Do I need to transfer copyright to Springer Nature if I publish open access?

Copyright to any open access article is retained by the author(s). 


Authors grant the publisher a license to publish the article and identify itself as the original publisher. Authors also grant any third party the right to use the article freely as long as its integrity is maintained and its original authors, citation details and publisher are identified. 


In instances where authors are not allowed to retain copyright to their own article (where the author is a US Government employee for example), authors should Contact Publishing Support before submitting their article so we can advise as to whether their Non-Standard Copyright request can be accommodated.


For more information about copyright and licensing for each of our open access brands, please see the links below:

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