Copyright Clearance and Assignment

Requirements for Authors of AIAA Publications

During the submission process, authors of AIAA journal articles, conference papers, or book manuscripts (including individual chapter submissions) will be presented with each of the following forms:

Clearance

The Author or Authorized Official is required to attest the following:

This work is either UNCLASSIFIED and has been cleared and approved for public release by the appropriate company and/or government agencies, OR no such classification and review is required.

No-Infringment Statement

The Author or Authorized Official is required to make clear the copyright status of the work and assure that it contains no copyright-infringing material:

This material represents original work by the author(s). No portion of the material is covered by a prior copyright; or for any portion copyrighted, the author has obtained permission for its use and all such permissions are in writing. Further, this work does not infringe any trademark, patent, trade secret, or other intellectual property rights of any person, nor does it contain any material that is defamatory.

Publication Status

The Author or Authorized Official is required to confirm the following:

This work has not been published previously nor is it currently under consideration or under contract for publication elsewhere. Allowances are made for journal article submissions that are based on previously published AIAA conference papers.

Copyright Assignment (choose only one: A, B, C, or D)
The Author or Authorized Official is required to transfer copyright or to license the work to AIAA; all options should be considered before signing. See the notice of Special Agreements below; no variations in wording are allowed.
  1. Copyright Transfer
    AIAA prefers to hold the copyright of any work it publishes, with the clear understanding that the author and the author’s organization have the right to reproduce material for their own purposes, provided that the reproductions are not for sale. Copyright Form A does this.

    Copyright Form A: I assign copyright to my work to AIAA, giving the Institute all rights to it except that I and the organization by which I was employed at the time I wrote the manuscript have the right of further reproductions, in part or in full, provided they are not for sale. AIAA does not claim any patent, trademark, or proprietary rights other than copyright.

    [Note: If Copyright Form A is signed, the notice will read as follows: “Copyright © 20_____ by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Inc. All rights reserved.”]

  2. Copyright License
    Occasionally, special situations arise in which the author (or the author’s organization, if it is the copyright owner) wishes to retain the copyright in the individual’s (or the organization’s) name. In such a case, AIAA requires a license to publish the work. Copyright Form B should be used for this purpose.

    Copyright Form B: I hereby license AIAA to publish this work and use it for all of AIAA’s current and future print and electronic uses.

    [Note: If Copyright Form B is signed, the notice will read as follows: “Copyright © 20_____ by _____ (author name(s), company name, or other designee). Published by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Inc. with permission.”]

  3. Notice to Authors Employed by U.S. Government Agencies or Government Contractors

    1. A “work of the United States Government” (hereinafter called a Government work) is a work prepared by an officer or employee of the United States Government as part of that person’s official duties. In some cases, works prepared by employees of private companies who are under contract to a Government agency may also be Government works.
    2. Copyright protection under the U.S. Copyright Law is not available for any Government work; however, copyright protection is available for a work of a Government employee that is done apart from his or her official duties, and the copyright shall reside with the employee (subject to any transfer made by the employee).
    3. When a work of a Government employee does not fall within the purview of his or her official duties, the employee’s use of Governmental time, materials, or facilities will not, of itself, make the work a Government work.
    4. Under the current copyright law a work may beprotected, within certain limitations, even if a copyright notice is not present; however, the presence of a copyright notice on a work makes it clear to a reader who the copyright proprietor is and who can grant a license to reproduce the work, etc.
    5. If a work of a Government employee is not a Government work, AIAA will not publish the work unless AIAA receives an assignment (Copyright Form A) or a license (Copyright Form B)
    6. Copyright Form C is the appropriate form to be executed by a Government-employee author who has prepared a Government work.
    7. In most cases, Government-contract authors should sign Copyright Form D.


    Copyright Form C: This material is a work of the U.S. Government and is not subject to copyright protection in the United States.

    [Note: If Copyright Form C is signed, the notice will read as follows: “This material is declared a work of the U.S. Government and is not subject to copyright protection in the United States.”]

    Copyright Form D: I prepared this work as part of my official duties as an employee of a Government contractor.

    [Note: If Copyright Form D is signed, the notice will read as follows: “Copyright © 20_____ by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Inc. The U.S. Government has a royalty-free license to exercise all rights under the copyright claimed herein for Governmental purposes. All other rights are reserved by the copyright owner.”]

  4. Notice of Special Agreements
    Special agreements between AIAA and a number of organizations stipulate which Copyright Form employees of these organizations should choose, based on the specific terms of each agreement. Specific details of these agreements are provided during the manuscript submission process.

    1. Special agreements with the following organizations require authors or the appropriate official to sign Copyright Form D: Johns Hopkins University, Applied Physics Laboratory (JHU/APL); National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL); National Technology and Engineering Solutions of Sandia (NTESS)
    2. Special agreement with The Boeing Company will permit authors to sign Copyright Form A unless the material is based on work conducted under a Government contract, in which case the author should sign Copyright Form D.
    3. Special agreements with the following organizations require authors or the appropriate official to sign Copyright Form B to execute a license for AIAA to publish the work: The Aerospace Corporation; Rolls-Royce North America Holdings, Inc.; Dassault Systèmes.

All authors of a work must jointly agree to the terms set forth. If you are uncertain as to whether the work is outside your official duties, seek appropriate counsel within your agency or from your employer.