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This page summarizes the various licenses that apply to The Optical Society (OSA) journal content for the purposes of reuse. OSA journal articles are published under a variety of licenses, and specific publication rights have been granted to the OSA by the authors of the published articles.

OSA Default License for OSA-Formatted Journal Article PDFs

Unless explicitly licensed for use under a different license, the OSA-formatted journal article PDF is governed by the OSA Copyright Transfer Agreement signed by the author and any applicable copyright laws. If published within a subscription journal, access is further covered by the terms and conditions for using our online journals and our subscriber agreements.

OSA Default License for Accepted Manuscript PDFs

Unless explicitly licensed for use under a different license, the OSA Copyright Transfer Agreement applies to the Accepted Manuscript PDF as well. For articles made publicly accessible through CHORUS, the Accepted Manuscript PDF will be made publicly accessible to nonsubscribers following the embargo period set by each agency.

Creative Commons Licensing

OSA is aware that some authors, as a condition of their funding, must publish their work under a Creative Commons license. We therefore offer a CC BY license for authors who indicate that their work is funded by agencies that we have confirmed have this requirement. Authors must enter their funder(s) during the manuscript submission process. At that point, if appropriate, the CC BY license option will be available to select for an additional fee.

Any subsequent reuse or distribution of content licensed under CC BY must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI.

Questions regarding Creative Commons Licensing can be directed to copyright@osa.org.

Works by Employees of the U.S. Government and Australian, Canadian, New Zealand, and United Kingdom Crown

Works authorized exclusively by employees of the U.S. Government and the Australian, Canadian, New Zealand, and United Kingdom Crown may not be subject to copyright. However, access to those articles published in OSA subscription journals is by subscription only and is subject to the terms and conditions for the usage of our online journals and the OSA subscription agreement.