2.1 Purpose
Rupkatha Books recognises that authors are the primary owners of their intellectual property. This policy establishes the principles governing copyright ownership, licensing, reuse, and the long-term stewardship of scholarly works published by the publisher. It seeks to balance the rights of authors with the public interest by promoting broad dissemination, responsible reuse, and permanent preservation of scholarly knowledge.
This policy should be read together with the Open Access Policy, Publication Ethics Policy, Authorship Policy, Digital Preservation Policy, and other related publishing policies.
2.2 Copyright Ownership
Unless otherwise agreed in writing, copyright in all published works remains with the author(s), editor(s), translator(s), or other legitimate copyright holder(s).
Publication by Rupkatha Books does not transfer ownership of copyright to the publisher. Authors retain full intellectual property rights while granting the publisher the rights necessary to publish, disseminate, preserve, index, and promote their work in accordance with the Publishing Agreement.
2.3 Publishing Licence
Before publication, the copyright holder shall grant Rupkatha Books a non-exclusive, worldwide licence to:
- publish the work in digital formats;
- assign persistent identifiers, including DOI and ISBN;
- register and maintain publication metadata;
- archive and preserve the work;
- distribute the publication through scholarly platforms and repositories;
- migrate the publication to future technologies where necessary for preservation and accessibility; and
- promote the publication through academic, educational, and professional channels.
The licence is granted solely to facilitate the publication, preservation, discoverability, and dissemination of the work and does not affect the author’s ownership of copyright.
2.4 Open Licence
Unless otherwise specified, publications are released under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) licence.
2.5 Rights Retained by Authors
Authors retain the right to:
- be identified as the creators of their work;
- reuse all or part of the work in future publications;
- incorporate the work into teaching, research, and educational activities;
- deposit the Version of Record in institutional or disciplinary repositories;
- share the publication through personal websites, ORCID records, academic networks, and institutional repositories;
- translate, revise, expand, or adapt their work;
- present and discuss the publication in scholarly or public forums.
Wherever practical, authors should include the DOI and complete bibliographic citation when redistributing or reusing the published work.
2.6 Rights of Rupkatha Books
To ensure the long-term availability and integrity of the scholarly record, Rupkatha Books may:
- publish and distribute the work worldwide;
- assign and maintain persistent identifiers;
- register metadata with recognised scholarly infrastructure;
- preserve and archive the publication;
- produce accessible and alternative digital formats;
- migrate publications to future technologies;
- update metadata;
- improve discoverability through emerging scholarly infrastructures; and
- promote the publication through responsible academic communication.
These rights exist solely to support scholarly dissemination and preservation and shall not diminish the rights retained by authors.
2.7 Moral Rights
Nothing in the Publishing Agreement shall affect the moral rights of authors recognised under applicable law.
Authors retain the right to:
- be identified as the creators of their work;
- object to derogatory treatment or misrepresentation of their work; and
- preserve the integrity of their scholarly contribution.
Rupkatha Books will respect these rights throughout the publication lifecycle.
2.8 Third-Party Content
Authors are responsible for obtaining all necessary permissions for any third-party material incorporated into their publications, including images, illustrations, artwork, maps, figures, tables, archival documents, musical notation, datasets, multimedia resources, or substantial textual extracts.
The publisher may require documentary evidence of permissions before publication.
2.9 Artificial Intelligence and Digital Content
Authors remain fully responsible for all content submitted for publication, irrespective of whether digital tools or Artificial Intelligence have assisted in its preparation.
The use of AI must comply with the publisher’s Generative AI Policy. AI systems cannot own copyright, be recognised as authors, or assume legal or ethical responsibility for published content.
2.10 Reuse and Permissions
Reuse of published material shall be governed by the applicable Creative Commons licence. Where material is excluded from that licence or is owned by a third party, permission must be obtained from the relevant copyright holder before reuse.
2.11 Copyright Infringement
Rupkatha Books investigates allegations of copyright infringement promptly, impartially, and confidentially.
Where infringement is established, the publisher may take appropriate action, including correction of attribution, removal or replacement of infringing material, publication of corrections, temporary suspension of access, withdrawal or retraction of the publication, and notification of relevant institutions or rights holders, where appropriate.
Procedures relating to investigations are governed by the Publication Ethics Policy and the Corrections and Retractions Policy.
