Copyright Information

GSA owns copyright on all its publications

"Fair Use" Permission
Permission Granting and Payment
License Fees
Additional Information for Authors

GSA obtains copyright ownership from authors of all articles and books. Works prepared by U.S. government employees in the course of their work are in the public domain, however, and are not copyrighted. It is the responsibility of those requesting permission(s) to determine if an article meets this test and is in the public domain.

Special "Fair Use" permission

If you want to use a single figure, a brief paragraph, or a single table from a GSA publication, GSA considers this to be fair usage, and you need no formal permission and no fees are assessed unless you or your publisher require a formal permission letter. In that case, you should print a copy of this document and present it to your publisher.

An author has the right to use his or her article or a portion of the article in a thesis or dissertation without requesting permission from GSA, provided the bibliographic citation and the GSA copyright credit line are given on the appropriate pages.

Check the permission statement in each publication

Each publication includes a statement of copyright policy for that publication that permits and describes limited usages. These statements are found on the front or back of the title page or the table-of-contents page in the masthead statement. In most cases, these statements grant to individual scientists the right to reproduce a limited number of copies for purposes that further education and/or science, including classroom use. If your usage falls within the statement appearing in the publication in which you are interested, you need no further permission from that usage.

Other usages are also allowed by these statements, with instructions to remit a minimum fee to the Copyright Clearance Center (CCC), along with the ISSN or ISBN number of the publication. Within the U.S., the CCC collects and remits payments to GSA. Other organizations throughout the world are authorized by GSA to collect and remit payments for copyright usage in various countries. If your usage falls within the scope of these usages, please follow our instructions or observe the lawful practice within your country if you are outside the U.S. Please do not write for permission.

Permission Granting and Payment

If your usage does not fall within the permissions granted in our masthead statements, you must contact Copyright Permissions, , to seek permission for the usage. Requests must be specific as to:

Please send all permission requests to Copyright Permissions,
  GSA
  PO Box 9140
  Boulder, CO 80301-9140
  fax: 303-357-1073

What material, exactly, you wish to use (include photocopies where practical).
The title of the publication in which you propose to use the material, and the name of the publisher.
How many copies will be reproduced, and at what price (if any) will they be sold.
Whether you are the author of the original material (if so, read your original copyright assignment form; it gave you certain "fair use" rights for future usage of limited parts of your article, but not for the complete article).
What languages you want rights for.
What parts of the world you want rights for.
Whether the material will be modified, and a general statement about the extent of the modification.

License fees

License fees for actual usage may be assessed, depending on the proposed usage. License fees are assessed only when the proposed usage is large, or is commercial in nature, or when it may result in distribution that would limit GSA's market. The amount of such fees varies depending on several factors. License fees are not waived for GSA members. Like processing fees, license fees must be paid prior to use of the material or the permission is void. Formal invoices will be issued only upon request, otherwise a reference number is provided for backup and to note on your payment.

Electronic capture

Electronic capture of complete GSA journal and book articles is usually discouraged because it competes directly with GSA's own distribution of print and electronic matter. When it is permitted, appropriate license fees are assessed, and a contract stating the limits of such capture and distribution is required.

Additional Information for Authors

An author or group of authors may post without further permission, on their own personal or organizational Web site(s) the title, authors, and full abstract of their paper(s), providing the posting cites the GSA publication in which the material appears and the citation includes the address line: "Geological Society of America, P.O. Box 9140, Boulder, CO 80301-9140 USA (http://www.geosociety.org)," and also providing the abstract as posted is identical to that which appears in the GSA publication.

All permission requests should be addressed to:: Copyright Permissions; Geological Society of America; P.O. Box 9140; Boulder, CO 80301-9140; fax 303-357-1073; e-mail: