VPs.
Volunteers who are interested in using the PAL are encouraged to send an email request to with:
- A brief description of his/her role within IEEE
- How the PAL will be used
Requests will be presented to the IEEE Vice President, IEEE Publication Services and Products for approval.
Mandatory plagiarism detection policy approved
Following the IEEE Board of Directors decision in November 2012, the Publication Services and Products Board approved a policy requiring all manuscripts to be submitted to plagiarism detection software. The goal of the policy is to bolster the quality of IEEE Xplore® content by identifying papers with potentially plagiarized material before they are posted.
IEEE Open Access
The introduction of open access IEEE publications marks a significant step outside of IEEE's traditional publication model. The open access publication model allows authors to select from two licensing options: The IEEE Open Access Publishing Agreement, or the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY).
The IEEE Publication Services & Products Board approved revisions to IEEE's author posting policy (Section 8.1.9 of the PSPB Operations Manual). The revised policy reaffirms the principle that authors are free to post the accepted version of their articles on their personal websites or those of their employers. (Authors of IEEE open access articles may freely post the final version of their papers.) The policy provides that IEEE will make available to each author a pre-print version of that person's article that includes the Digital Object Identifier, IEEE's copyright notice, and a notice showing the article has been accepted for publication. The policy also states that authors are allowed to post pre-print versions of their articles on approved third-party servers that are operated by not-for-profit organizations.
Links to the revised IEEE Copyright Form, a helpful FAQ on authors posting their accepted papers, and the full text from Section 8.1.9 of the PSPB Operations Manual can be found below:
- Author Posting Policy Announcement (PDF, 180 KB)
- FAQ on Author Posting of Accepted Papers (PDF, 210 KB)
- Author Posting of Papers Online
- Third-Party Hosting of IEEE Content
- Author Rights and Responsibilities
- Section 8.1.9 of the PSPB Operations Manual
- FAQ on Intellectual Property Rights for IEEE Authors (PDF, 397 KB)
Copyright information
Plagiarism guidelines
- Introduction to plagiarism guidelines
- Policies on allegations of misconduct
- Learn about CrossCheck Plagiarism Detection Service
- Identifying plagiarism and investigating possible misconduct
- Plagiarism Information Center for IEEE publication volunteers
Multiple submission and prior publication guidelines
- Introduction to the guidelines
- From the PSPB Operations Manual
Request permission to reuse copyrighted material
IEEE 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 IEEE journal, conference and standards copyrighted materials quickly, easily, and legally.
To use RightsLink, locate the content you wish to reuse in IEEE Xplore. Then click the "request permission" link found on the abstract page or the Table of Contents page associated with that content.
- How to obtain permission to reuse copyrighted material
- How to access RightsLink, the electronic permissions service
- Posting IEEE content on third-party servers
- FAQ on permission to reuse copyright material (PDF, 287 KB)
Trademark policies
- Using the IEEE logo and "IEEE"
- Using the IEEE trademark
- Registered marks of the IEEE
- How to register a new logo or title
- Logo Registration Agreement Form (PDF, 248 KB)
The IEEE Statement on Appropriate Use of Bibliometric Indicators
IEEE Master Brand/logo information
- Electronic images and guidelines for use of the Master Brand/logo
- IEEE Brand Identity Toolkit explains the basic usage rules for all corporate identity elements
- Stationery templates for volunteers
IEEE Open Access delivers articles free of charge to readers worldwide.