Publication Policies

We require transfer of copyright for all our publications, including conference proceedings. This allows us to distribute publications throughout the world by print and electronic means, to create translations and reuse them in reprint collections.

• No paper can be presented at an OTC conference unless a signed copy transferring copyright is received by OTC before the manuscript due date.
   
• If you are employed and prepared this paper within the scope of your employment, the original copyright to the paper belongs to your employer.
   
  • If you sign the form, we assume you are authorized to do so by your employer and that your employer has consented to the transfer of copyright, to the representation and warranty of publication rights, and to all other terms and conditions of the form.
     
  • If such authorization and consent has not been given you, an authorized representative of your employer should sign this form in the space provided for the Author.
     
• Always use the form provided in the author kit for the conference as wording may vary for some jointly sponsored meetings.
   
• No modifications or substitutions will be accepted and we do not accept a license to distribute in place of full transfer of copyright.

Transfer of copyright does not affect the underlying intellectual property or concepts, which remain with the author or the employer. Authors and their employers retain certain rights for reuse of the material.

Transfer of Copyright Form (PDF)

More details about Copyright Requirements

We expect authors to credit all sources used in their writings and not to represent work of others as their own. Authors found to have plagiarized the work of another are subject to having their paper removed from the conference program and from OnePetro. Future submissions from authors found to have plagiarized will be scrutinized carefully. In the case of students found to be plagiarizing the work of others, OTC may inform the student’s university.

• You can avoid plagiarizing others by using appropriate citation.
• Direct quotes should be indicated as such with the use of quotation marks, or for somewhat longer passages, indented as a block quote. However, in an original paper, direct quotation should be minimized.
• It is accepted practice that authors learn from and build on the work of others in their own work, but you should always use your own words to show that you understood the ideas.

Just because you are the author doesn’t mean that you can repeat long sections of your prior work in a new work. If you are writing a new paper, the content should be new, not a repeat of what you wrote in a prior paper.

No one will be concerned about the verbatim reuse of a few sentences or even a full paragraph, but you should not repeat full sections of a prior work. Just as you would summarize and cite the work of another author, you should summarize and cite your own prior work, then focus on what is new that led you to write the current paper.

For more information, visit the Frequently Asked Questions related to Plagiarism.

Several organizations offer services designed to improve the quality of English in papers submitted for peer review, but there is a charge for their services. SPE is not affiliated in any way with these organizations. Links to them are offered as a service only.

• American Journal Experts
• Cambridge Language Consultants
• Manuscript Edit
• Science Docs
• Science Manager
• SciTechEdit International

Copyright allows us to perform a valuable service for our industry. OTC copyrights save you from needing to locate the authors to request permission; OTC can provide permission. To defray our costs, fees apply to certain types of use, especially those that are commercial in nature. OTC uses Copyright Clearance Center’s RightsLink licensing solution for reuse permissions. This allows you to immediately determine the fees and to complete the transaction online.

If you presented a paper at an OTC conference, you may request a one-time return of rights to publish your paper in a non-SPE magazine or journal.

Requesting return of rights means that you are forfeiting the right to have your paper reviewed and considered for publication in an SPE journal. If your paper has been submitted for peer review, it will be withdrawn. Note: Requests for return of one-time journal publication rights will not be granted for papers submitted to SPE for peer review unless the paper is declined for publication or it is at least 6 months after the submission date.

To request this permission, locate the paper in OnePetro and follow the “Rights & Permission” link. No fees apply. If the paper is still in SPE peer review after 6 months and such a request is received, the paper will be withdrawn from SPE peer review.

Authors or their employer may distribute up to 50 printed copies of their OTC paper for educational or professional activities without notification to OTC. This permission can be used multiple times (such as to distribute copies from an employer’s trade show booth or for use in a training course that the author is conducting).

If more than 50 copies are desired, locate the paper in OnePetro and follow the “Rights & Permission” link.

Requests from third parties to distribute copies for training courses or as papers in a collection may be granted upon payment of a fee. To request permission, locate the paper in OnePetro and follow the “Rights & Permission” link.

Storage or distribution of OTC copyrighted material by any individual or organization on a generally accessible internet site is almost never allowed, and only with prior written permission from OTC. OTC does not support the creation of databases or storage locations for OTC papers by non-OTC entities.

• Authors or their employers may place a pdf of papers they have written on a company intranet site. Papers may not be posted on any type of generally accessible internet site.
• OTC papers downloaded from OnePetro can be posted to limited access workspaces to be shared among project teams or a joint industry project (JIP) if the number of people with access to the site does not exceed 50 and the papers are posted for the duration of the project only.

OTC will consider requests for use on a customer extranet or other limited access site on a case-by-case basis, but fees will apply. To request additional permission, contact permissions@otcnet.org.

We will grant permission to reproduce tables or figures provided that these elements are original to the paper. OTC cannot grant permission for material the author republished from another source (with permission). You will need to contact the original source for permission. 

Each table or figure used in another publication shall reference the source OTC paper or periodical in the references. For tables and figures from an OTC conference or journal paper, locate the paper in OnePetro and follow the “Rights & Permission” link.

• You may make up to 5 photocopies of a single article, or up to 15 pages from a book, to share with colleagues for a one-time use. This cannot be used repeatedly to copy longer works in their entirety.
• You may provide a link from your website to material on OnePetro.org as long as it is in a manner that does NOT imply OTC endorsement and does NOT include the OTC logo. 
• Without OTC permission, you may post or publish an abstract of any OTC-copyrighted paper as long as it does not exceed 300 words in length, make up more than 10 percent of the text, and does not include any figures, graphics, or questions. Proper acknowledgement of OTC and copyright year must be included.
• An author, or the author’s employer, may distribute a paper within their company by paper or electronic form, such as via an intranet without prior approval from OTC.

OTC recognizes to maintain the integrity, high quality, and unbiased information in all forms of written and oral presentations at any OTC event including, but not limited to, conferences, symposia, workshops, summits, or forums, overt commercialism is prohibited outside of the commercial exhibit areas.

Items deemed to be commercial in nature will not be allowed or disseminated. This includes, but is not limited to, Conference Proceedings, presentations, OnePetro, Journals, and promotional material.

Use of the following will be carefully scrutinized during evaluation and presentation and could result in being withdrawn from the program:

• Generic descriptions should replace commercial trade names or trademarked materials
• Company logos allowed on title and closing slide only
• Text which is overtly commercial in tone or intent within paper titles, presentation slides, text, tables, figures, animation, audio, and video is prohibited
   

Repeated violations of this policy may result in the speaker and/or moderator being barred from participating in future OTC event programs.