The Japan Academy

A request concerning transfer of copyrights of previously published articles

A request concerning transfer of copyrights of previously published articles

The Japan Academy and its predecessor, the publishers of the Proceedings of the Japan Academy, Ser. B; Proceedings of the Japan Academy; Proceedings of the Imperial Academy are planning to digitally archive all previously published materials starting from the inaugural issue and make it freely available to the public via the internet without charge or other restrictions. The archive will be placed on J-STAGE, operated by the Japan Science and Technology Agency.

In moving forward with this project, the Japan Academy needs to obtain permission from copyright holders (Japanese Copyright Law Articles 21-28).

With regard to the articles published prior to January 2003 in Volumes 1-78 in which ownership of the copyrights is unclear, the Editorial Board of the Proceedings of the Japan Academy, Ser. B would, as the first step, like to obtain the reproduction rights (Japanese Copyright Law Article 21) and the public transmission rights (Japanese Copyright Law Article 23) from the copyright holders in order to promptly make the electronic archives public for use by researchers. Copyright holders who wish not to grant the reproduction and public transmission rights to the Academy, are requested to contact the Academy at the address noted below before October 31st, 2005. In the event the Academy is not contacted, the matter will be processed as though the permission has been granted.

Additionally, in the subsequent steps, in order to more effectively utilize previously published materials, the Editorial Board would like to request that copyright holders transfer their copyrights as prescribed in the Japanese Copyright Law Articles 21-28. Copyright holders who agree to the transfer of their respective copyrights are requested to sign the "Copyright Transfer Form" which can be found at https://www.japan-acad.go.jp/pdf/english/publishing/pja_b_ctform.pdf, and to send it to the address noted below. Those who wish not to grant the transfer of rights are requested to contact the Academy by October 31, 2006. In the event the Academy is not contacted, the matter will be processed as though the transfer has been approved. With regard to articles from Volume 79, the Academy has already been granted the transfer of copyrights, so there is no need to send the "Copyright Transfer Form" again.

Please note that the copyright transfer being requested at this time is for the purpose of making Proceedings electronically available to the public, and thus, authors will be allowed to use the materials without permission for their own research purposes.

Proceedings of the Japan Academy, Ser. B, Editor-in-Chief
Tamio Yamakawa.

Correspondence on this matter
Editorial Office of the Proceedings of the Japan Academy, Series B
c/o The Japan Academy, 7-32, Ueno Park, Taito-ku, Tokyo 110-0007, Japan
Tel: +81-3-3822-2101
Fax: +81-3-3822-2105
E-mail: proc-b@japan-acad.go.jp