Permissions

Permission to reuse content from The BMJ

Permission to reuse content from The BMJ can be acquired by following the “Request Permissions” link that appears on the right hand side of every article. This will take you to the Rightslink permissions system: further information can be found here.

A large proportion of current articles are published under Open Access licences, however, please check the licence carefully before reusing content as many articles require permission for commercial reuse.

If you have any queries please contact our Permissions Department: bmj.permissions@bmj.com

Permissions for authors

See also our policy on copyright.

Authors may use their own articles for the following non-commercial purposes without asking our permission (and subject only to acknowledging first publication in The BMJ and giving a full reference or web link, as appropriate).

For more information please see the exact wording in clause 6.1 of our author licence and our group self-archiving policy for all rights.

• Posting the accepted version of their manuscript (but not the published version of record - unless the article is being published on an open access basis - see below) on their personal website or institutional (non-commercial) website or institutional academic or scholarly repository.
• Making a reasonable number (no more than 100) print copies of the version of record for personal, non-commercial professional use. This includes for the authors s own teaching purposes.
• Send a single individual copy of the version of record to colleagues within the authors institution and/or department or co-collaborators on a project for their personal non-commercial use (without a fee being charged).
• Republishing part or all of the version of record in a book or other non-peer reviewed publication which is authored or edited by the author (except for multiple contributions in the same book or publication, for which permission needs to be sought).
• Using individual figures or tables or extracts of text (up to 250 words) in other publications published by a third party.
• Using the final version of record article in a course pack or compilation (whether paper or electronic) in the authors’ institution. This does not apply if a commercial charge is made for the compilation or training programme.
• Use a maximum of two figures ( including tables) from the article (unless copyright is owned by a third party in which case permission must be sought from the owner) and selected text extracts of less than 100 words or series of text extracts totalling 300 words, for quotation and use for the purpose of scholarly comment, non-commercial research or education use subject to full credit in accordance with our requirements in the author licence.
• Place the authors accepted manuscript (not the version of record in a Scholarly Collaboration Network which has signed up to the STM article sharing principles after an embargo of 12 months from publication of the version of record.

Free permission for these types of use can be acquired through RightsLink if your new publisher requires a formal licence.

Reprints

Details about purchasing reprints can be found here.