o Note that PNAS (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences) does not
require permission for reuse of figures in review articles, but the wording of the
credit line depends on the year of publication. Check the specific article from
which you wish to reuse figures for the license terms and appropriate credit line.
• Annual Reviews modifies most figures to conform to our house style, so be sure to ask
for permission to modify/adapt the figure.
o It is very difficult or impossible to obtain permission to modify figures created by
some organizations, such as the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change). If a figure cannot be modified, note this along with your initial
submission so our Illustration Editors are aware that they should not edit the
figure.
• Attribution and permission information are needed in caption; follow the requirements of
the copyright holder. Annual Reviews’ short citations (reference number or author name
and date, depending on the style of the particular Annual Reviews journal) often can
stand in for the complete citation specified in most licenses.
• Examples of wording for credit line in caption:
o Figure adapted with permission from Reference 100.
o Panel a adapted with permission from Brown & Chu (2010); copyright 2010
American Chemical Society.
4.2.3. Copyrighted figure: previous publication refers to a different source
The figure has appeared in a journal, book, website, etc., and that author or publisher does not
hold the original copyright. Always check the caption of any image you want to reuse to see if it
refers to a previous source, license, or copyright. Redrawing or modifying a figure does not
change who holds the copyright, nor does replotting data to create a figure that looks just like a
previously published version. If the creator of an image could recognize your work as based on
theirs, copyright still applies and you must obtain permission.
• If the identical image was published somewhere else first, seek permission and include
attribution of the source publication only.
• If the image was published somewhere else first, but you want to use the adapted version
in the most recent publication, you should seek permission from and include attribution
for both sources.
• If the image was published elsewhere first under a Creative Commons (CC) license,
check the terms of the license to determine the appropriate attribution and if permission
is needed from the adapting publication (see Section 4.3.2).
• For these complex situations, contact your Production Editor or Illustration Editor for
guidance on the wording of the credit line in the caption.
4.2.4. Copyrighted figure: created by person/organization who retains copyright
The image was created by an artist, photographer, organization, or company who holds
copyright. Examples could include an illustrator who displays images on their website, a stock
photo website, or an online library of scientific clip art. Redrawing or modifying a figure does
not change who holds the copyright, nor does replotting data to create a figure that looks just like
a previously published version. If the creator of an image could recognize your work as based on
theirs, copyright still applies and you must obtain permission.
• You must obtain their permission and pay any associated fee.