Permission Guidelines

It is the author’s responsibility to request any permission required for the use of materials owned by others. When requesting permission for copyrighted materials, make sure you request the following:

Permission to reproduce the excerpt [or the illustration] in all editions and formats related to this book, including electronic, and in print and online advertising and marketing materials promoting the book.

It can take six to eight weeks to get a response to a request for permission, so it is advisable to start early. Obtaining permission does not commit you to using the material. You do not have to pay a permission fee if the item is not used.

You can use our sample permission request letter and form to get started: Download

When all permissions have been received, send them, or copies of them, to your editor at UBC Press.

Please check to make sure that the copyright holder has granted both print and electronic rights or that there are no other limitations specified. Electronic rights are essential for the publication of your book in e-book form.

Materials requiring permission include:

• Prose and poetry excerpts: As a general guide, you should obtain permission for all published and unpublished prose excerpts over 300 words and all poetry excerpts that are over 5 percent of the poem. Try to avoid lengthy quotations and to break particularly long ones into parts. Cumulative quotations from a single source should normally not exceed 500 words without permission. Permission is not required for all previously published text fifty years after the author’s death.
  
  
• Excerpts from commercial sources: Contemporary literature, song lyrics, and other for-profit material in current circulation can have more stringent requirements. When quoting more than a phrase from commercial sources, please obtain permission from the publisher.
  
  
• Translations: Published translations are subject to the same permissions requirements as works published in their original language.
  
  
• Photographs: In general, permission is required for all photographs and the photographer and/or archive should be properly credited. If you have photographed people specifically for the purpose of including their images in your book, you will need to obtain letters of consent from them.
  
  
• Graphs and tables: For graphs and tables you have conceived of and created yourself, simply credit the source of the data, but for graphs and tables that represent intellectual analysis of data by someone else you will need written permission.
  
  
• Maps: Maps require permission if reproduced from another copyrighted source, including online sources.
  
  
• Interviews: You must obtain written permission to quote from interviewees whom you have identified or whom readers could potentially identify. Interviewees whom you keep anonymous should still have been made aware of the possibility of publication at the time of interview. If you cannot supply the Press with copies of the signed consent forms (for reasons of privacy), you must provide a letter stating that you have signed consent forms in your possession and that you assume full liability in the unlikely event of legal proceedings arising from the material.