Copyright Guidance
This page provides additional guidance regarding copyright and creative commons as you prepare manuscripts and support materials for the journal.
Copyright Basics
Copyright laws were created to protect an author's creative works for reproduction, distribution, and marketing purposes.
To be copyrighted, works must be original and produced in a tangible medium. Examples include (but are not limited to) lesson plans, handouts, assessments, textbooks, videos, writings, drawings, photographs, and musical scores. Copyright laws protect all original and tangible works, whether or not a copyright mark is visible, the work was published, or the copyright was registered.
Although many resources are available online, you do not have permission to include them with your manuscript or support materials, even if you are an educator. Recall that copyright laws protect the reproduction and distribution of original works. Posting a copy of these works on a public website (like this journal) may violate these principles.
Because most Internet resources are copyrighted, you must obtain permission to use them in your manuscript. Yet, obtaining permissions can be a headache. It may be difficult to determine who owns the copyright and they may require licensing fees.
What Materials May I Include?
To avoid problems with copyright, you may want to create your own resources, giving the journal permission to publish them. However, if you lack the time or skill to create your own resources, works published under a Creative Commons license may help you!
Although most Internet resources are copyrighted, some authors want others to use their works without requesting permission. These authors license their work under Creative Commons.
Each Creative Comons license indicates how and under what circumstances an individual may use the resource in question. Some licenses specify that resources cannot be altered in any way. Others dictate that the resource cannot be sold or used for commercial purposes. By default, all licenses require users to indicate who authored the resource and state it was used with a Creative Commons license. For more information about Creative Commons licenses, visit the Creative Commons website.
Locating Creative Commons Materials
Below are a few media websites that permit you to use their content in ways that align with this journal. Although some of these sites may not require attribution, you will need to do so (in accordance with JTILT's author guidelines).
Tip: Add Online videos in the manuscript by including the link to the video with a short description.
If you are interested in locating other media (books, audiobooks. vector images, clipart, icons, multimedia, music), select more resources.
Citing Creative Commons Materials
For this journal, you must cite all media. Citations should be embedded within the material that uses the resource (e.g., presentation, worksheet, lesson plan). Many media sites tell you how to cite material use correctly. Follow their guidelines.
If guidelines are unavailable, provide the following information:
- Name of material
- Author's name
- Link to material
- License you are using
- Note any changes made to material (e.g. cropping, color adjustment, resize)
Examples with Attribution
Image by StockSnap from Pixabay
