Rights & Permissions

Following these instructions helps us see to it that any previously copyrighted material is properly acknowledged in your book. Permission is required for the use of two kinds of copyrighted materials: your own previously published work (when copyright is not held by you) and other authors’ copyrighted materials that do not come under the principle of fair use.

You are the best judge when determining whether to request permission for the use of copyrighted material. For a fuller explanation of these complex issues, including fair use, refer to The Chicago Manual of Style, 15th ed. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2003), as well as the excellent information and guidelines available on the Association of American University Presses' web page and on the web page of the National Association of College Stores. For information about rights holders, refer to the WATCH (Writers, Artists and Their Copyright Holders) File. If you have further questions or concerns, please contact your acquiring editor or the managing editor.

In general, you need to obtain written permission for the following items:

• Quotations from published materials that exceed fair use. Stanzas of poetry, letters, song lyrics, diary entries, and other such items that constitute complete entities in themselves usually require permission. For letters, the writer rather than the recipient holds the copyright, but permission is also needed from the recipient before the letter can be published.
• Any quotations from archival materials. You must obtain permission from the archive as holder of the materials.
• Unpublished documents not your own, e.g., unpublished letters, speeches, or papers.
• Illustrations such as photographs, tables, charts, maps, and graphs that were produced by someone else. You may need permission from both the owner of the physical object (a museum, archive, or individual) and the creator (the artist, photographer, cartographer, etc.). For photographs, if private individuals are pictured in private settings, you may need permission from them also.
• Interviews. Copyright is jointly held by interviewer and interviewee. If you have conducted the interview, you still need written permission from the interviewee.
• Certain government documents and materials. Although government documents cannot be copyrighted, government agencies may hold copyrighted materials (e.g., items donated to a government archive but still protected by copyright). The archive or other agency should be able to tell you if you will need special permission to use materials in their collections. If not, this information can often be found in the agencies’ wording about restrictions on photocopying.
• Your own previously published materials, unless you retained copyright. If you hold the copyright, please send us a copy of the agreement or a statement from the publisher.

If any portions of your manuscript have been previously published, please specify the relevant chapters or portions and, for each one, the title under which it was published, the title of the journal or book, and full publishing information (volume number, season or month, year, and page numbers for periodicals; place of publication, publisher, year, and page numbers for books).

When you prepare your permission requests, please remember to ask for:

• nonexclusive world rights
• for all editions (including electronic distribution)
• for the life of the book

Also include:

• the working title of your manuscript
• the publisher as the University of Iowa Press, explaining that we are a nonprofit scholarly publisher, since many organizations set lower fees for nonprofits
• the estimated season of publication, since many permissions expire within 24 months of the request
• exactly what you are requesting permission for, including page number, archival locator information, negative number, and/or description, etc.
• a photocopy of the quotation or image, if possible

Request that all letters of permission be sent directly to you so that you can type up the permissions section of your book. In addition, please send us photocopies of both your request and the response. We need to see complete copies of the permissions forms—including front and back sides and lists of terms and conditions that may be attached—so we can be sure to follow all the conditions of use, including adding correct credit lines, following any cropping instructions, and sending appropriate gratis copies of your book. You will be responsible for sending us a list of the names, addresses, and number of copies due to the various museums, libraries, publishers, and writers who have requested them.

Sample Letter

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